Harry Frederick Cockfield was born in Lake City, South Carolina on June 26, 1952 and graduated from Lake City High School, Lake City, SC. He also attended Florence-Darlington Technical College in Florence, SC and received an Associate Degree in Electronic Engineering. Activities in school included chorus and band where he played first chair flute from age ten through his senior year.

Fred’s first band was The Epitome of Sound, where he was featured as vocalist and lead guitarist. He began playing bass, flute and singing professionally in 1969 and toured with many regional and national acts including The Drifters, Clifford Curry, Brian Hyland, Jerry Butler, Percy Sledge and Wayne Cochran.

His musical influences include Jaco Pastorius, James Jamerson, Noel Redding, Paul McCartney, Stanley Clarke, Ron Carter, Victor Wooten, Steve Bailey, Mark Egan, Dave Pomeroy, Glenn Worf, David Hungate and far too many others to mention here.(Click on links)

Fred founded the Academy Of Music in Bellevue, Washington in 1982 and soon became an adjunct faculty member at Seattle Pacific University. He is a contributing writer for the Experience Hendrix magazine and is the Bass Guitar Forum Manager for The Microsoft Network (MSN). He continues to teach a full complement of students at the Donn Bennett Music School in Bellevue, WA.

In 1994, he authored his first bass instruction book---"Power Tools for 4,5 & 6 String Bass" which is distributed by the Hal Leonard Corporation. "Power Tools for 4,5 & 6 String Bass" is now included in the curriculum at Shoreline Community College in the North Seattle area. In 1997, Mel Bay Publications released Fred’s second book, "Power Tools for Guitar"---co-written with Queensryche guitarist, Michael Wilton. All of the books mentioned here are available from Academy of Music Publications. For more information contact me via email---fredcockfield@verizon.net

New books available include "Power Tools for 5 String Bass" and "Power Tools for 4 String Bass."