TOM COCHRANE : Driving Solo Suits This ‘Highway’ Star

‘T hat was ‘Life Is a Highway’ by Bryan Adams,” a San Francisco deejay announced on the air when the single came out a few months ago. “It has hit written all over it.”

He was right about the single, which later made the Top 10. However, he praised the wrong Canadian rocker.

The man who really wrote and sang the song is Tom Cochrane, who to his chagrin often is confused with Adams. During a recent interview Cochrane didn’t want to dwell on this sticky subject.

“People confuse me with Bryan, but I don’t think we sound much alike,” said Cochrane, 38. “The main similarity is that we’re both from Canada. But I think people are finally finding out there’s more than one pop-rock singer in Canada.”

Forgive him for being testy, but Cochrane has had to labor--in this country anyway--in Adams’ shadow for years. But now it’s Cochrane’s turn to crow.

The uplifting, anthemic “Life Is a Highway” has raised his status in the United States--a market he had been trying to crack for the last decade as the frontman for his old group, Red Rider. His first solo album, “Mad Mad World,” which includes the single, reached No. 46 on the pop chart. Both the album and single were smashes in Canada. But that’s not surprising, since he’s been a star at home for years.

Cochrane fronted Red Rider, which specialized in gloomy, esoteric, non-commercial rock, from 1978 until the band called it quits last year. The singer at last has a hit here because he has recorded something accessible to the pop audience.

“The music was too intellectual, analytical and up in the clouds,” he said of his old band’s work. “The music never came down to earth. But I finally did--and got out of that situation. I’m better on my own, better with ideas, performing--everything.”