There is perhaps no better song that celebrates the American heartland than Tom Cochrane's "Life is a Highway." Although a native of Canada, where Cochrane has had a lasting career of radio-ready rock songs, in the States "Life is a Highway" is his calling card.

Born in Lynn Lake, a tiny mining town in Manitoba, Canada, Cochrane soon moved to Ontario and began playing guitar and songwriting. In 1974 he recorded a debut album, Hang on to Your Resistance, under Daffodil Records, but the album was a flop. Cochrane then burst into the Canadian music scene in a big way as the lead singer of Red Rider, a popular rock group in the ‘80s, before launching a solo career (the band broke up in '84 for the first time,) which saw the singer touring throughout Canada and into the United States in the ‘90s.

Red Rider did eventually regroup, winning the Juno Award for Group of the Year in '87 and releasing the successful 1988 album Victory Day and 1989's The Symphony Section before disbanding again. His formerly unsuccessful solo record was re-released by Capitol Records when he began his official solo career in 1991. Capitol issued the popular album Mad Mad World but Cochrane moved to EMI in 1993 for his sophomore record, Ashes to Diamonds-A Collection. Although Cochrane issued several successful albums (such as Ragged Ass Road, Songs of a Circling Spirit, X-Ray Sierra and the compilations Anthology and Trapeze-The Collection) and hit singles throughout the ‘90s, his biggest claim to fame is the song "Life is a Highway."

Cochrane continued making music into the new millennium, most recently with 2006's No Stranger, 2007's M Breaking Curfew and the three-disc box set Ashes to Diamonds.