Ted Derek Cochran was born November 11, 1961 at Parkersburg WV.  he grew up at Silverton just three miles from Ravenswood WV.

Derek's parents encouraged their children to play musical instruments. Derek's first instrument was a 1970's Kalamazoo bass guitar, which he still owns to this day.

Derek started taking piano lessons at the age of 14. He did not like to play music by other artist so he stared composing his own music. He played his first composition around the age of 15 at a piano recital in Parkersburg WV on a concert grand piano once played by Liberace.

Derek left the music scene for many years and returned around 1985 to help write music for his sister Vanessa who was working on a new album. He left the music scene again and came back in 1991. Since then he has been composing and writing his own music.

Derek's first album was released in 1992 titled "The Hands of Time" under the artist name DC Project. He also did a country album

titled "I'm Over You" which is no longer available. In 1993 he opened a small motorcycle shop named D&K Cycles. Derek went to high success with the shop and built many custom motorcycles, one which won first place at a dealer bike show and was in "Easy Riders" Magazine. He was also the first Ural Motorcycle dealer in WV and was featured in "Hack'd Magazine. It wasn't until the 2000's that Derek started writing again and recording new music.

He has written music for his sister Vanessa Maria (Cochran) and co-written with Big Rich Tha Don a hip hop artist from New Mexico.

Today Derek lives with his wife Karen in Ripley WV.

Vanessa Maria (Cochran) is Derek's little sister.  She was born October 4th, 1963 and died of cancer October 12th, 2014. She was a performer and schoolteacher in the Wood County School system. She recorded several albums and performed throughout OH, WV and KY. Her music can be found at I-tunes, Amazon and other websites. All profit made from her music is donated to "Gateway for Cancer Research" in her name. 

See more about Vanessa Maria Here.

Janis Joplin is Derek's 7th cousin once removed.

Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter who sang rock, soul and blues music. One of the most successful and widely known rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage presence.

See more about Janis Joplin here.

Rosa Parks is Derek's  6th cousin once removed.

Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley on February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama to Leona Edwards, a teacher, and James McCauley, a carpenter. After her parents separated, Parks and her family moved to Pine Level, Alabama to live with her maternal grandparents. At 19, she married Raymond Parks, a barber and member of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1943, Parks also joined the NAACP and served as the secretary of the Montgomery chapter until 1956.

In 1955, Parks was thrust in front of the American public after she refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger while traveling home on a segregated bus. Her act of defiance would become a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. The incident and Parks's arrest sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a city-wide boycott of Montgomery's public transit system in non-violent protest against racial segregation. The boycott would last 381 days and eventually lead to the U.S. Supreme Court to declare that the segregation of public transportation was unconstitutional.

Today, Parks is remembered as the "mother of the civil rights movement."

Francis Scott Key is Derek's fourth cousin five times removed.