PAUL COOK

'Paul Cook', born on July 20, 1956, is an English drummer and former member of the Punk rock band Sex Pistols.

Contents

Early life and career

Later career

Personal life

Early life and career

Cook was raised in Hammersmith, London. He attended the Christopher Wren school in White City Estate, Shepherds Bush, where he met Steve Jones. In 1972-1973, Cook and Jones - along with their school friend Wally Nightingale - formed a band, The Strand. Cook was the first member of the group to actually invest in a piece of equipment (a drum kit) rather than steal it. Within the next three years The Strand evolved into the Sex Pistols.

Later career

After Sex Pistols split in 1978, Cook and Jones initially worked on the soundtrack to Malcolm McLaren's film, ''The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle.'' The two also recorded a few songs using the Sex Pistols name, Cook singing lead on the album version of the song "Silly Thing." The pair then started a new band, The Professionals, with Andy Allen. Allen caused some legal problems; he played bass on "Silly Thing" and the first few Professionals recordings, but had no record contract and had been neither credited nor paid. Consequently, the Virgin Records compilation album ''Cash Cows,'' which featured The Professionals' track "Kick Down the Doors," was withdrawn.
The Professionals released four singles and one album (an album of demos surfaced later) but never matched the Pistols' commercial success.
In the early 1980s, Cook, along with Jones, discovered the English new wave girl-group Bananarama. Cook helped the trio record their debut single, "Aie a Mwana," and acted as a producer on their 1982 debut album ''Deep Sea Skiving.''
In the late 1980s, Cook surfaced with the group Chiefs of Relief with former Bow Wow Wow guitarist Matthew Ashman, and, after a period out of the music industry, played with Phil Collen in the 1990s. He reunited with the surviving Sex Pistols in 1996 for the ''Filthy Lucre'' world tour.

Personal life

Cook lives in Shepherd's Bush with his wife, Jenny, and their daughter, Hollie. He continues to work as a session musician for Edwyn Collins, and with the band Man-Raze.