Paul Cook

For other people named Paul Cook, see Paul Cook (disambiguation).

Paul Cook
Birth name	Paul Thomas Cook
Born	20 July 1956 (1956-07-20) (age 55)
Origin	London, England
Genres	Punk rock
Occupations	Drummer
Instruments	drums, vocals
Labels	Virgin Records, Warner Bros.
Associated acts	Sex Pistols (1975–1978, 1996, 2002–2003, 2007–present) The Professionals (1980–1982) Chiefs of Relief (1987–1988) Man-Raze (2004–present)

Paul Thomas Cook (born 20 July 1956, Hammersmith, London) is an English drummer and member of the punk rock band Sex Pistols.

Early life and career

Cook was raised in Hammersmith and 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.^{[citation needed]} Within the next three years The Strand evolved into the Sex Pistols.

Later career

After the Sex Pistols suddenly broke up after their final concert in San Francisco on January 14, 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, Jones 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 recording 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the Virgin Records compilation album Cash Cows, which featured The Professionals' track "Kick Down the Doors", was withdrawn. Cook and Jones played together on Johnny Thunders' solo album, So Alone.

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.

The Sex Pistols, including Paul Cook, played a gig for the 30th anniversary of Never Mind The Bollocks at the Brixton Academy on 8 November 2007. Due to popular demand, two further gigs were announced on 9 and 10 November, and four further dates were added.

In 2008, the Sex Pistols appeared at the Isle Of Wight Festival as the headlining act on the Saturday night, the Peace and Love Festival in Sweden, the Live at Loch Lomond Festival in Scotland, and the Summercase Festival in Madrid.

Cook currently drums with Man-Raze, which also features Phil Collen from Def Leppard and their friend Simon Laffy who used to play in Collen's pre-Leppard band, Girl. They released a debut album Surreal in 2008, and are touring throughout the UK in late 2009.

Personal life

Cook lives in Shepherd's Bush with his wife and their daughter, Hollie Cook. He works as a session musician for Edwyn Collins. Cook also plays football for Hollywood United.^[1]

References

1. ^ Hollywood United

Persondata
Name	Cook, Paul
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Date of birth	20 July 1956
Place of birth
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