Paul Cook
Paul Cook, born on
July 20,
1956, is an
English drummer and former member of the
Sex Pistols.
Cook was raised in the
Hammersmith area of
London. Unlike his friend
Steve Jones, Cook came from a stable family and was always the most quiet and reserved of the Sex Pistols.
He attended the
Christopher Wren school in White City Estate,
Shepherds Bush and it was here where he met
Steve Jones. There was a considerable amount of difference between Cook's school report cards before and after he met Jones, the latter warned of 'bad influences'. In 1972-1973 Cook and Jones - and their school friend Wally Nightingale - formed a band, The Strand. Paul 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 would evolve into the
Sex Pistols.
After the Pistols split in 1978, Cook and Steve 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. Becoming disillusioned with McLaren's antics, the pair started a new band,
The Professionals, with
Andy Allen. Allen caused some legal problems; he played bass on the "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album Cash Cows, which featured the Professionals track "Kick Down the Doors" from these sessions was withdrawn.
The Professionals would release six singles and two albums, but never regained the success of their Pistols days.
In the late
1980s, Cook surfaced with the group
Chiefs of Relief, and, after a period out of the music industry, played with
Edwyn Collins in the
1990s. He reunited with the Pistols in
1996 for the
Filthy Lucre world tour.
Today Cook is a content family man, living in
Shepherds 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.
The Sex Pistols' Paul Cook never played in the progressive rock band
IQ. IQ's drummer is a
different person with the same name.
