Roger Cook (songwriter)

Last updated

Roger Cook
Fanclub1967DavidJonathan3.jpg
Roger Cook (1967)
Background information
Birth nameRoger Frederick Cook
Also known asRoger James Cooke
Born (1940-08-19) 19 August 1940 (age 84)
Fishponds, Gloucestershire, England
OriginEngland
Genres Pop
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter, record producer
Instrument(s)Vocals, guitar
Years active1960s–present
Website www.rogercook.com

Roger Frederick Cook (born 19 August 1940) [1] is an English singer, songwriter and record producer, who has written many hit records for other recording artists. He has also had a successful recording career in his own right.

Contents

He is best known for his collaborations with Roger Greenaway. Cook's co-compositions have included "You've Got Your Troubles", and the transatlantic million-selling songs, "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" [2] and "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress". [3] They were the first UK songwriting partnership to win an Ivor Novello Award as 'Songwriters of the Year' over two successive years. [4]

In 1997, Cook became the first British songwriter to enter the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. [1]

Biography

Early life

Cook was born in Fishponds, Bristol, England. [1] Most of the hits he has written have been in collaboration with Roger Greenaway, whom he originally met while they were members of a close harmony group, the Kestrels. Continuing on as a duo, Cook and Greenaway then had a brief but successful recording career between 1965 and 1967 as David and Jonathan, scoring hits with a cover version of the Beatles' "Michelle", and their own "Lovers of the World Unite". [5] They also penned their first hit as songwriters for others in 1965, with "You've Got Your Troubles", a UK number 2 and US number 7 for the Fortunes. [6] [7]

As a performer Cook is best remembered as a member of Blue Mink, sharing lead vocals with Madeline Bell. The group was formed in 1969, primarily as a producer's outfit, featuring a wealth of top session musicians including Herbie Flowers (bassist), Alan Parker (guitarist), Roger Coulam (keyboardist) and Barry Morgan (drummer), [8] who were simultaneously members of the jazz / rock / big band fusion outfit CCS, another mainly recording act.

Over the next four years Blue Mink had several Top 20 entries, mostly co-written by Cook, the most successful being "Melting Pot" and "The Banner Man", before they disbanded in 1974. [8]

Cook also sang backing vocals on some of the earliest recordings by Elton John, [8] and continued to record albums as a solo artist, including Study (1970), credited to Roger James Cooke, Meanwhile Back at the World (1972), Minstrel in Flight (1973) and Alright (1976). [1]

Major hits

Amongst hits he has written with others, including Greenaway and writers such as Albert Hammond, Mike Hazlewood and Tony Macaulay are "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" (The New Seekers), "Good Times, Better Times" (Cliff Richard), "Softly Whispering I Love You" (The Congregation), "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" (Gene Pitney), "Home Lovin' Man" (Andy Williams), "Blame It on the Pony Express" (Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon), "Something Old, Something New" (The Fantastics), "Conversations" and "Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight)" (Cilla Black), "I've Got You on My Mind", "My Baby Loves Lovin'" (White Plains), "Gasoline Alley Bred" and "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress" (The Hollies); "Freedom Come, Freedom Go" (The Fortunes), "Doctor's Orders" (Sunny), "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman" (Whistling Jack Smith) and "Like Sister and Brother" (The Drifters). Cook co-wrote "I Just Want to Dance with You" with John Prine; Prine recorded the song in 1986 for his album German Afternoons , and it was a hit for George Strait in 1998. [1]

Cook and Greenaway also wrote "High 'N' Dry" (Cliff Richard), which was the B-side of "Congratulations", [9] the runner-up song for the UK Eurovision Song Contest in 1968. [10]

Move to the USA

In 1975 Cook moved to the US and settled in Nashville, Tennessee, where he produced more hits including "Talking in Your Sleep" (Crystal Gayle in 1978, first recorded by Marmalade) and "Love Is on a Roll" (Don Williams). [1] In 1977 he produced The Nashville Album, a record by Chip Hawkes, who had recently left the Tremeloes (but would rejoin the group a few years thereafter). He also opened a publishing company with accomplished songwriter Ralph Murphy named Pic-A-Lic.

In 1992 he joined former Stranglers member Hugh Cornwell and guitarist Andrew West to release an album, CCW . [1] Later he turned to writing for the stage and he has worked on two musicals, Beautiful and Damned , based on the lives of Jazz Age author F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda, in collaboration with Les Reed; and Don't You Rock Me Daddio, set in 1957 at the height of the skiffle age, with Joe Brown.

In 1997, Cook became the first British songwriter to enter the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. [1]

Cook's daughter, Katie, is a host/presenter for cable network CMT. [11]

Discography

Albums

As songwriter

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Pitney</span> American singer and songwriter (1940–2006)

Gene Francis Alan Pitney was an American singer, songwriter, and musician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Alexander</span> American country-soul songwriter and singer (1940–1993)

Arthur Alexander was an American country-soul songwriter and singer. Jason Ankeny, music critic for AllMusic, said Alexander was a "country-soul pioneer" and that, though largely unknown, "his music is the stuff of genius, a poignant and deeply intimate body of work on par with the best of his contemporaries." Alexander's songs were covered by such stars as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Otis Redding, Tina Turner, Pearl Jam, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

<i>CCW</i> (album) 1992 studio album by Hugh Cornwell, Roger Cook and Andy West

CCW is an album by Hugh Cornwell, formerly of the new wave group the Stranglers, with Roger Cook and Andy West. It was released in 1992 by UFO Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Burrows</span> English pop singer and recording artist

Anthony Burrows is an English pop singer and recording artist. As a prolific session musician, Burrows was involved in several transatlantic hit singles throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, most of which were one-hit wonders, including "Love Grows " by Edison Lighthouse, "United We Stand" by Brotherhood of Man, "My Baby Loves Lovin'" by White Plains, "Gimme Dat Ding" by the Pipkins and "Beach Baby" by the First Class.

Blue Mink were a British six-piece pop group that existed from 1969 to 1977. Over that period they had six top 20 hit singles on the UK Singles Chart, and released five studio based albums. According to AllMusic: "they have been immortalised on a string of compilation albums, each recounting the string of effervescent hits that established them among Britain's best-loved pop groups of the early 1970s."

The Chanter Sisters are sisters Irene and Doreen Chanter who perform both as a duo, and as backing for other singers. They released three albums and a number of singles from the mid to late 1970s.

Tony Macaulay is an English author, composer for musical theatre, and songwriter. He has won the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors Award twice as 'Songwriter of the Year'. He is a nine time Ivor Novello Awards winning songwriter. In 2007, he became the only British person to win the Edwin Forrest Award for outstanding contribution to the American theatre. Macaulay's best-known songs include "Baby Now That I've Found You" and "Build Me Up Buttercup" with The Foundations, "(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All," as well as "Love Grows " and "Don't Give Up on Us".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Greenaway</span> English singer, songwriter and record producer

Roger John Reginald Greenaway is an English singer, songwriter and record producer, best known for his collaborations with Roger Cook and Tony Burrows. His compositions have included "You've Got Your Troubles" and the transatlantic million-selling songs "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing " and "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress". They were the first UK songwriting partnership to be granted an Ivor Novello Award as 'Songwriters of the Year' in two successive years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Plains (band)</span> British pop music group

White Plains were a British pop music group that existed from 1969 to 1976. They had an ever-changing line-up of musicians and five UK hit singles, all on the Deram Records label, in the early 1970s.

Leslie David Reed was an English songwriter, arranger, musician and light-orchestra leader. His major songwriting partners were Gordon Mills, Barry Mason, and Geoff Stephens, although he wrote songs with many others such as Roger Greenaway, Roger Cook, Peter Callander, and Johnny Worth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">You've Got Your Troubles</span> 1965 single by the Fortunes

"You've Got Your Troubles" was the inaugural composition by the prolific songwriting team of Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway in 1964. "You've Got Your Troubles" became a number 2 UK hit for the Fortunes in the United Kingdom in August 1965, affording the group international success including a Top Ten ranking in the US. The track was included on the Fortunes' self-titled 1965 debut album release, the group's only album release of the 1960s.

<i>The Best of Cilla Black</i> 1968 compilation album by Cilla Black

The Best of Cilla Black is a compilation album by Cilla Black. It was first released in 1968 and originally included 14 of her biggest hit singles, a selection of B-sides and album tracks, released between 1963 and 1968. Many of these tracks had not been previously available on an album. It was usual in this period for artists to record songs exclusively for single release only. The album reached number 21 on the UK Albums Chart.

<i>German Afternoons</i> 1986 studio album by John Prine

German Afternoons is the ninth album by American folk singer and songwriter John Prine, released in 1986.

<i>Sher-oo!</i> 1968 studio album by Cilla Black

Sher-oo! is Cilla Black's third solo studio album, released on 1 April 1968 by Parlophone Records. The album reached No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart. The album's Paul McCartney-penned lead single "Step Inside Love" reached #8 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was the opening theme tune to the first four series of the BBC TV variety show Cilla. The album was re-issued in the 1970s with different cover art and re-titled Step Inside Love, on the EMI Music For Pleasure (MFP) label.

<i>Beginnings: Greatest Hits & New Songs</i> 2003 compilation album by Cilla Black

Beginnings: Greatest Hits & New Songs is the fifteenth solo studio album by Cilla Black. The project features eleven all-new studio recordings produced by Ted Carfrae alongside nine of Black's own hit singles produced by George Martin. Also included as a hidden track is a club remix of a re-recording of "Step Inside Love", produced by DJ Tommy Sandhu.

"Doctor's Orders" is a song written by Roger Cook, Roger Greenaway and Geoff Stephens which, in 1974, was a hit in the UK for Sunny of Sue and Sunny; in the US the song was a hit for Carol Douglas.

<i>Andy Williams Greatest Hits Vol. 2</i> (British album) 1972 compilation album by Andy Williams

Andy Williams' Greatest Hits Vol. 2 is a compilation album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released in the UK in 1972 by the CBS Records division of Columbia. The US album that shares this title was released in June 1973 by Columbia Records but had only three of its 11 tracks in common with those on this album and used a different cover photo and design.

<i>B Sides and Rarities</i> (Andy Williams album) 2003 compilation album by Andy Williams

B Sides and Rarities is a compilation album by the American pop singer Andy Williams that was released by Collectables Records on May 27, 2003. Although the collection starts with two 1947 recordings by Kay Thompson and The Williams Brothers, the rest of the material comes from his time at Columbia Records and includes covers of contemporary hits as well as lesser-known material from the songwriters of "Can't Get Used to Losing You", "Home Lovin' Man" and "Moon River".

<i>The Very Best of Andy Williams</i> (2009 album) 2009 compilation album by Andy Williams

The Very Best of Andy Williams is a compilation album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released in the UK on October 5, 2009. A note from Williams inside the CD booklet explains that the album "was put together to coincide with my memoir Moon River and Me, published by Orion Press. It includes many of the songs that you made hits. I truly appreciate that, and I hope you enjoy the songs we selected for this CD." This compilation includes recordings that either charted in the UK but not in the US or charted much higher on the UK singles chart than they did on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. It entered the UK albums chart on October 17, 2009, and reached number 10 during its six weeks there.

<i>The Essential Andy Williams</i> 2002 compilation album by Andy Williams

The Essential Andy Williams is a compilation album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released in the UK by Sony Music Entertainment in 2002. The label also released a two-CD compilation with the same title in the U.S. & Australia in 2013 that had a different cover photo and contained 36 tracks.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Huey, Steve (19 August 1940). "Roger Cook – Music Biography, Credits and Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  2. ↑ Ami Sedghi (4 November 2012). "UK's million-selling singles: the full list". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  3. ↑ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. pp.  313/4. ISBN   0-214-20512-6.
  4. ↑ "2009 Award and Induction Ceremony Induction Ceremonies". Songwriters Hall of Fame. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  5. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 142. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  6. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 208. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  7. ↑ "Roger Greenaway Timeline". Songwriters Hall of Fame. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  8. 1 2 3 "Blue Mink biography by Dave Thompson". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  9. ↑ "Cliff Richard - Congratulations". Discogs. 1968. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  10. ↑ "Massiel e Iñigo acusan a La Sexta de 'urdir todo para favorecer a Chikilicuatre'". Elmundo.es. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  11. ↑ Morton, Ken. "Interviewing the Interviewer – CMT's Katie Cook". Engine 145. Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
  12. 1 2 "The "Hilltop" Ad: The Story of a Commercial". Memory.loc.gov. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
  13. ↑ Martin C. Strong: The Great Rock Discography, Edinburgh/Ffm. 1996, ISBN   0-86241-604-3
  14. ↑ Günter Ehnert (Hrsg.): Hit-Bilanz, Deutsche Chart Singles 1956–1980. Taurus-Press, Hamburg 1990, ISBN   3-922542-24-7, S. 51
  15. ↑ Joel Whitburn: The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. 7. Auflage. Billboard Books, New York 2000, ISBN   0-8230-7690-3, S. 214


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.