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Paul Cook
Paul Cook
Background information
Birth name	Paul Cook
Born	July 20, 1956
Origin	London, England
Genre(s)	Rock, Punk rock
Instrument(s)	Drums
Label(s)	Virgin Records, Warner Bros.
Associated acts	Sex Pistols (1975 - 1978, 1996, 2002 - 2003) The Professionals (1980 - 1982) Chiefs of Relief (1987 - 1988) Man-Raze (2004 - Present)

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

Cook was raised in the Hammersmith, 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compilation album Cash Cows, which featured the Professionals track "Kick Down the Doors" from these sessions was withdrawn.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 four singles and one album (though a demo's album surfaced later), but never regained the success of their Pistols days.

In the early 1980s, Cook, along with fellow ex-Pistol Steve Jones discovered the English New Wave girl-group Bananarama and 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 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.