COLIN COOK

Colin Cook was born in 1942 in England and came from a very musical family which migrated to Australia when he was a young boy. He was educated Haileybury College and after this spent two years studying music and learning the sax and clarinet. Cook joined the highly successful band The Thunderbirds who were the bastions of Melbourne's early 1960s rock n roll scene and also backed many solo singers on the Melbourne dance circuit. After being with The Thunderbirds followed by The Sapphires, Cook left to concentrate on a solo singing career. Initially he started out doing mainly backing vocals for artists like Judy Cannon. Colin then went on to establish himself as a soloist on the local dance circuit. He was also appearing on all of the local television teen shows. In late 1962 he signed with the W&G label and his debut single was a cover of American Ricky Nelson's hit song ''It's Up To You''. The single spent three weeks on the local charts and reached the Top 40 in January 1963.

A second single was released in June before he decided to try his luck in Sydney. His next single was released in November but it wasn't until January 1964 that he re-entered the charts with his biggest selling hit, a cover of American Kenny Chandler's record called ''Heart''. He also recorded his debut album 'Colin Cook and The Strangers' in the same year followed by 'Here's Colin Cook'.

During his six-month stay in Sydney he appeared regularly on The Johnny O'Keefe Show and Bandstand and performed at all the top leagues and RSL clubs. Shortly after his return to Melbourne, he embarked on a national promotional tour. Despite a strong local following Colin was never able to produce regular hit records. Of his three single releases till the end 1965 two of them just scraped into the bottom half of the local Top 40. In 1966 he switched to the Clarion label but didn't achieve any chart success there. Cook relocated to the UK in 1967 and subsequently enjoyed a successful career performing there in such West End London productions as Hair, Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Jesus Christ Superstar in the 1970’s as well as many British TV series including The Two Ronnies, Dr. Who, and The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. Following that he worked his way back to Australia as a shipboard entertainer on the cruise ship Fairstar. On his return Colin scored a part in the Australian stage production of Hair. 

SINGLES

It's Up To You (#39) / Just Another Rumour'' [with The Thin Men and The Strangers] 1962 W&G
''Come On Back Baby / Blues Over You'' [with The Strangers] 1963 W&G
''Heart (#39) / Surfing Holiday'' [with The Strangers] 1963 W&G
''Sea Of Love / High School Romance'' [with The Strangers] 1964 W&G
''Put Me Down / A Teenager Feels It Too'' 1964 W&G
''Heeby Jeebies / Blue Ribbon Baby'' (#49) 1964 W&G
''Funny (#64) / Stop Sneaking Around'' 1965 W&G
''Well, Don't You Know (#39) / Trying To Get To You'' 1965 W&G
''Boppin' The Blues / Hey, Pretty Baby'' (#65) 1966 W&G
''Ain't Got You / Foolish Little Boy'' 1966 W&G
''Wanted (#78) / I'll Always Be In Love With You'' 1966 W&G
''My Gal / Handsome Guy'' 1966 W&G
''Pocketful Of Rainbows (#57) / Everybody's Talkin' 'Bout A Thing Called Love'' 1967 Clarion
''Cry I Do / You Baby'' 1967 Clarion
''I've Had My Moments / Riot In Cell Block Number 9'' 1968 Clarion
''Take Your Time Little Girl / Love For Living'' 1972 Philips
''Brylcreem And Blue Suede Shoes / Be Bop And Blue Suede Shoes (Extended Dance Mix)'' 1984 Southern Rock

EPs

'Colin Cook' 1963 W&G

'Colin Cook' 1964 W&G

'Boppin' The Blues' 1966 W&G

'Wanted' 1966 W&G

ALBUMS

'Colin Cook And The Strangers' 1964 W&G
'Here's Colin Cook' 1964 W&G

References

http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/