'Cook Da Books' formed in 1980 in Fazakerley, Liverpool and their style has been compared to 'Duran Duran',' U2' and 'Squeeze'. Their success began with politically charged compositions and peaked
with pop friendly film soundtrack and commercial releases. The band
had a self professed reputation for being fiercely independent but
enjoyed major label attention and numerous high profile global
performances
The initial line-up with Kevin 'Kunky' Kelly on guitar and vocals, Peter 'Digsy'
Deary on vocals and guitar, Owen Moran on bass and vocals, Tony Prescott on keyboards and drummer John Legget was composed of former members of two of the pub/cabaret circuit groups. These were 'The Dogems' and
'Brooklyn', two bands not connected with the city's punk and new wave
scene, but competent musicians with close harmonies gained from the
Hilda Fallon Roadshow days, similar to other local bands such as 'Our Kid'
When Kevin Kelly left they became a foursome.
They initially gained attention with their acclaimed and politically charged debut single 'Piggie in the Middle 8', with provocative lyrics about the Toxteth riots. The band's manager played a demo to well-known reggae producer Dennis Bovell, who had recently produced a No.2 record with Janet Kay's 'Silly Games', upon which he agreed to produce the track at his Studio80 in London.
A further deal was reached with Probe Records to release the record in the emerging independent market. This was the first record ever released on the Probe label, which went on to find success with many other artists following this release. Local photographer John Stoddart was enlisted to produce the artwork for the 7" and 12" sleeves. After this first band session, Stoddart went on to photograph many bands, most notably 'Frankie Goes To Hollywood' through their major success.
The single brought them to the attention of musician Vladimir Cosma who included three tracks by the band on the soundtrack to the French film 'La Boum' showing the band playing 'Your Eyes', which subsequently reached No.1 in Europe and Hong Kong, selling over 900,000 copies and earning the band a Gold Disc.This brought them international recognition, while remaining relatively unknown in England and the USA.
Live shows followed including high-profile supporting tours in the UK and USA with 'The Undertones' at the Odeon, Birmingham in April 1983, 'Men At Work' in July 1983 at the Glasgow, Apollo, and Joan Armatrading at Proctors Theatre, New York in April 1985. They had established a recording and rehearsal space in central Liverpool during the Virgin records deal but upon the demise of the deal their manager John Smith sold this venue on to another Liverpool band, 'Echo & The Bunnymen'.
Although the soundtrack to 'La Boum 2' was released on Polymer Records, and they were also signed to 10 Records, part of Virgin records, 'Cook Da Books' remained fiercely independent throughout their career, running their own label, Kiteland Records.
According to the band themselves in an interview with 'Explicit' magazine in 1983, "Being independent means that we've got the freedom to choose whatever we want, have whatever product we want marketed when we want".
In 1985 they sang the song 'Spartakus', written by Cosma, for the soundtrack of the French sci-fi cartoon TV 'Les Mondes Engloutis' ( 'Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea') In the same year they performed a concert with Joan Armatrading at the Gammage Performing Arts Center in Arizona. Their second and last album 'Big Dream' was produced by Marc Annaloro and was released in 1989.
After Prescott's departure, the remaining three members became simply 'Da Books' and re-emerged a year later with a cover of Stevie Wonder's 'Living for the City' released on Probe Plus.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2019/09/pool-of-sound-cherry-boys.html
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