b. 24 May 1949, San Antonio, Texas, USA. Cook was aware from a young age that he wanted to become a songwriter. However, by chance, he also became a respected producer. He graduated from the University of Texas in the early 70s and immediately moved to Nashville ‘ready to start work’. There he met Don Gant who signed him to Acuff-Rose Music. Cook stayed with the company for four years before moving to Tree Publishing where he wrote and co-wrote many hit singles, including his first number 1, ‘Lady Lay Down’, co-written with Rafe Vanhoy and recorded by John Conlee. Along with Chick Rains and Cindy Greene, Cook wrote the Country Top 10 success ‘Now I Know’ for Lari White. Other numerous hit songs he has written include ‘Getting Better All The Time’, ‘Brand New Man’, ‘My Next Broken Heart’, ‘You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone’, ‘She Used To Be Mine’ (Brooks And Dunn), ‘What I Meant To Say’, ‘Old Enough To Know Better’, ‘On A Good Night’ (Wade Hayes). With no aspiration to be a record producer Cook found that by helping his friend Kix Brooks (of Brooks And Dunn) make a demo in 1990 he unwittingly highlighted another of his talents. From the early 90s Cook’s best known production work has been with Brooks And Dunn (Brand New Man), the Mavericks (What A Crying Shame, Music For All Occasions), Shenandoah (In The Vicinity Of The Heart), Lonestar (Lonestar, From There To Here, Crazy Nights), Tracy Lawrence (Time Marches On), Rick Treviño (‘Changing In Your Eyes’), Conway Twitty (Final Touches), Olivia Newton-John (Back With A Heart), Joe Diffie (A Night To Remember). In 1994, Cook became Senior Vice-President at Nashville’s largest music publisher Sony/ATV Tree and four years later was honoured as their Chief Creative Officer. In 2004, he left the publishing side of the music business to spend more time on his songwriting.