Joseph Cook (December 29, 1922 – April 15, 2014), known as Little Joe Cook, was an American

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer of Little Joe & The Thrillers, whose song "Peanuts" reached No. 22 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Top 100 and No. 4 in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in 1957.

Life and career

He was born in

South Philadelphia South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south, and the Schuylkill River to the west."." ''City of Philadelphia''. Retrieved November 8, ...

, and started singing in church. His mother, Annie Hall, was a locally well-known

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

singer and his grandmother was a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

preacher.Richie Sarno, ''Little Joe Cook: A Doo-Wop Legend Lives On'', Atomic Magazine, 2002, reprinted at Cantab-Lounge.com
Retrieved 24 January 2013
Retrieved 24 January 2013 By the time he was 12, he and three cousins had formed a

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

vocal quartet, the Evening Stars, who had a one-hour weekly radio show in Philadelphia. Cook was noted for his

falsetto Falsetto ( , ; Italian language, Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ...

singing as well as his personality, and first recorded in 1949. In 1951 the group recorded "Say A Prayer for the Boys In Korea" for

Apex Records Apex Records was a Canadian record label owned by the Compo Company which lasted as late as 1980. Compo established the Apex label in July 1921 in Toronto. It released American recordings from Okeh Records and Gennett Records, among others. It al ...

. He also worked in shipbuilding for the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

, and as a delivery driver.Camille Dodero, ''Down at the Cantab'', Boston Phoenix, 27 March 2003
. Retrieved 24 January 2013 In the early 1950s Cook decided to make the transition to secular

music, later declining an offer to join

The Soul Stirrers The Soul Stirrers were an American gospel music group, whose career spans over eighty years. The group was a pioneer in the development of the quartet style of gospel, and a major influence on Soul, R&B, Doo-wop, and Southern soul, some of th ...

after

Sam Cooke Samuel Cooke (; January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964) was an American singer and songwriter. Considered one of the most influential soul music, soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the "King of Soul" for his distin ...

left. He formed a new

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ...

vocal group, the Thrillers, with Farrie Hill (second lead), Richard Frazier (tenor), Donald Burnett (baritone), and Henry Pascal (bass). They won a contract with

OKeh Records OKeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name originally was spelled "OkeH" from the init ...

in 1956, and their first single, "Do the Slop", was a regional hit in Philadelphia and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The song introduced a new

dance craze ''Dance Craze'' is a 1981 documentary film about the British Two-tone (music genre), 2 Tone music genre. The film was directed by Joe Massot, who originally wanted to do a film only about the band Madness (band), Madness, whom he met during th ...

, and the group performed at the

Apollo Theater The Apollo Theater (formerly the Hurtig & Seamon's New Theatre; also Apollo Theatre or 125th Street Apollo Theatre) is a multi-use Theater (structure), theater at 253 125th Street (Manhattan), West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of U ...

.Biography by Bruce Eder at Allmusic.com
Retrieved 24 January 2013 The group's second single, "Peanuts", was written by Cook and again featured his falsetto as the lead. Released in 1957, it won the group an appearance on ''

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'' (AB) is an American Music television, music performance and dance television series that aired in various iterations from 1952 to 1989. It was hosted by Dick Clark who also served as the program's Television producer, pr ...

'', and rose to No. 22 on the national pop chart, though it failed to make the

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

. Cook's falsetto singing style was reportedly an influence on singers

Frankie Valli Francesco Stephen Castelluccio (born May 3, 1934), better known by his stage name Frankie Valli, is an American singer and occasional actor, best known as the frontman (lead singer) of The Four Seasons (band), the Four Seasons. He is known for ...

, who recorded "Peanuts" with The Four Seasons, and on

Lou Christie Lugee Alfredo Giovanni Sacco (February 19, 1943 – June 17, 2025), known professionally by his stage name Lou Christie, was an American pop music, pop and soft rock singer-songwriter known for several hits in the 1960s, including his 1966 US ch ...

. Later recordings by the group were less successful, though they continued to release singles on the OKeh label until 1961. After a brief stay with

20th Century Records 20th Century Fox Records (also known as 20th Fox Records and 20th Century Records, or simply 20th Century Fox Film Scores and Fox Records) was a wholly owned subsidiary of film studio 20th Century Fox. The history of the label covers three distin ...

, the group broke up. Cook began performing solo, and toured with B. B. King and

Bobby "Blue" Bland Robert Calvin Bland (born Robert Calvin Brooks; January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer. Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. He was describ ...

. He also formed a group, The Sherrys, with his daughters, Delthine and Dinell Cook and their friends

Charlotte Butler Charlotte Butler was an English stage actress and singer of the seventeenth century. She may have joined the Duke's Company in the 1670s, but her first definite recorded performance was in Aphra Behn's '' The Revenge'' (1680) The anonymous ''A Sat ...

and Delores "Honey" Wylie. Their record "Pop Pop Pop-Pie" reached No. 25 on the R&B chart in 1962. Cook moved to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in the late 1960s, and continued to perform in clubs. He had a residency at the Cantab Lounge in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, from 1980 until he retired in 2007, being voted the region's Best Local R&B Performer in 2002. Cook became a local icon in Central Square (Cambridge) and he often he parked his yellow '70s Cadillac Seville on Mass Ave with an archetypal gold peanut hood ornament and the vanity plate "Nut Man". Little Joe Cook performed well into his 70s and devoted fans would frequent the Cantab on the weekends to dance to fan favorites including Lady from the Beauty Shop, Hold Up, and Down at the Cantab. Cook died of cancer on April 15, 2014, at the age of 91. He was survived by his wife Joanne and six children.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Little Joe 1922 births 2014 deaths American male singers Musicians from Philadelphia Singers from Pennsylvania Loma Records artists