Betsy Cook

Betsy Cook is an American-born singer, songwriter and musician. Since the late 1970s, she has worked mainly in the United Kingdom and collaborated with various British artists such as Gerry Rafferty, Ray Jackson, Lindisfarne, George Michael, Paul Young, Seal and Marc Almond. She later became affiliated with the producer Trevor Horn and worked on several of his projects in the late 1980s and early 1990s before releasing her own album, The Girl Who Ate Herself, in 1992. As a songwriter, Cook was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1988 for the song "Telling Me Lies".

Career Cook worked for many years as a session musician and backing vocalist for a variety of artists. Her earliest work was with Gerry Rafferty, providing backing vocals on his 1979 album Night Owl. The album was produced by the London-born producer Hugh Murphy, whom Cook married. The album also featured contributions from Richard Thompson and his wife Linda Thompson, with whom Cook would begin a working relationship. The same year, she also worked on albums by Mike Heron and the singer/comedian Richard Digance. Cook would work with Rafferty again as a backing vocalist on his 1980 album Snakes and Ladders, and as backing vocalist and keyboard player on Ray Jackson's "In The Night" album that year, again produced by Hugh Murphy. In 1981, Cook worked as a session musician for Bonnie Tyler Cook would work with Brady again on his 1983 album True for You, Although without her own recording deal at the time, "Wonderland" was later covered by the British singer Paul Young for his 1986 album Between Two Fires which Cook worked on as a backing vocalist. The track was released as the first single from the album and reached the UK Top 30.

Also in 1986, Cook began what would be a longterm working relationship with producer Trevor Horn and his associate Stephen Lipson by providing backing vocals on the second Frankie Goes To Hollywood album Liverpool. The song had been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Country Song after it had been covered by Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris collectively for their platinum-selling album Trio in 1987. The "Trio" version of the song had already been a Top 3 hit on the Billboard Country Singles Chart. "How Can I Believe?" (1992) UK no. 127 "Docklands" (1992) UK no. 142