Cook da Books formed in 1980 in
Fazakerley,
Liverpool composed of former members of pub/cabaret circuit groups 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. The initial line-up was Kevin Kunky Kelly (Guitar/vocals) Peter "Digsy" Deary (vocals, guitar), Owen Moran (bass, vocals), Tony Prescott (keyboards), and John Legget (drums). 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" & 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 2. Several scenes in the movie are set during a Cook da Books live show, culminating with the band performing "Your Eyes", which was a hit in
Europe,
Hong Kong, and the Philippines, selling over 900,000 copies and earning the band a
gold disc. They appeared on the BBC TV show
Whistle Test in 1985. In 1984, they contributed the demo version of "Piggy In The Middle 8" to Ronnie Flood's
Jobs For the Boys compilation album, released to highlight the lack of employment available in
Thatcher's Britain, particularly Liverpool. Though 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. 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. They also recorded "The Lookout Is Out" with new lyrics (based on the melody of "Asterix est là" by
Plastic Bertrand), the theme song for the 1986 animated film
Asterix in Britain. Singer/guitarist Peter "Digsy" Deary went on to front
Smaller, featuring his brother Stephen on drums, which had UK hit singles in 1996 and 1997 with "Wasted" and "Is", and was celebrated in the
Oasis song "
Digsy's Dinner" from their debut album
Definitely Maybe. Oasis's
Noel Gallagher was also a guest on Smaller's 1997 album
Badly Badly. He then fronted The Sums in the 2000s. In 2012, Digsy and Owen were the subject of a documentary entitled ''We Wouldn't Want to Knock It'' by Liverpool filmmakers Daniel Draper and Frankie Cowley. ==Style==