Katie Cook

THE MUSICIAN:

Unlike most television personalities, Katie actually found her way to television through music. Born in London, England, she is the daughter of Hall of Fame songwriter, Roger Cook (“Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress” for The Hollies, “You’ve Got Your Troubles” for the Fortunes, Coca-Cola’s “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing,” Crystal Gayle’s “Talking in Your Sleep,” Don William’s “I Believe in You,” and George Straight’s “One Night at a Time” and “I Wanna Dance With You.”)

Katie has been immersed in the entertainment industry since birth, and it was no surprise the music bug eventually kicked in. After high school, Cook began working on her singing career. This led to her going back to England to be closer to her family and work with long-time family friend and power-manager Harry Barter (George Martin, Ultravox, Dead or Alive, Paul Young). She formed a band with her brother Jason Cook and guitarist Tony Wade called Reno.

Katie’s love of country music eventually led to Reno to relocating part-time back to Nashville where they landed a deal with Curb Records. After one self-titled album for Curb and a nationwide tour, Reno disbanded. While continuing her solo music career, Katie auditioned for a host position at CMT in 2001, thinking her music knowledge might make her a good fit for the network. She was hired and her life instantly changed. During her 14 years at CMT, Katie has found herself too busy to make another full length album, but has continued to write songs and sing around town purely for the love of it. Those songs began to pile up and the urge to sing kept nagging at her, so Katie is currently working on an album and hopes to have it available soon.

Hear samples of Katie’s music below:

THE AUTHOR:

While traveling with her band Reno in 2000, Katie got the idea for a children’s book series.

Promoting Reno’s album took her on the road for long stretches of time and these often boring road trips mixed with Katie's wild imagination was Little Big Benny’s genesis. It started with the idea that while we may be small in the grand cosmic scheme of things, we also have a universe within as well, which makes us absolutely giant at the same time. Katie dreamed of creating a character that could explore ideas like this while maintaining a sense humor, like the children’s entertainment she grew up with offered.

When Katie became a mother herself, she knew it was time to take this half-baked idea and develop into a full-fledged children's book series. She hopes one day to see Little Big Benny animated and on the big screen.