Album Notes

Gene Cook was born in Dothan Alabama on March 31, 1963. When he was 6 years old he joined the kid's choir at Grandview Baptist Church. The choir director told Gene's mother to always keep him involved in music, because at age 6 Gene's singing voice showed a lot of promise. So Mable and Collins Cook danced and played records for Gene and his sister Wynona. Gene heard a variety of music, but what he liked mostly was Soul, R&B, and Rockabilly. Everyday the sounds of Sam Cooke, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry would ring through the Cook household. By the time Gene was 9, Gladys Knight, Roberta Flack, and Billy Preston had caught his ear. Next came Funk bands like The Ohio Players and Earth Wind and Fire. Gene's family moved to Dublin Georgia when he turned 12. He got his first guitar and got bit by the rock bug. Bands like Boston, Foreigner, and Journey would hold his attention for the next decade. He played in rock bands during his Jr. High and High school Years. When Gene graduated from Dublin High School he moved to Athens Georgia and attended the University of Georgia. Gene was like a kid in a candy store there, because Athens had such a happening music scene at that time. The B-52's had put Athens on the music map. Next would come R.E.M. Gene started playing Frat houses and clubs while going to college. He began traveling on weekends up and down the East Coast. When Gene graduated in 1985, with a B.A. in Psychology, Gene hit the road for 7 years in a rock band (Four Score). He worked on his writing skills and singing skills during this time. At 25 Gene decided it was time to do his own music. He started a group in Athens Georgia that he called Body Electric. This was the first band Gene had ever been in that exclusively played music that he had composed. Gene experimented mixing Rock with R&B. An Attorney in Atlanta asked Gene if he would be interested in getting on Ed McMann's Star Search. Gene said he'd take any publicity he could get. Body Electric auditioned for the show in 1991 and was excepted. Shortly after that T.V. appearance the head of A&R of Famous Music New York, Jerry Love, called and said he had seen the band on the show and wanted to fly down and see them live. Gene told him to come to Atlanta and see them do a showcase at the New Music Seminar. He did and Gene was signed to his first publishing deal. Over the next 2 years Gene played in Body Electric still searching for a record deal. The band won MTV's Basement Tapes for best video in Athens. After 2 years with that band Gene decided that it wasn't going anywhere and he longed to get back to his roots. He asked Famous Music to set him up with some solo gigs in New York and let him play his Soul music, just him and an acoustic guitar. They agreed and Gene was signed to East West Atlantic Records just four months later. Sylvia Roane, who had put Envogue together, said she wanted a white man who sang black. Gene's red hair and blue eyes, along with his Alabama accent, just didn't seem to go with his soulful voice. That proved to be a very good selling point. Gene was truly blue-eyed soul. After 9 months with Atlantic Records, Gene's A&R representative was fired from the label and no album was ever released. It was very devastating news and for the first time Gene thought about getting out of the music business. Gene decided to give it another shot and try out for the Charlie Daniels Talent Round Up. He didn't think he had a shot, but decided to sing his R&B originals against 27 other singers doing country covers. Gene won male vocalist of 1996 and a $25,000 dollar cash prize. Charlie Daniels asked Gene what he was going to do with the money. Gene said," I moving to Nashville". Since moving to Nashville Gene has had songs recorded by Country artist John Berry and most recently blues great John Mayall. The cut by John Mayall, Along For The Ride, wound up being the title cut of the album, but even better than that it was a duet with Billy Preston. Gene felt that was the biggest complement to his abilities to write true R&B music. Shortly after that Gene received an e-mail from Mutt Lange. Mutt explained that he might do a record on Billy Preston in the future and wanted Gene to be a writer with him and Mr. Preston on this project. Shortly after Mr. Preston became very ill and to this date has been unable to work towards this project. Gene decided to continue writing anyway and has produced this CD "Unpredictable", once again revisiting his R&B roots. Since moving to Nashville Gene has had publishing deals with the Hamstein Music Group and Warner/Chappell publishing.