Helen McCookerybook (born Helen McCallum, now Dr Helen Reddington) was the bassist and vocalist with Brighton based punk band The Chefs during the late 1970s and early 1980s. She later formed Helen And The Horns before continuing her career as a solo artist, writer and lecturer. Her album Suburban Pastoral, was released through Rough Trade in 2006.
She also published her first book (as Helen Reddington) The Lost Women of Rock Music: Female Musicians of the Punk Era in July 2007. The book features interviews with The Slits, Gina Birch of The Raincoats, The Mo-dettes, Enid Williams (Girlschool), The Dolly Mixtures, Gaye Black (The Adverts), Vi Subversa (Poison Girls), Rhoda Dakar, Lucy O'Brien, Attila the Stockbroker, Caroline Coon, Geoff Travis and the late John Peel.
In 2006 she released her second solo album entitled Poetry and Rhyme which also featured contributions from Martin Stephenson and in 2009 Helen recorded Hamilton Square, a collaborative album with Martin Stephenson.
Take One is the latest album to come from Helen McCookerybook and the title is pertinent in that all of the songs on the album were recorded in “One Take”
Recorded at the Cluny studio in just two days in January 2010 the album contains ten songs featuring just Helen and her guitar. As the sleeve notes from Martin Stephenson explain. “The concept is to hear the artist in her purest from”
Songs include Three Maple Men, The House on the Hill, New Years Eve and Little England. A proven demand in the market with her previous albums and also her work with Martin Stephenson will ensure a ready audience for Helen’s latest album.
.
