'70s Punk Rock Legend and Founding Member of Iconic Rock Band Turns 70

Paul Cook, also known as “Cookie” by his friends and the founding member of the English rock band Sex Pistols, is celebrating his 70th birthday on Monday.

The English musician was born on July 20, 1956, and was raised in London. While at school, he met Steve Jones and Wally Nightingale and formed the band Strand. Three years later, the group evolved into the Sex Pistols, which ended up initiating the punk rock movement across the United Kingdom during its very short tenure.

Cook has named his influences as T. Rex, Roxy Music and Slade, as well as drummers from various bands such as the Faces and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. He was also heavily inspired by David Bowie, whose bandmates stole equipment from back in their early days, according to a video interview with Loudwire.

“You’ve got to understand, we weren’t very rich at the time, and we wanted to form a band,” Cook clarified. “There’s a famous story out there with Steve; when David Bowie was doing his final shows at the Ziggy Stardust Tour. Between shows, they’d leave all the equipment standing overnight. And it was a big mistake, especially with us around.”

The rise and fall of the Sex Pistols

In the mid-1970s, the Sex Pistols were garnering major attention, especially from the British press, after they swore live on air during a TV interview in late 1976. They also performed a lot at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall, which inspired several successful bands to form and influenced the English indie music scene. The original lineup included Cook, Jones, Glen Matlock, Nick Kent, Steve New and Johnny Rotton.

The Sex Pistols received even more recognition thanks to their 1977 single, “God Save the Queen,” which described the Royal Family as a “fascist regime” and was released at the same time the Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebrations were taking place. The song was quickly banned by the BBC and became the most censored record in British history. That same year, they released their debut album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols, which became the No. 1 album in the UK and is regarded as an important development of punk rock. Despite the title and the time of its release, Cook claims that “it wasn’t written specifically for the Queen’s Jubilee.”

“We weren’t aware of it at the time. It wasn’t a contrived effort to go out and shock everyone,” Cook told Far Out Magazine in 2020.

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Despite the band’s success after their debut album, the Sex Pistols suddenly split up in the middle of their U.S. tour. During the tour, which was scheduled to have only nine shows, vocalist John Rotten was suffering a terrible illness while their bassist, Sid Vicious, was dealing with drug abuse and arrests. A day after performing their San Francisco concert on January 14, 1978, Rotten quit the band and announced the Sex Pistols’ breakup.

Afterward, Cook and Jones worked on the soundtrack for the 1979 film The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle before starting a new band called the Professionals with Andy Allan. But after Allan caused some legal issues, they decided to go solo and worked on Johnny Thunders’ album, So Alone.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the English musician worked with various groups, including Bananarama, Chiefs of Relief, Edwyn Collins and Phil Collen as their drummer. In 1996, Cook reunited with the surviving Sex Pistols for their Filthy Lucre world tour.

Since then, the Sex Pistols have reunited multiple times throughout the 2000s and 2010s. In October 2025, Matlock revealed that the band had “ideas” regarding new music, but were afraid that it wouldn’t recieve well among contemporary audiences.

What is Paul Cook doing now?

From helping shape one of the most influential bands in punk history to continuing to perform and inspire new generations of musicians, Cook has remained a steady presence in British rock for decades.

As he celebrates his 70th birthday, Cook is still very involved in the music industry. Alongside occasionally playing with the Sex Pistols, he continues to play for various punk bands such as Subway Sect and The Professionals. In addition, he also tours occasionally with Generation Sex, a supergroup featuring Jones.

Cook reportedly still lives in London with his wife, Jeni, and his daughter Hollie, who is also a musician.

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