Who Are Those Singers & Musicians ~ The COOK & BENJAMIN FRANKLIN GROUP

 

Greenfield & Cook was a singer-songwriter duo from The Hague, The Netherlands, active between 1969 and 1974. Because of their vocal harmonies they were referred to by many as 'the Dutch Simon & Garfunkel', but their sound was, in truth, much more inspired by the breezy sound of The Byrds and other American west coast groups of the era.

Former members of The Hague beat band The Hurricanes, Rink Groenveld and Peter Kok formed their duo in 1967, initially under the moniker Popshop. In 1969 they renamed themselves Greenfield & Cook: half-serious, literal translations of their Dutch family names into English.

Greenfield & Cook had a string of six Top 20 hits in The Netherlands, including 'Only Lies' (#4 in 1971), 'Don't Turn Me Loose' (#6 in 1972) and 'Easy Boy' (#8 in 1973). They released two full-length LPs: Greenfield & Cook (1972) and Second Album (1973).

They enjoyed some minor success abroad, in Germany and Spain primarily (they recorded Spanish-language versions of some of their singles), and wrote film scores for two Italian movies, 'La Signora è Stata Violentata' and 'Quattro dell'Apocalisse'.

Both Groenveld and Kok embarked on solo careers in 1974, holding on to their 'English' second names: Rink Greenfield and Peter Cook. Their solo activities marked the end of Greenfield & Cook as a duo.

The Cook & Benjamin Franklin Group consisted of Greenfield, Cook accompanied by musicians Franco Bixio, Fabio Frizzi and Vince Tempera. The latter three have been previously covered individually under composer biographies.

The COOK & BENJAMIN FRANKLIN GROUP [COOK, Peter (Peter Kok) [11/30/1949, The Hague, Netherlands -     ] - singer, GREENFIELD, Rink (Rink Groeneveld) [12/14/1948, The Netherlands -     ] - singer, BIXIO, Franco (aka Leon Herbert) [1/29/1950, Rome, Lazio, Italy -     ] - composer, arranger, songwriter, singer, son of composer Cesare Andrea Bixio [1896-1978]. FRIZZI, Fabio (aka Andrew Barrymore, Antony Barrymore, Frizzi, F. Frizzi) [7/2/1951, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy -     ] – composer, conductor, songwriter, musician (keyboards), singer, actor, TEMPERA, Vince [9/18/1946, Milan, Lombardy, Italy -     ] – singing group.

4 of the Apocalypse… - 1974 [sing: “Movin’ On”, “Bunny (Let’s Stay Together)”, “Was it All in

     Vain”, “Let Us Pray”, Stubby (You’re Down and Out)”]