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FYI

BJ Cook – Ronnie Hawkins, David Foster, Skylark and Rock n’ Roll

During the mid-seventies, BJ Cook and partner David Foster walked into our Gothic Avenue home. It was the early days of Skylark and the two were looking for songs.

BJ Cook – Ronnie Hawkins, David Foster, Skylark and Rock n’ Roll

By Bill King

During the mid-seventies, BJ Cook and partner David Foster walked into our Gothic Avenue home. It was the early days of Skylark and the two were looking for songs. My mind was elsewhere but we did share a few laughs about our encounters with Ronnie Hawkins of which the two were coming off a wild ride with the entertaining rockabilly dynamo.


Cook and Foster were married on a road trip through Florida in 1972, and daughter Amy Skylark Foster was born the following year. The hits started coming. Songwriting is a family tradition. Cook herself co-wrote with established LA songwriters Michael McDonald, Brenda Russell, Foster, Bill Champlin and Donovan, and daughter Amy has written three of Michael Bublé’s hits.

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Cook’s life reads much like an open novel. Pregnant at 16, facing the hostility of small-town living, the hard times, coming rock n’ roll revolution and the long unwinding road.

In part one of this conversation, we talk of the early years, the contagious laughs with Ronnie Hawkins, scuffling with soon-to-be partner David Foster, Skylark and the devastating illness overtaking lead singer Donny Gerrard, who passed away last week.

Cook would later team up with the late Domenic Troiano and co-write the television theme hit Night Heat.

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Jelly Roll
Eric Ryan Anderson
Jelly Roll
Chart Beat

Jelly Roll Reigns Over Billboard Canada Airplay Charts With 'Liar'

The impassioned track takes the No. 1 spot on the All-Format and Canada Country charts this week, while it sits at No. 33 on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100. Canadian artist Alex Porat is also making moves on the CHR chart with "Face Like Yours."

"Liar" is on a roll.

The hot single by Nashville's Jelly Roll tops the Billboard Canada All-Format airplay chart this week. The song has spent 11 weeks on the chart, and it dethrones Morgan Wallen's "Love Somebody," which moves to No. 2. Myles Smith's "Stargazing," the chart leader for most of the year to date, falls to No. 4.

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