R&B and doo-wop performer “Little” Joe Cook passed away on Monday. He was 91.
Little Joe & The Thrillers had a hit in 1957 “Peanuts” which reached #22 on the Billboard Charts. From then on, he was known as The Peanut Man.
Originally from Philadelphia, Cook moved to Boston in the late 1960’s and in 1980 became a fixture at the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge until retiring in 2007. I spent many nights watching “Little” Joe’s revue in the upstairs part of the Cantab. He became some a fixture that the city renamed that section of Central Square “Little” Joe Cook Square. Central Square will never be the same again.
