David L. Cook (born November 11, 1968) is an American Christian country music singer-songwriter, comedian and a multiple Emmy® and Telly Awards winner. 　　Born to Donnell and June (née Mercer) Cook, David is the oldest of six children. He has written more than 2,500 songs, including Drop that Rock, which was featured on his album In the Middle of It All and garnered a Dove Award nomination for Christian Country Album of the Year in 1999. 　　In all of Cook's overseas recordings his surname is Cooke to distinguish it from his work in the United States. The male members of The Cook Family Singers have always used just their middle initials as a trademark, a trait beginning back in 1885 when the first such group was formed. 　　In 1990 Cook was diagnosed with a dissociative disorder and psychogenic amnesia reportedly brought on by an abusive father. In 1999 Cook's story was used as a lead story with The 700 Club. 　　Cook's first solo Christian album, Come Follow Me, was released in 1985. The album was written and produced by singer/producer Frank X. Loconto, a former member of the group Lane Brothers. In 1986, he signed with the American Musical Academy of Arts Association (AMAAA), and released another album, Personal Feelings. 　　In 1997, Mountainview Records released Cook's album, In the Middle of it All, which earned him a Gospel Music Association Dove Award nomination for Christian Country Album of the Year in 1999.However, after a fallout with Mountainview records in 1999, he started his own record label, DLC Records. During this period Cook created a comedy character, named Mortermer Crabbottom, in the tradition of comedic Southern characters like Gomer Pyle. 　　Cook recorded an album in character, Split Personality, based on the life and times of Mortermer Crabbottom growing up in fictional Crabbottom USA.[14] In 1999, the Country Gospel Music Association inducted Cook into its Hall of Fame, along with Loretta Lynn, Barbara Mandrell, Andy Griffith, Jody Miller and Lulu Roman. 　　In 2012 Cook co-wrote "Hands of Hope" with David Meece and Bruce Carroll. The song was fashioned along the same lines as "We Are the World", which featured many famous voices from the music industry. The song went number one on the charts and remained there for two weeks.[16] The song was used as the theme song for Turning Point Centers for Domestic Violence.On May 5, 2012 NATAS announced that the song Hands of Hope garnered Cook, Meece and Carroll the Emmy® nomination for best Arrangement/Composer of a television theme song. 　　In August 2007, Cook joined in partnership with the Firebird Arts Alliance. He was asked by David Tang, the president of Firebird, to write and produce a theme song for the television series New South Crossings.The theme song was "Meet Me at the Crossroads". Cook won an Emmy Award® on January 24, 2009 for his work on the series audio and soundtrack. 　　Cook appeared in an episode, "Master Class", in which Cook worked with younger artists.[18] He shows them the ins and outs of working together musically, and during the episode they perform the actual theme song for the series. On June 27, 2010, Cook won another Emmy® award, this time for writing and singing the theme song, Meet Me At the Crossroads 　　In August 2013, Cook began working on his new television series, Written N Black & White. He is listed as one of the stars of the show along with fellow comedian, Trina Jeffrie. The two play an interracial newlywed couple who are comedians and their parents are clueless of the marriage. Although the series is said to take place in New York, the actual taping is done in Fort Mill, South Carolina at the former PTL Studios, which had housed the Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker PTL network back in the 1980s