Dr Helen Reddington) is a British musician and singer-songwriter, who was the bass player and co-singer with the Chefs (an acclaimed Brighton based punk band), during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Since 2006 she has lectured at the University of East London, and her second book She's at the Controls: Sound Engineering, Production and Gender Ventriloquism in the 21st Century was published in March 2021.

Each film was made by women film-makers and associates that she'd worked with in the past, namely Akiko Hada, Charlotte Worthington, Gail Pearce, Gina Birch, Jane Prophet, Joan Ashworth, and Rachel Davies.

With a grant from the Arts Council of England, it toured (with Gina Birch's Headspace) from Cornwall to Tyne and Wear, culminating with a short run at the Edinburgh Fringe.

"It seeks to deconstruct the life story of Don Van Vliet, the renowned musician Captain Beefheart, in a series of original short pieces, inspired by fragments of his musical conversations."

The work was commissioned by artists Derek Tyman and Andy Webster for their three-month long Rooms to Live project at Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre.

[4] Since then she has played extensively in towns and cities throughout the UK, at times sharing the bill with Gina Birch, Martin Stephenson and the Daintees, the Band of Holy Joy, the Monochrome Set, the Nightingales, Vic Godard and the Subway Sect, and Viv Albertine.

", David Sheppard (Art & Music: The Saatchi Gallery Magazine), "… acoustically led, her songs are of love, politics and quite possibly, the kitchen sink, and her voice is pure as crystal.

", Paul Scott-Bates (Louder Than War), and "The Sea by Helen McCookerybook is gentle but scathing, quiet but raging, fierce but melodic.

She's also had airplay on BBC Radio London's Gary Crowley show, with him playing A Good Life with a Bad Apple (from Green), which went on to make track of the week in August 2019.

Mojo magazine gave her 10 track mini-album release, Pea Soup, four stars in their May 2020 issue saying "... the discipline of brevity makes this a shining gem".

[7][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] In addition to her solo work, McCookerybook has been a long-term collaborator with Lester Square on various projects, as well as with Gina Birch, Martin Stephenson, Nick Page (Count Dubulah), Stuart Moxham (Young Marble Giants), the Charlie Tipper Conspiracy (a Christmas single, Femme Fatale, in aid of Refugee Action), and Vic Godard (a duet on Autumn Rendez-Vous on Mums' Revenge).

Her most recent collaboration was with analogue synth musician and producer Willie Gibson, for an EP called The Cutty Wren, which received a favourable review in The Wire magazine's May 2021 issue.

In February 2023, Gina Birch released her debut solo album I Play My Bass Loud, on Jack White's Third Man Records, which was given a four stars rating in Mojo magazine.

It features contributions from Gina Birch, Winston Blissette (Massive Attack), Terry Edwards (The Higsons, Gallon Drunk), Jack Hayter, James McCallum (The Chefs), Robert Rotifer, and Lester Square.

[41][42][43] Prior to her university work, Helen Reddington taught and organised song writing courses, projects, workshops, and musicals.

British songwriter and performer Katy Carr cites Reddington's lectures on the musical works of the Raincoats and the Riot grrrl underground feminist punk rock movement as a source of initial inspiration for her own 2001 debut album Screwing Lies.

[47][48] Lost Women of Rock Music: Female Musicians of the Punk Era was first published in July 2007, with an updated (Second Edition) paperback brought out in 2012.

The book featured interviews with the Slits, Gina Birch (The Raincoats), the Mo-dettes, Enid Williams (Girlschool), Dolly Mixture, Gaye Black (The Adverts), Vi Subversa (Poison Girls), Rhoda Dakar, Lucy O'Brien, Attila the Stockbroker, Caroline Coon, Geoff Travis and the late John Peel.

Since then, it has been screened in Belfast, Liverpool, Brighton, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Lemington Spa, Manchester, Bristol, Glasgow, and Lincoln (mainly hosted by Doc’n Roll Festival).

Interviewees included Laura B, Janet Beat, Isobel Campbell, Olga Fitzroy, Mandy Parnell, Susan Rogers, Sandie Shaw and Tina Weymouth.