Fatboy Slim
Fatboy Slim in 2004
Background information
Birth name	Quentin Leo Cook
Also known as	Fatboy Slim, and others. See pseudonym section
Born	(1963-07-31) 31 July 1963 (age 48)
Origin	Reigate, Surrey, England
Genres	Big beat, Funky Breaks, trip hop, Rave
Occupations	DJ, musician, record producer
Instruments	Turntables, keyboard, bass guitar, guitar, drums
Years active	1979–present
Labels	Skint, Astralwerks, Southern Fried
Associated acts	The Housemartins, Beats International, Freak Power, Pizzaman, The Brighton Port Authority, David Byrne
Website	fatboyslim.net

Norman Quentin Cook^[1] (born Quentin Leo Cook on 31 July 1963 in Bromley, England), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is a British DJ, electronic dance music musician, and record producer.^[2] He is a pioneer of the big beat genre that achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s. Cook has achieved considerable success in the UK charts, performing as Fatboy Slim and with The Housemartins, Beats International, and Freak Power. As Fatboy Slim, he has won ten MTV Video Music Awards and two Brit Awards, and his best known tracks include "Weapon of Choice", "Praise You", "The Rockafeller Skank" and "Right Here Right Now". He currently performs as the Brighton Port Authority.

History[link]

Quentin Leo Cook was raised in Reigate, Surrey, England, and was educated at Reigate Grammar School. He played drums in Disque Attack (a British new wave-influenced rock band). When frontman Charlie Alcock was told by his parents that he had to give up the band to concentrate on his O levels, Cook took over as lead vocalist. At Reigate College he also met Paul Heaton with whom he formed the Stomping Pondfrogs. At 18, he went to the Brighton Polytechnic to study a BA in English, politics, and sociology. Although he had begun DJing some years before, it was at this time that he began to develop his skills on the thriving Brighton club scene.

Known as DJ Quentox (The OX that Rocks), Cook and DJ Baptiste started putting on youth club hip hop jams in Brighton, sowing the seeds of the city's flourishing hip hop scene today. These primitive 1980s block parties are recalled in the music documentary South Coast, which documents Brighton's cult hip hop scene from its grass roots to the present day.

In 1985, Cook's friend Paul Heaton had formed a guitar band called The Housemartins. Their bassist quit on the eve of their first national tour, so Cook agreed to move to Hull to join them. The band soon had a hit single with "Happy Hour". They also reached number one just before Christmas 1986 with a version of "Caravan of Love", originally a hit the year before for Isley-Jasper-Isley. However, by 1988 they had split up. Heaton and the band's drummer Dave Hemingway went on to form The Beautiful South, while Cook moved back to Brighton to pursue his interest in the style of music he preferred. It was at this time that he first started working with young studio engineer Simon Thornton, with whom he continues to make records. All of Cook's records released from that point onwards have involved both of them to varying degrees (Thornton is credited in 2004 as "Executive Producer", for example).

Cook achieved his first solo hit in 1989, featuring his future Beats International member MC Wildski, called "Blame It on the Bassline". Credited to "Norman Cook feat. MC Wildski", the song followed the basic template of what was to come in the style of the music of Beats International. It became a modest hit in the UK Singles Chart, reaching number 29.

Cook formed Beats International, a loose confederation of studio musicians including vocalists Lindy Layton, Lester Noel, D.J. Baptiste, rapper MC Wildski, and keyboardist Andy Boucher. Their first album, Let Them Eat Bingo, included the number one single "Dub Be Good to Me", which caused a legal dispute revolving around allegations of infringement of copyright through the liberal use of unauthorised samples: the bassline was a note-for-note lift from "The Guns of Brixton" by The Clash and the lyrics borrowed heavily from "Just Be Good to Me" by The S.O.S. Band. The 1991 follow-up album Excursion on the Version, an exploration of dub and reggae music, failed to repeat the success of its predecessor, as it did not chart.

Cook then formed Freak Power with horn player Ashley Slater and singer Jesse Graham. They released their debut album Drive Thru Booty in 1994, which contained the single "Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out". The cut was picked up by the Levi's company for use in a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign. In 1996, Cook re-joined Freak Power for their second album, More of Everything for Everybody.

Cook enlisted help from producer friends Tim Jeffery and JC Reid to create a house music album under the name Pizzaman. The 1995 Pizzamania album spawned three UK Top 40 hits: "Trippin' on Sunshine", "Sex on the Streets", and "Happiness". "Happiness" was picked up by the Del Monte Foods corporation for use in a UK fruit juice ad. The music videos for the three singles were all directed by Michael Dominic.

Cook also formed the group The Mighty Dub Katz along with Gareth Hansome (aka GMoney), Cook's former flatmate. Together they started the Boutique Nightclub in Brighton, formerly known as the Big Beat Boutique. Their biggest song together was "Magic Carpet Ride".

Fatboy Slim, 1997–[link]

Cook adopted the new pseudonym Fatboy Slim in 1996. The Fatboy Slim album and Cook's second solo album Better Living Through Chemistry (released through Skint Records) contained the Top 40 UK hit, "Everybody Needs a 303".

Fatboy Slim's next work was the single "The Rockafeller Skank", released prior to the album You've Come a Long Way, Baby, both of which were released in 1998. "Praise You", also from this album, was Cook's first UK solo number one. Its music video, starring Spike Jonze, won numerous awards.^[3] On 9 September 1999, he performed "Praise You" at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards in New York City, and won three awards, including the award for Breakthrough Video.^[4]

In 2000, Fatboy Slim released his third studio album, Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars, and featured two collaborations with Macy Gray and "Weapon of Choice", which also was made into an award-winning video starring Christopher Walken.^[5] At the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards in New York, Fatboy Slim won 6 awards for "Weapon of Choice", the most awards at the ceremony.^[6][7]

In 2003, he produced Crazy Beat and Gene by Gene from the Blur album Think Tank, and in 2004, Palookaville was Cook's first studio album for four years.

Fatboy Slim's greatest hits album Why Try Harder was released on 19 June 2006. It comprises eighteen tracks, including ten Top 40 singles, a couple of Number Ones and two exclusive new tracks – "Champion Sound" and "That Old Pair of Jeans". Most of the songs were shortened and heavily edited, resulting in almost fifteen minutes of unused space on the compact disc release.^{[citation needed]}

In 2006, Cook travelled to Cuba, and wrote and produced two original Cuban crossover tracks for the album The Revolution Presents: Revolution, which was released by Studio !K7 and Rapster Records in 2009. The tracks were called "Shelter" (which featured long term collaborator Lateef); and "Siente Mi Ritmo", featuring Cuba's top female vocal group Sexto Sentido. The recordings took place in Cuba's legendary EGREM Studios, home of the Buena Vista Social Club, and featured a band made up of Cuba's top young musicians, including Harold Lopez Nussa. Another track recorded during these sessions entitled "Guaguanco" was released separately under the Mighty Dub Katz moniker in 2006.

Cook has also been responsible for successful remixes for Cornershop, Beastie Boys, A Tribe Called Quest, and Wildchild. In 2008, he did a remix of the track "Amazonas" for the charity Bottletop.^[8]

Cook released a mix album in 2010 titled The Legend Returns as a covermount album in the June 2010 issue of Mixmag.

Cook returned as Fatboy Slim when performing at Ultra Music Festival in Miami in March 2012.

The Brighton Port Authority[link]

The Brighton Port Authority debuted in 2008 with a collaboration with David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal titled "Toe Jam", along with a music video featuring nude dancers with censor bars on them, making pictures and words with them.

The soundtrack album for the TV series Heroes also includes the BPA's track "He's Frank (Slight Return)" (a cover of a song by The Monochrome Set), with Iggy Pop as vocalist. The video for this track features a near life size puppet of Iggy Pop. An alternative club version was released under the "He's Frank (Washing Up)" title with the video featuring some footage of Iggy Pop acting and saying lyrics.

The band's first album, I Think We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat, is the first to be co-produced by Cook's longtime engineer Simon Thornton, who also sings on one track. The album was released 6 January 2009 exclusively at Amazon.com on CD, with downloadable format and other stores scheduled for a month later on 3 February.

Performances[link]

13 July 2002. The Big Beach Boutique II, where more than 250,000 people saw Fatboy Slim play live.

On 13 July 2002, Fatboy Slim performed the second of his free, open air concerts on Brighton Beach. Although organisers expected a crowd of around 60,000 people, the event instead attracted an estimated 250,000 who crammed the promenade and beach between Brighton's piers. Local police forced the event to end early amid safety concerns, overcrowding, and one death. After the music had finished and the crowd began to dissipate, traffic ensued throughout the Brighton area with many caught in traffic jams until the morning.^[9]

In June 2005, Fatboy Slim filled the Friday night headline slot on the "Other Stage" at the Glastonbury Festival.^[10] In 2006, Fatboy Slim filled the Saturday headline slot at the Global Gathering festival, Long Marston Airfield in the English Midlands. He played a two hour set, appearing in front of a visual stage set comprising video screens and 3D lighting. A firework display rounded off the show.^[11] Having been banned by police from playing in Brighton since 2002, Fatboy Slim was given permission in 2006 to play again in his home town. On 1 January 2007, he played to an audience of more than 20,000 fans along Brighton's seafront. Tickets to the event, titled "Fatboy Slim's Big Beach Boutique 3", were made available only to Brighton residents. The concert was deemed a stunning success by Sussex Police, Fatboy Slim, and the crowd.^[12] The Cuban Brothers and David Guetta opened the concert. The next similar event, 'Big Beach Boutique 4', was held on 27 September 2008.^[13]

In 2008, Fatboy Slim played at the Glastonbury Festival again, and headlined the O2 Wireless Festival and Rockness Festival. According to an NME interview, this may have been one of the last times he performed as Fatboy Slim, as he may now focus on his new album, The Brighton Port Authority (BPA).^[14] Also in 2008, Fatboy Slim closed out the famed "Sahara" tent on Friday of the legendary Coachella Valley Music Festival. His introduction included a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory opening, that has been called by many one of the most memorable Sahara performances ever.

In 2009, he toured Australia in the Good Vibrations festival. Also in 2009, he played in Marlay Park, Dublin alongside David Guetta, Dizzee Rascal, and Calvin Harris, as well as one huge performance at the Sziget Festival in Budapest. He also performed at V Festival 2009.^[15]

At Glastonbury 2009, he played an unadvertised concert in the "pinball-machine" stage at trash city.^[16]

In 2010, Fatboy Slim headlined the east dance at Glastonbury Festival.^[17] On 18 June 2010, he performed in Cape Town, South Africa as part of the Cool Britannia FIFA World Cup music festival at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.^{[citation needed]} He also performed in Napoli on 15 July, at Neapolis Festival. On 30 May 2011, he performed as the headliner for Detroit's Electronic Music Festival in Detroit, Michigan, USA. 25 September 2011, Fatboy Slim headlined the Terrace at Ibiza's famed Space nightclub's We Love Sundays closing party. On 29 October 2011, Fatboy Slim opened at the San Francisco Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, following up on the 30th, closing out the Red Bulletin/Le PLUR Stage at the Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. On Saturday, 24 March 2012, Fatboy Slim performed a live DJ set on the main stage at Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Florida.

Since March 2012, Cook hosts a one hour radio programme titled On The Road To Big Beach Bootique 5 on XFM. It will consist of 10 shows. ^[18]

Personal life[link]

Cook was awarded a star on the city of Brighton's Walk of Fame, next to that of Winston Churchill.

He married TV personality Zoë Ball in 1999 at Babington House in Somerset; in January 2003, Cook broke up with Ball but three months later, they reconciled.^[19] They have a son named Woody Fred Cook (born 15 December 2000) and a daughter named Nelly May Lois (born 14 January 2010). Cook is a 12% shareholder of Brighton & Hove Albion, the football club he has supported since moving to Brighton in the late 1980s.^[20]

Q magazine named Fatboy Slim in their 50 Bands to See Before You Die list.^[21]

On 4 March 2009, Cook checked into a rehabilitation centre in Bournemouth to fight a "booze addiction" that he has been battling "for some time".^[22]

Because of an extended stay in rehab, his performance at Snowbombing, a week-long winter sports and music festival held in the Austrian ski resort of Mayrhofen, was cancelled – with the slot being filled by 2ManyDJs. Cook then left the clinic at the end of March.^[23]

Cook completed the inaugural Brighton Marathon on 18 April 2010 in a time of 4:53:10.

Awards[link]

In 1999, the video to "Praise You" won three MTV awards: for best direction (Spike Jonze), best choreography (Jones as "Richard Koufey"), and best breakthrough video.^[3] Fatboy Slim's single "The Rockafeller Skank" topped the Village Voice 1999 Pazz & Jop singles poll. In September 2001, Fatboy Slim's video for "Weapon of Choice", also directed by Spike Jonze, received six prizes at the MTV Video Awards, the most given to a single winner that year.^[5] In May 2007, Cook received an Ivor Novello Award for his "outstanding contribution to British music".^[24] Cook was also a judge for the 6th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.^[25] He has won two Brit Awards, in 1999 and 2001, both for British Dance Act.

Gear[link]

For live shows and performances Fatboy Slim uses Rane TTM 57SL mixer with Serato Scratch Live and Serato Video.

Bands and pseudonyms[link]

• Norman Cook, now his real name^[1]
• Beats International
• Brighton Port Authority
• Cheeky Boy
• Chemistry
• DJ Delite – used in DJ Tools (e.g. acapellas) for Fatboy Slim singles
• Fatboy Slim
• Freak Power
• Fried Funk Food
• Mighty Dub Katz ("Magic Carpet Ride" dance song, 1996)
• Pizzaman
• Rockaway 3
• Sensataria
• Son of a Cheeky Boy
• Son of Wilmot
• Sunny Side Up
• The Feelgood Factor
• The Housemartins, the indie rock band for which Cook was the bassist for from 1985 to 1988.
• Yum Yum Head Food

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Better Living Through Chemistry (1996)
• You've Come a Long Way, Baby (1998)
• Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars (2000)
• Palookaville (2004)
• Here Lies Love (with David Byrne) (2010)

See also[link]

• The Chemical Brothers
• The Prodigy
• The Crystal Method

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Norman Cook

• Official website
• Fatboy Slim at Allmusic
• Fatboy Slim discography at Discogs
• Fatboy Slim at the Internet Movie Database