Norman Cook has been recording music for almost
20 years. He has been in several bands, used countless aliases,
played a variety of instruments and shown that he masters numerous
genres. He has had Top 40 hits with six different names. The
most recent of his aliases is also the most famous and the most
succesful one: Fatboy Slim. This is story of Norman Cook's life.
Quentin "Norman" Cook was born July
31st 1963 in Bromley, England and grew up in Redhill, near London.
As a teenager he got excited about punk and already played as
a DJ in youth clubs. Later his interest shifted into black musicians'
danceable music. Norman's first band was Disque Attack in which
he was the drummer and the singer. After a year of playing he
and his schoolmate Paul Heaton founded a new band, The Stomping
Pond Frogs. Norman played guitar in it. The group split when
its members moved elsewhere to go to college, Norman including.
He moved to Brighton where he started DJing in clubs using the
name Ox.
The Housemartins |
In 1985 Norman got a phone call from Heaton who
asked him to join a new band called The Housemartins. The original
basist Ted Key had left and Heaton wanted Norman to replace
him. At first Norman hesitated because The Housemartins played
britpop and he was listening to hip hop and soul. But eventually
he agreed and moved to Hull where the band was. At the same
time he changed his name Quentin - which he had always hated
- to Norman. The Housemartins had earlier played as a warm-up
band for Billy Bragg and gotten a record deal with his help.
By the time Norman came along they were just releasing their
first single "Flag Day". Success came instantly. Their
third single "Happy Hour" went to third in the UK
charts and they got a number one with an acapella song "Caravan
Of Love". The first LP "London 0 Hull 4" also
reached Top 10 and the group got to tour the world. The second
longplayer "The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death"
offered Top 20 hits as well but soon after its release the band
split. Apparently there was friction between Norman and Heaton
about their music style. Norman wanted to try dance and Heaton
jazzpop. In the end of 1988 a collection by the name of "Now
That's What I Call Quite Good" was released.
After the group split Norman went back to Brighton
and started making the kind of music he liked - dance. He had
already before The Housemartins release a song called "The
Finest Ingredients" with the name DJ Megamix which had
been a small hit. Now he made four songs with his own name:
"Invasion Of The Estate Agents", "Blame It On
The Bassline", "Won’t Talk About It" and
"For Spacious Lies". All of which he later used on
Beats International's records. They got some attention in the
music industry and Norman was able to start a remixer's career.
He still also did DJ gigs.
Beats International |
Norman's next venture was a mixed and variable
assembly by the name of Beats International. Beats International's
music used a lot of samples from others music like Fatboy Slim
nowadays does. Their debut album was called "Let Them Eat
Bingo". The album gave them a number one with "Dub
Be Good To Me" (cover of S.O.S. Band's "Just Be Good
To Me") and made it to Top 20 itself. In 1991 was released
their second record "Excursion On The Version". Unfortunately
it wasn't succesful and when Norman's first wife left him, he
had a nervous breakdown. It lasted two years during which he
didn't make any music - excluding the music he made for The
Smurfs videogame when he was in financial troubles. Even medicines
prescribed by doctors didn't help. Finally Norman found his
inspiration again with the help of Robert Owen's song "I’ll
Be Your Friend" and ecstasy given to him by his friends.
He then stopped caring about chart positions and things like
that.
After recovering Norman founded Freak Power with
his friend Ashley Slater. Slater had previously performed on
Beats International's gigs and on their second album. Freak
Power's music was inspired by the 60's psychedelic music and
the 70's funk. "Drive Thru Booty" album in 1994 consisted
mostly of material Norman had originally made for Beats International's
third record. Its single "Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out"
caught itself number two chart position when Levi's snatched
it for a commercial. After a year of gigs another album was
released, "More Of Everything... For Everybody". However
the record company didn't believe in the new LP and Freak Power
withered away. In 1997 and 1998 a new single "No Way"
was put out but a whole longplayer never followed. A collection
was released in 2000.
In addition to Freak Power Norman made a new album
with a new alias. The album was "Pizzamania" and the
alias Pizzaman. The record's singles such as "Trippin'
On Sunshine", "Sex On The Streets" and "Happiness"
sold nicely. At this time Norman was busy as he also recorded
with several other names (for example Mighty Dub Katz, Fried
Funk Food, Son Of Cheeky Boy and The Feelgood Factor) and even
founded his own record label, Southern Fried Records. At first
Norman only released his own music with other aliases through
Southern Fried but nowadays it releases music by several different
artists.
In 1995 Norman helped Damien Harris found Skint
Records and started to make music for it himself - this time
big beat. Since Loaded Records (where Harris, too, had worked)
owned the name Pizzaman he once again adopted a new alias, Fatboy
Slim. At first Fatboy Slim was just a joke to help Skint get
started and Norman wouldn't even admit he was the one behind
the name. But then the first single "Santa Cruz" unexpectedly
got a lot of attention in clubs. More songs were released and
they were succesful. Finally Norman shut himself to his attic
which he had named The House Of Love. The result was "Better
Living Through Chemistry". The name refers to an American
slogan from the 50's suggesting that hyperactive children sould
be calmed down with Valium and was also a thank you to The Chemical
Brothers who had encouraged him to make the album. The record
received a lot of enthusiasm and Norman was often asked to DJ
in clubs in London such as The Heavenly Social and Big Kahuna
Burger. Eventually he got tired of the continuous trips between
Bighton and London and founded with Damien Harris and Gareth
Money a club to Brighton called Big Beat Boutique which became
the new sanctuary of big beat. Fatboy Slim's music received
so much attention that Astralwerks Records started marketing
the name in America because Skint only operated in Europe. This
and a contract with Sony help Skint considerably.
Inspired by Fatboy Slim's success Norman made
new music with his old aliases as well. He got more reputation
with hit remixes such as Wildchild's "Renegade Master"
and Cornershop's "Brimful Of Asha". The last-mentioned
was even number one for several weeks. He made both remixes
for free but because of them requests for remixes started pouring
in. Many of which he declined and among others Madonna, U2 and
Robbie Williams were left without a remix.
Soon Norman started work on a successor for "Better
Living Through Chemistry". "You've Come A Long Way,
Baby" was released in 1998 and it finally hurried him to
world-wide fame. The record was sold over four million copies
and it was number one all over the world. Singles such as "The
Rockafeller Skank" (chart 6), "Gangter Tripping"
(chart 3) , "Praise You" (chart 1) and "Right
Here, Right Now" (chart 2) were heard everywhere. Fatboy
Slim was the biggest British artist in the US.
Zoë & Norman |
In an interview for Radio 1 in Ibiza Norman met
TV and radio personality Zoë Ball. They started dating
and were engaged on Valentine's Day in 1999. They got married
the same year on August 22th and got a son called Woody in 2000.
They were Brighton's celebrity couple.
After the immense success of Fatboy Slim's second
album Norman didn't just want to repeat himself but to do something
that had more power and soul to it. The Chemical Brothers convinced
him to have visiting performers on the third Fatboy LP. Macy
Gray, Ashley Slater, Bootsy Collins and Roger Sanchez appear
on the record. The first single "Sunset (Bird Of Prey)"
represent a slighty different Fatboy Slim but however reached
number three chart position. Norman used a sample from Jim Morrison's
"Bird Of Prey" in it. All in all "Halfway Between
The Gutter And The Stars" (even the name tells about Norman's
situation) was a different kind of an album although it did
include a couple of big beat rumbles as well. It wasn't a big
sales hit even when the second single also reached Top 10. But
Norman didn't mind. He didn't enjoy the celebrity life anyway
but thought it was stressful.
In July 2001 Norman arranged a free Fatboy Slim
DJ gig in his hometown Brighton's beach. The event was a hit
and 40 000 people came to see it. As a result a CD was released
and the party was arranged again the next year. This time Big
Beach Boutique II nicknamed Normstock II got 250 000 people
to cram themselves into Brighton when the expected amount was
60 000. The town was completely jammed and eventhough the beach
party was once again a success it couldn't be held in Brighton
anymore. However in March 2004 a third Big Beach Boutique was
held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Other similar gigs have also
been planned.
In 2005 the fourth Fatboy Slim record was released
and the first one to have a short name, "Palookaville".
Excluding a couple of songs the new album wasn't the familiar
danceable Fatboy but more of a home listening. The style was
drawing away from dance and approaching rock. Much like the
previous album there were many quest vocalists like Lateef,
Damon Albarn and Bootsy Collins. "Palookaville's"
sales were the worst of any Fatboy Slim album as it only quickly
dropped by at the charts. Despite of this many of the promotion
gigs were sold out. His own music was more chilled but Norman
still played quaranteed dance tunes as a DJ. Even at the moment
he is touring the world.
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