DJ Norman Cook

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.

from http://www.thearitu.com/ebio.html