Fatboy Slim Bio: He’s Still One Of The Few Popular DJs And Music Producers In The World
Norman Cook has sustained an exceptionally diverse musical career. He has produced or played on albums covering a multitude of genres, such as indie pop, hip hop, house and big beat, as well as being one of the most well-known DJs in the world under his Fatboy Slim moniker.
Fatboy Slim was born Quentin Cook in Bromley in 1963, and was raised in Reigate in Surrey.
He was intensely into music from a young age , producing a punk fanzine as a teenager before meeting Paul Heaton at 6th Form College. He went to University in Brighton (he studied English, Sociology as well as Politics) and began to DJ around the town where the club scene was thriving at that time.
In 1985 he received a call from Heaton asking him to join up with The Housemartins to fill in for their recently departed bassist. The group was located in Hull, and Norman moved north to be with them. They quickly had a hit with “Happy Hour”, and eventually had a number one single in 1986 with a cover of “Caravan Of Love”.
The group separated in 1988 and Cook returned to Brighton to re-invigorate his love for the club scene. He teamed up with Lindy Layton to create a dub house classic in “Dub Be Good To Me” which went to number one.
Beats International had 2 albums before disbanding. Norman went on to form Freakpower with singer and brass-player Askley Slater, and had a major hit with when it was purchased by Levi’s to be used on a commercial.
Freakpower continued to record albums together, and in 1996 had a hit with “New Direction”. This track was suitably titled as Norman had just released a record under what was to develop into his most famous alias yet – Fatboy Slim.
Norman had teamed up with Damien Harris to create a new record label in Brighton, and Fatboy Slim’s “Santa Cruz” was to be its first release. They called the label Skint Records, and had a mission to release music with massive beats and big bass lines that would be equally popular in house and indie clubs alike.
Fatboy had another hit in 1996 with “Everybody Loves A 303″, to honor the classic Roland synth that still sounds fresh in today’s times. He went on to release his debut album “Better Living Through Chemistry”, an album that spawned 2 further singles in “Going Out Of My Head” as well as “Punk To Funk” and helped to create the Big Beat genre.
Fatboy’s hugely anticipated second album, You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby, released in 1998. The album displayed enormous international appeal, and went platinum in the United States and included two massive hits, which also boasted a Spike Jonze-directed video that earned 3 MTV Video Music Awards in addition to 2 Grammy nominations.
The next Fatboy Slim album, 2000′s “Halfway Between The Gutter And the Stars”, revealed a bit more diversity and contained tracks with rhythm and blues, hip hop and hard house influences. The massive single from the album, “Star 69″ had a big sweary vocal and an incredible kick drum to send the crown mental.
Fatboy proceeded to release another album, 2004′s Palookaville along with a compilation album. He is still one of the biggest DJs and music producers in the world.
To find music websites to listen to his music, as well as discover a new rock music artist you might enjoy, search for rock list music.