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wikipedia sez...
Fatboy Slim (born on July 16, 1963, Quentin
Leo Cook) also known as Norman Cook is a
British musician in the dance music genre.
His style is known as big beat, a combination
of hip hop, breakbeat, rock, and rhythm and
blues. He stopped using 'Quentin' and
began calling himself 'Norman' long
before he adopted any other pseudonym.
Cook grew up in Reigate, Surrey, and was
educated at Reigate Grammar School. He
started a punk fanzine as a teenager and at
sixth-form college met Paul Heaton. At 18,
Cook went to university 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. In 1985
he was diverted by a call from his old
friend, Paul Heaton. Heaton had moved to Hull
and had formed a guitar band called The
Housemartins.
The Housemartins' bassist had just quit on
the eve of their first national tour and,
although Cook had lost interest in the rock
scene and could barely play a musical
instrument, he 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".
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
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 formed Beats International, a loose
confederation of studio musicians including
vocalists Lindy Layton and Lester Noel,
rapper MC Wildski, and keyboardist Andy
Boucher. Their first album, Let Them Eat
Bingo (included the Number 1 single,
"Dub Be Good to Me").
"Dub Be Good To Me" 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 Clash's
"The Guns Of Brixton" and the
song also borrowed heavily from the S.O.S.
Band's "Just Be Good To Me".
The 1991 follow-up album Excursion on the
Version, an exploration of dub and reggae
rhythms, failed to repeat the success of its
predecessor.
Cook then formed Freakpower, with horn player
and singer Ashley Slater. The duo 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 ad campaign.
In 1995, Cook enlisted help from producer
friends Tim Jeffery and JC Reid to create a
solo album, Pizzaman. The album featured one
track ("Happiness") that was
picked up by the Del Monte Foods corporation
for use in a UK fruit juice ad. In 1996, Cook
then re-joined Ashley Slater for the second
Freakpower album, titled Everything for
Everybody.
Later that same year, Cook adopted the
alter-ego pseudonym Fatboy Slim and began
frequenting the Brighton club The Big Beat
Boutique. While DJing at the club, Cook
befriended the Chemical Brothers, who
suggested that he work on his own material
instead of merely DJing.
The Fatboy Slim album Better Living Through
Chemistry (released through Skint Records)
marked Cook's emergence into the big time.
Filled with retro samples and funk-laden
grooves, the album was among the first in the
then-new big beat sound. It also spawned one
Top 40 UK hit, "Everybody Needs a
303". After Cook's remix of
Cornershop's "Brimful of
Asha" topped the charts, such musical
heavy hitters as Madonna and U2 asked him to
produce for them.
Fatboy Slim's next work was the single
"The Rockafeller Skank" which
was released prior to the album You've
Come a Long Way, Baby, both of which came out
in 1998 to rave reviews. This album also
produced the single "Praise
You", which also became a major dance
hit, giving Cook his first UK solo number
one. Its video, directed by Spike Jonze, won
numerous awards. Further Fatboy Slim works
have appeared in movies, television series,
and more ads.
Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars was
released in 2000 and featured two
collaborations with Macy Gray. It also
included "Sunset (Bird of
Prey)", a slower tempo piece based
around a sample of Jim Morrison from The
Doors, and "Weapon of Choice",
which also boasted an award-winning video
starring Christopher Walken.
Cook was recently 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; the couple have
one son named Woody. Cook is also a minority
owner of the football club he has supported
since moving to Brighton in the late 80's,
Brighton & Hove Albion.
In 2002, Q magazine named Fatboy Slim in
their list of the 50 Bands to See Before You
Die.
In January 2003, Cook and his wife underwent
a very public break-up, but three months
later, they were reconciled.
In 2004, Cook released two remixes in June
and July, based on Max Sedgley's
"Happy" and "Follow Me
Follow Me (Quem Que Caguetou)" by
Black Alien & Speed. The latter, a Hip Hop
hit from Brazil, became popular in europe
after having appeared on the Nissan X-Trail
advert (portraying a more extreme type of
marathon). Fatboy Slim's remix was then
used in the advert itself. His first album in
four years, Palookaville, was also announced
in July. Cook's next studio album was
confirmed for release on 4th October in the
UK (Skint records) and 5th October for the US
(Astralwerks). In the UK, Radio 1 received an
exclusive play of the first single
"Slash Dot Dash", while in the
US "The Joker" (a collaboration
with Bootsy Collins) had been exclusively
aired. The song was appearing on the radio
and was made quickly available on iTunes
months ahead of the album release.
Palookaville represented a significant shift
in style for Cook, with a reduction in the
traditional Fatboy Slim reliance on vocal
loops, and the introduction of real
instruments (Cook himself plays bass on some
of the album's tracks, with Simon Thornton
playing various other instruments, along with
various guests, e.g. Justin Robertson) and
more conventional song structures. More
"traditional" Fatboy Slim
tracks such as "Jin Go Lo Ba"
coexist with full-length vocal tracks such as
a rendition of the Steve Miller Band's
"The Joker". The album also
features many more vocal collaborations,
including with rapper Lateef and
Brighton-based band Johnny Quality.
In 2005, his 2004 hit single
"Wonderful Night" was placed on
Konami's Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2
for PlayStation 2.
In October 2005 Fatboy Slim and Talking Heads
singer David Byrne revealed their plans for a
musical about Imelda Marcos, the
controversial ex-First Lady of the Philipines
(during the notorious dictatorship of her
husband, the Marcos family stole billions of
dollars from that country's treasury) . It
is set to premier at Australia's Adelaide
Festival of Arts in March 2006
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