Artist Of The Month – Fatboy Slim (December 2015)

There is one man who has been instrumental in making dance music what it is at this very moment, Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim who is an English DJ, musician and record producer/mixer pioneered the dance music scene during the 90s which has won him several accolades and hasn’t put a halt to his career ever since.

Growing up in Brighton, he was introduced to DJing during his college days which led him to start playing as DJ Quentox and soon laid down the foundation for Brighton’s growing hip-hop scene. Surprisingly, Norman did not start out under his Fatboy Slim pseudonym but rather was part of a guitar band The Housemartins which he joined in 1985 and scored several hits with them including a Top 10 album on the UK charts.

Norman during his stint with The Housemartins

Norman during his stint with The Housemartins

He left the band in 1988 and went on to pursue his interest in the style of music he liked. Talking about his influences, he credits Grandmaster Clash, Carl Cox, The Clash and The Dust Brothers. His next endeavor included his own electronic music band Beats International which helped him score a No.1 on the UK Charts with the track “Dub Be Good To Me“.

This proved to be a very short affair as he moved on quickly to form Freak Power and their single “Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out” which was part of their debut album “Drive Thru Booty” released in 1994 and was picked up by the Levi’s company for use in a multi million-dollar advertising campaign. He dabbled in house music the same year as Pizzaman and had a number of Top 20 hits including “Tripping On Sunshine“.

At the same time he began to write in a style that later became known as big beat and created a club called Big Beat Boutique. Following the success of the club, he signed to Damian Harris‘ newly formed Skint Records as Fatboy Slim which turned out to be exemplary and released “Santa Cruz” as his first single.

He started producing under the alias of Fatboy Slim and eventually became one of the most successful artists and became synonymous to big beat with a number of hit singles including “Everybody Needs A 303“, the album Better Living Through Chemistry and some notable remixes including Wildchild‘s “Renegade Master” and Cornershop‘s No.1 single “Brimful Of Asha“. He has also recorded as the Mighty Dub Katz, notably “Magic Carpet Ride“.

In 1998, he kicked it off with a Fatboy Slim single “The Rockafeller Skank” and Freak Power single “No Way“. In October, he was honored with the UK’s Muzik Magazine‘s Award for Best Producer. In January 1999, the Fatboy Slim single “Praise You” topped the UK charts and even won three awards at the 1999 MTV VMAs. In February, he won a BRIT Award for Best Producer.

In 2000, Fatboy Slim released his third studio album, Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars which featured his vintage track “Weapon of Choice” which also was made into an award-winning music video. At the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards in New York, Fatboy Slim won six awards for “Weapon of Choice“. 2003 saw Fatboy Slim teaming up with legendary English rock band Blur to produce two tracks on their album “Think Tank”.

2008 marked a new direction for Norman when he debuted as The Brighton Port Authority and released an album titled “I Think We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat“. His performance at Coachella during the same year is considered as one of the most memorable performances in its history. In 2012, Norman made a comeback as Fatboy Slim when performing at Ultra Music Festival in Miami. He also achieved a feat by performing at the closing ceremony of the Summer Olympics the same year.

In October 2013, he created the monster track “Eat,Sleep,Rave,Repeat” which sparked a revolution in rave culture and has become a staple in DJ sets all over the world. 2015 saw the creation of his very own Smile High Club project at Creamfields and took it to SW4 Festival as well which is full of energy and positive vibes.

Fatboy Slim has surely left his legacy as an artist and a performer with several rave anthems under his belt.

Make sure to catch the legend live as he headlines Bacardi Enchanted Valley Carnival this month alongside the likes of Tiesto, Dubfire and several others.