Fatboy Slim Tour Overview
Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim (among others), is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist for the Hull-based indie rock band the Housemartins, who achieved a UK number-one single with their a cappella cover of "Caravan of Love". After the Housemartins split up, Cook formed the electronic band Beats International in Brighton, who produced the number-one single "Dub Be Good to Me". He then played in Freak Power, Pizzaman, and the Mighty Dub Katz with moderate success.
In 1996, Cook adopted the name Fatboy Slim and released Better Living Through Chemistry to critical acclaim. Follow-up albums You've Come a Long Way, Baby, Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars, and Palookaville, as well as singles such as "The Rockafeller Skank", "Praise You", "Right Here, Right Now", "Weapon of Choice", and "Wonderful Night", achieved commercial and critical success. In 2008, Cook formed the Brighton Port Authority, a collaborative effort with a number of other established artists including David Byrne. He has been responsible for successful remixes for Cornershop, the Beastie Boys, A Tribe Called Quest, Dylan Strazar, Groove Armada, and Wildchild.
Cook holds the Guinness World Record for most top-40 hits under different names. As a solo act, he has won nine MTV Video Music Awards and two Brit Awards.
About Fatboy Slim
Cook was born in Bromley, Kent. He was raised in Reigate, Surrey, and educated at Reigate Grammar School, where he took violin lessons alongside future Labour Party leader Keir Starmer.
He grew up with a love of music. When he was 14, his brother brought home the first album from the punk band The Damned, which turned him onto that genre; he started attending gigs at the Greyhound pub in Croydon and playing in punk bands. He played drums in Disque Attack, a British new wave-influenced rock band. When frontman Charlie Alcock was told by his parents that he had to give up the band to concentrate on his O levels, Cook took over as lead vocalist. At The Railway Tavern in Reigate, Cook met Paul Heaton, with whom he formed the Stomping Pondfrogs.
At 18, Cook went to Brighton Polytechnic to read a B.A. in English, politics, and sociology, where he achieved a 2:1 in British Studies. He had begun DJing some years before, but it was at this time that he began to develop his skills in the thriving Brighton club scene, regularly appearing at the Brighton Belle and student favourite The Basement, where (then known as DJ Quentox) he began laying the base for Brighton's hip-hop scene.
Fatboy Slim Facts
- On 13 July 2002, Fatboy Slim played at the second of his free open-air concerts on Brighton Beach, the Big Beach Boutique II. Although organisers expected a crowd of around 60,000 people, the event instead attracted an estimated 250,000 who crammed the promenade and beach between Brighton's piers.
- In 2009, he toured Australia in the Good Vibrations Festival. Also in 2009, he played in Marlay Park, Dublin alongside David Guetta, Dizzee Rascal, and Calvin Harris, as well as one huge performance at the Sziget Festival in Budapest. He also performed at V Festival 2009.
- At Glastonbury 2009, he played an unadvertised concert in the "pinball-machine" stage at trash city.
- On 15 May 2016 he played a private two-hour set "Baby Loves Disco" for preschool children and their parents during the festival Brighton Fringe holding.
