Fatboy Slim
Although only recently has Norman Cook aka Fatboy
slim made it big, his run up to fame started in the mid eighties.
As a member of the indie band The Housemartins, Norman achieved his first
No 1 with the song 'Caravan of Love'. When the band split, Norman
formed 'Beats International' which again had a number 1 hit with 'Dub be
good to me' in 1990. This band was soon to disappear but Norman reappeared
in 'Freakpower', an acid funk band who had a top ten hit with 'Turn in
Tune in Drop out'.
In 1995, Norman released a single under the name
'Fatboy Slim' but didn't admit that he was behind the single. He
produced the single as a laugh but could not have anticipated the reaction
to the single. 'Santa Cruz' was playing in clubs all over London
at the same time when Freakpower's 2nd album was released. The album
was ignored whilst Santa Cruz, a mixture of house, hip hop, rock and soul
was receiving rave reviews.
Norman then began to DJ in popular clubs but still
failed to see himself as a pop star until he remixed Cornershop's Brimful
of Asha and it reached the number one slot, the original version hadn't
even reached the top 40.
This was the turning point in Norman's career and
his subsequent release of 'Rockerfeller Skank' was to shoot him to stardom.
Although the song, described by Norman as 'Hawaii 5-0 on acid' didn't get
to number one, it achieved fame in the popular club circuit. The
release of the album' You've come a long way baby' ensured Norman fame,
fortune and a Brit Award for the Best Dance Act. Two singles from
the album reached No1 in the charts, (Praise You in Jan 99 and Right Here,
Right Now in April 99) and the album has now sold over 3 million copies,
1 million in the UK alone.
Not bad for a bit of a laugh !
Click here for
connection to the Skint web site which features Fatboy Slim and other artists
on the Skint record label.