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He started out in a band called "Disque Attack" as the drummer, which was very much a new wave rock band. At 18, Cook went to University to study British Studies. During this time he began DJing on the Brighton club scene.
He had his first solo hit in 1989 called "Blame It on the Bassline", which featured the future Beats International member MC Wildski. It reached 29 on the UK Singles Chart.
In 1996 Cook first took on his Fatboy Slim persona. His first album as Fatboy Slim and second solo album was called "Better living Through Chemistry", which was released with Skint Records. It had the Top 40 UK hit single "Everybody Needs a 303".
In 2000 he released his third studio album called "Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars", which also became an award winning video. The following year Fatboy Slim won six awards for "Weapon of Choice", which was the most awards won at the ceremony that year.
Cook also produced the single "Mama Do the Hump" for Rizzle Kicks, which got to number two on the charts. He also reached number 3 in the UK charts with his single "Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat" in 2013.That same year he performed at one of the open air concerts on Brighton Beach, in front of over 250,000 people.
On 6th March 2013, Fatboy Slim performed at the House of Commons in London for the first time, in aid of the Last Night A DJ Saved My Life Foundation. And in May 2014 he played in Essex at the We Are FSTVL, playing for nearly two hours, the biggest act at the event.
Cook was also awarded a star on the City of Brighton's version of the Walk of Fame alongside Winston Churchill.
Groove Armada, named after a 1970s disco, released four singles in their first year as a signed collective with songs such as “At the River” which featured a sample of “Old Cape Cod” originally by Patti Page, which would go on to be one of Groove Armada’s most well known tracks. They released their debut album “Northern Star” on March 9th 1998.
However, it wasn’t until they released their sophomore album “Vertigo” on May 24th 1999 that they earned themselves a silver record. It was also around this time that they released “At the River” as a single in its own right. “Vertigo” featured some of the duo’s biggest hits such as “I See You Baby”, which would go on to be used in Renault Megane and Ford Fiesta car commercials and then the song “”If Everybody Looked the Same” being used in the films, Gone in 60 Seconds and Miss Congeniality. The album went on to peak at number 23 in the UK Albums Chart too.
Their third album “Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub)” released on September 10th 2001 shot up the charts to number 5 in the UK and number 8 in Australia. This album also features “Superstylin” which was a huge international hit for the duo, and earned the band a Grammy nomination.
The duo released a greatest hits album called “The Best of Groove Armada” in 2004, which ended their list of released with Pepper Records, before releasing “Soundboy Rock” on May 4th 2007, which was Groove Armada’s self proclaimed best album yet. The album after that, “Black Light” released on January 29th 2010, cited influences from Fleetwood Mac and Gary Numan.
Whilst his commercial heyday is likely behind him at this point - if you think about it, You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby basically soundtracked the late nineties - Fatboy Slim remains a compelling live prospect. After all, he’s a DJ by trade, not a recording artist, and his ability behind the decks means that the stage has clearly trumped the studio for him this past decade (not allowing for Here Lies Love, a bizarre concept album with David Byrne about Imelda Marcos, there hasn’t been a Fatboy Slim album since Palookaville way back in 2004). Harking back to an earlier era of EDM, Fatboy - or Norman Cook, when he’s at home - has been focusing primarily on techno in his recent sets; his steadfast refusal to yield to current, dubstep-flavoured trends is admirable. Indeed, anybody suggesting that techno is dead should see the size of the crowd he commanded at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami just last summer; only a choppy remix of Adele’s ‘Rolling in the Deep’ alluded to the present-day. He closed, too, with a reworked version of his classic ‘Praise You’; perhaps a nod that he’s set to move back towards his Big Beat days. After all, as Jeremy from Peep Show once so nobly put it: “Big Beats are the best, get high all the time.”
With almost twenty years in the business now firmly under their belts, Groove Armada are now officially veterans in the UK electronic scene, to be filed alongside the likes of Fatboy Slim and Massive Attack as part of an old guard that continue to surprise and impress and the years roll by. They’ve often threatened a genuine mainstream crossover, without every quite managing it - number eight as is high a singles chart position as they’ve managed, with 2007’s superb ‘Song 4 Mutya’ - but with the likes of ‘I See You Baby’, ‘Superstylin’ and ‘Get Down’, they’ve certainly cemented a place in the British public consciousness. Their glowing reputation is down in no small part to their thrilling live shows; on their most recent UK jaunt, they performed in front of a giant screen broadcasting complex visuals to the crowd, whilst reworking the classics with a live band and bringing a host of guest vocalists into the fray. Stylistically, you’d struggle to find a more diverse gig than a Groove Armada one; they range from downbeat trip hop and electro to their signature big beat cuts and tracks that touch upon the niche likes of dub, reggae and disco. The inclusion of a full live band is key to properly translating the London duo’s vision; with a new EP, Pork Soda, due this year, we can only hope there’ll be a tour to go with it.