Born Quentin Leo Cook on July 16, 1963, the artist currently known as Fatboy Slim was raised in the town of Redhill, Surrey. The son of an MBE-holding environmental consultant dad and a schoolteacher mum, he studied English, politics and sociology at Brighton Polytechnic, before making the coastal town his home.
Career beginnings
In 1985, Quentin changed his name to Norman and started a career with Caravan Of Love cover singers the Housemartins. After leaving the group three years later, he topped the charts as part of a number of dance club acts including Beats International, Pizzaman, Mighty Dub Katz and Freak Power.
Norman, who would later reportedly earn a place in the Guinness Book Of Records for achieving the most UK Top 40 hits under different names, became Fatboy Slim while DJ-ing at a London club where his pals the Chemical Brothers were also spinning discs. After finding a lack of songs he wanted to hear, he began to create tracks in his home studio.
Hit after hit
Fatboy's 'big beat' sound helped the Brighton musician soon top the UK charts again as a solo performer. His debut album Better Living Through Chemistry (a nod to his friends the Chemical Brothers and a well-documented predilection for party substances) also helped him break the international scene in 1997. In 1998, his single 'The Rockafeller Skank' marked his mainstream arrival Stateside.
Personal life
With his highly-publicized hedonistic lifestyle, the self-described "happy drunken idiot" seemed to put his private life on the back burner. That was until he met radio DJ Zoe Ball.
After sparks flew at a 1998 gig, the two got engaged on Valentine's Day, 1999. The celebrity couple married at Babington House in August of that year, and in December 2000, the superstar DJ and his new wife welcomed their son, Woody.
Though they quickly gained a reputation as one of the most stable couples on the UK show biz scene, four years down the line the blissful union hit a crisis, with Zoe and Norman announcing a trial separation. The couple did successfully reunite, and in January 2010, they welcomed a daughter, Nelly. However, Norman and Zoe eventually did divorce in 2016.
