Fatboy Slim's Real Name: Quentin Leo Cook

Quick answer: He is known as Fatboy Slim, and offstage as Norman Cook. AllMusic and BBC Radio 4 both say he was born Quentin Leo Cook. AllMusic and the Library of Congress give his birth date as July 31, 1963. BBC Radio 4 says he chose the name Norman himself when he joined a band.

Real name and early life

AllMusic says he was born Quentin Leo Cook in Bromley, England, on July 31, 1963. A BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs feature says he was born Quentin Leo Cook in Reigate, Surrey, in 1963. The two sources disagree on the town, so his birthplace is unresolved. The Library of Congress, citing a published reference work, also records "b. Quentin Cook, July 31, 1963, England."

In the BBC feature, he says his parents named him Quentin because "it was the sixties," and that the name was linked to the Latin "quintus," since he was the fifth member of the family. He says nobody could spell it. The BBC says his father, Ron Cook, was made an MBE for introducing bottle banks to England.

Career highlights

AllMusic says he joined the Hull pop group the Housemartins in 1986, replacing a founding member. After the group split in 1988, he moved into acid house. He had three Top 40 hits with the trio Pizzaman and also recorded with Freak Power and Beats International in the early 1990s.

He then focused on his solo project as Fatboy Slim, starting with Better Living Through Chemistry. AllMusic says his 1998 remix of Cornershop's "Brimful of Asha" spent several weeks at number one in Britain. His second album, You've Come a Long Way, Baby (1998), went platinum in the United States and included "The Rockafeller Skank" and "Praise You." The Spike Jonze video for "Praise You" won three MTV Video Music Awards.

His third album, Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars (2000), included "Weapon of Choice," with a video starring Christopher Walken. Later work includes the Brighton Port Authority project, the David Byrne collaboration Here Lies Love (2010), and the 2013 U.K. hit "Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat." The BBC lists a Grammy, two Brits, and an Ivor Novello Award, and a Guinness record for the most number-one singles by one musician under different names.

Name notes for searchers

The BBC says the first thing he did on joining a band was change his name, because he wanted something normal: "Norman had a good ring to it." The Library of Congress says he took the alias Fatboy Slim in 1995, after a 1940s blues singer. His other recording names include Pizzaman, Mighty Dub Katz, Freak Power, and Fried Funk Food.