Fatboy Slim is Norman Cook, the English DJ and producer who came up through the Housemartins and Beats International before defining late-'90s big beat. You've Come a Long Way, Baby (1998) — home to The Rockafeller Skank and Praise You — is the obvious starting point; Better Living Through Chemistry (1996) rewards a deeper dig. Shop Fatboy Slim vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Norman Cook, performing as Fatboy Slim, was born in Bromley, Kent on July 31, 1963 (sometimes also given as Brighton). He was a member of the English indie band The Housemartins (1985-1988, on bass) before launching Beats International (whose 1990 single Dub Be Good to Me was a UK number one). He launched the Fatboy Slim project on Skint Records in the mid-1990s and became one of the defining figures of late-1990s big beat alongside the Chemical Brothers, the Prodigy, and others. His 1998 album You've Come a Long Way, Baby (with the singles The Rockafeller Skank and Praise You) became a international commercial success. He has continued performing and DJing extensively across the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s.
Fatboy Slim's sound combines big beat, electronic dance music, breakbeat, and acid house with extensive use of vintage rock samples, breakbeat drums, and distorted production. His work was a defining contribution to the late-1990s big beat movement that brought electronic dance music into broader mainstream rock and pop attention.
Skint and Astralwerks pressings of the Fatboy Slim catalog have been issued in standard, color variant, and anniversary editions. You've Come a Long Way, Baby has had multiple anniversary editions.
Listeners new to Fatboy Slim typically start with You've Come a Long Way, Baby (1998).
