Norman ‘Fatboy Slim’ Cook chatted happily about handling his alcohol habit this week, telling the Irish Independent he’s successfully overcome his fear of performing without any booze.

“The idea of doing it without drink was like ‘oh no . . . what if you’re not in the mood. What happens if you don’t feel like Mr Saturday night’,” he told the Independent, “But no, it was fine. I receive such an adrenaline shock from the crowd that I’ve found I can actually do it without drinking.”

The uber-popular superstar DJ checked into rehab in March some four years after he admitted in an interview to needing alcohol to perform on stage.

“Fatboy Slim is my alter ego – he’s confident, a bit of a show-off, it takes me until midnight to psych myself into him,” he said in 2005, “The difference between me and him is a bad Hawaiian shirt and half a bottle of vodka. I’ve tried going on stage sober and it wasn’t much fun.” (Daily Mail)

His discovery of the transformative qualities of crowd adrenalin matched the recollections of 50 something US comedian Ruby Wax who, chatting to the Guardian, recalled the euphoria she felt when her career took off as a stand-up comedian in the 80s.

“I loved the attention, the first hit of VIP-ness – and then you have to keep upping the dose, because it’s a drug,” she suggested, “Soon an audience of 500 people isn’t enough, it has to be 2,000 people in a theatre. You’re addicted.”

“I know it’s a drug,” she added, on the experience of being adored on stage, “It gives you dopamine.”

Jonty Skrufff 

source: Jonty Scrufff’s blog

Zoe Ball, the radio presenter, has announced that she is expecting her second child with her DJ husband, Norman Cook.

The Radio 2 Breakfast presenter announced the news on her radio show on Saturday morning. She told listeners: "I've got some lovely news for you all actually. I'm having a baby." Ms Ball, 38, a former Radio 1 DJ whose father is the veteran TV science presenter Johnny Ball, married Mr Cook, who is better known as Fatboy Slim, in 1999. The couple have an eight-year-old son called Woody. Their marriage suffered a rocky patch in 2003 but the couple have since been trying to rebuild their relationship. Ms Ball initially found fame as a TV presenter on Saturday morning children's show Live and Kicking.
She was then recruited to co-host the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show in October 1997 with Kevin Greening. She eventually became the first female solo host before leaving the BBC in 2000.
Since 2006, Ms Ball appeared on Radio 2 as a presenter and was recently appointed as the presenter of the weekend breakfast show. Radio 2 controller Bob Shennan offered his congratulations to Ms Ball and her family. He said: "Congratulations to Zoe and Norman in light of the fantastic news that Woody is soon to have a little brother or sister."

source: www.telegraph.co.uk

by Swisster Staff
Geneva – 06 July 2009

British disc jockey Fatboy Slim is the latest addition to the lineup of entertainers at the Paléo music festival in Nyon (Vaud) later this month. Slim is set to perform on the main stage on July 24 in place of French Rap act NTM, who last week cancelled their show at the event.

The English DJ, whose real name is Norman Cook, mixes records alone on stage and is known for whipping up a party atmosphere among the audience with his mainstream big beat dance music. Last month a magistrate’s court in Paris sentencd Joey Starr, one of the leaders of the group NTM, to two years in jail for violent assault.
He is only obliged to serve six months of the term, but his appeal to delay the start of the sentence was refused. As a result, the group had to cancel their Swiss gig. Festival goers who had hoped to see NTM can exchange or sell their tickets via the paleo.ch website. Fatboy Slim is set to play at midnight.

 source: www.24heures.ch