Fatboy Slim is the fun-loving Big Beat guise of Brighton, England native Norman Cook. Over the course of his 13-year musical career, Norman Cook has undergone numerous musical makeovers. His career began as the bassist for the now defunct Brit-pop band, The Housemartins. Having had enough of the band thing, Norman switched gears and founded Beats, International, who scored a worldwide hit with the song "Dub Be Good To Me." Still feeling that his calling was more as a dj and producer, Cook began making tracks under his own name as well as numerous aliases, including Mighty Dub Katz, Freakpower, Pizzaman, and Fried Funk Food.

It was "Santa Cruz," the first release on a friend's label called Skint, under a new alias, Fatboy Slim, that Norman Cook began his rise to international superstardom. He soon went into his home studio, affectionately dubbed The House of Love, and in the course of 8 days knocked out his debut album as Fatboy Slim, Better Living Through Chemisty. The album was an instant smash and spawned the hit single, "Going Out of My Head," (y'know the one with the sample of Yvonne Ellerman playing "Can't Explain" by The Who). Things were really taking off, and then in the summer of 1998 things just exploded when Fatboy Slim dropped the single "The Rockafeller Skank." The song with it's mantra of "Right about now, the funk soul brotha. Check it out now, the funk soul brotha," became an instant classic. The song was heard blaring out of every club worldwide as well as every jeep, boom-box, and stereo, and right here, right now, Fatboy Slim was on the verge of world domination. In October 1998, Fatboy Slim's second record, You've Come a Long Way, Baby, was released to heaps of critical praise. Songs from the album were heard on commercials and film soundtracks, but it was the release of the single "Praise You," from the record that blew the doors wide open in America. The song, became a staple on Modern Rock and Top 40 radio and its quirky video was a mainstay at both MTV and VH-1. The album was a commercial and critical smash; a true crossover hit. Now, almost 2 years after it's release, the album has become Fatboy Slim's first platinum record in America, and has spawned two Top 40 hits, garnered 3 MTV Video Music Awards, and has been nominated for 2 Grammy awards.

In addition to his penchant for great songs, Fatboy Slim's success can certainly be attributed to his legendary DJ gigs. A Fatboy Slim DJ gig is, plain and simple, a two hour party, that will leave you sweaty and smiling. Live On The Floor At The Boutique is just that. It's the quintessential Fatboy Slim DJ gig; a mixture of dance-floor anthems and old school favorites, all destined to keep your booty shaking and your hands firmly in the air. The words of Bon Jovi, "Seen a million faces, and I've rocked them all" have never rang truer than with Fatboy Slim. He's traveled the world, Djing to sold out crowds everywhere, but it's the Big Beat Boutique in Brighton where he made his name as a DJ, so, here's a bit of history about the Boutique:

The Boutique was started by Skint Records honcho Damien Harris, and club promoter Gareth Hansome, as a place where they could hear house, hip-hop, rock and everything else in between all being played by Norman Cook. The place to do this was an old club called the Concorde. Modeled on the infamous Heavenly Social in London, the plan was for friends to DJ, and for people to have a pint, lose their minds, and have a blast. The one problem is they needed a name for the club. Noticing that all of the records they wanted to play were heavy on the beats, why not call it the Big Beat Boutique!

The first night was a Tuesday night in April 1996, Norman Cook, Midfield General, Jon Carter, Oasis tour DJ Sean Rowley and G Money all hit the decks, and history was made. It soon moved to Fridays, and shortly DJs like DJ Hurricane, TouchZ (The Wiseguys), Deejay Punk-Roc, and Aphrodite, were all spinning there. Like-minded bands were hanging out there, and occasionally hitting the decks. Whether it was the Lo Fidelity All Stars, the Propellerheads, or The Chemical Brothers, the Boutique was the place to be to have a night out and have a laugh.