Fatboy Slim has recalled how he once took violin lessons with the Prime Minister.
The DJ and producer – real name Norman Cook – also spoke about how he went to the same school as Keir Starmer for five years in a new interview with The Guardian.
He said: “I can’t actually remember the violin lessons. But I was in the same class at school as Keir for five years, so I remember him well.
“He must have been better at the violin than me, because I did it for about one term. My parents could take no more noise, so I would say Keir was better.”
He continued: “It is quite weird when one day you see someone on the telly and go, ‘Oh look, it is Keir Starmer from 4B.’ I think he’s one up on me by becoming prime minister.”
Cook also said he still has his number in his phone and “they still talk”.
His latest comments echo similar remarks he made during a Does Rock ‘N’ Roll Kill Braincells?! interview with NME in 2022.
At the time he also said: “Bizarrely, we had another classmate who always claimed they were going to be Prime Minister of England and we believed him because they were the biggest swot in the class. They didn’t go on to manage it, but Keir most likely will. But he didn’t show any political ambitions at the time.”
Elsewhere, Cook recently shared that he’s lost his “passion for making music”.
“The thing is, you can’t make music unless you’re absolutely passionate about it and it drives you from the moment you wake up in the morning,” he said at the time.
“I just don’t seem to feel like that any more. I feel like that about DJing and about putting on things like this [All Back To Minehead Butlin’s weekender], but I’ve kind of lost my passion for making music.” Cook’s last full-length album as Fatboy Slim was 2004’s ‘Palookaville’. In 2010 he also released the soundtrack he wrote with David Byrne for the musical Here Lies Love.
“For five years, I tried to beat myself up about it and go, ‘You should be doing this’. But then I thought, ‘Well, everybody likes my DJing and I enjoy that more, so I’ll do that’,” he admitted. “I’m hoping that one day the passion will come back.”
Cook is already scheduled to headline Kendal Calling and Latitude Festival in 2025 along with the Formula 1 British Grand Prix alongside Sam Fender and RAYE.
