Jarvis Cocker

Profession: Musician
Place/Date of Birth: Sheffield, 19 September 2020

Jarvis attacks talent show winners - June 4 2007
Britpop star Jarvis Cocker has lashed out at today's pop music and TV talent shows.

The ex-Pulp star, who had a string of hit singles and two number one albums in the Nineties, said pop had become "industrialised".

Cocker, 43, said contestants on shows such as The X Factor and Pop Idol only got through if their voices betrayed "zero personality".

The Britpop star also told the Radio Times magazine he regretted how much attention he got after his infamous Brits protest at Michael Jackson.

Cocker, who recently released his first solo album, said of TV talent shows: "They never pick people with great voices. They pick people who show off how many notes they can fit into a 10-second period.

"A great voice expresses something and gives you some idea of the personality behind the voice. There's zero personality in the voices of any of the people who sing on these shows."

The Sheffield-born Common People star added: "It saddens me because I love pop music and these shows prove that it's become an industrialised process. I hate that. The kind of pop I was brought up on is over.

"The pop charts used to be where everything happened. Now the most interesting stuff is happening outside in the independent music sector."

Cocker said he regretted the publicity which followed his stage invasion of the Brits in 1996 in protest at the King of Pop's "Christ-like" performance.

He said: "I got too much publicity. There is an obsession with celebrity in our society, but I think people are starting to realise that it really isn't very nice."

Jarvis won’t rule out Pulp comeback - Mar 9 2007
Jarvis Cocker has hinted he would happily stage a Pulp comeback - but it seems it would take "a van full of cash".

The singer, who infamously flashed his bum during Michael Jackson’s 1996 Brit Awards show, last performed with the indie group five years ago but has implied he would get the band back together if the price was right, reports the Daily Star.

"Reforming is certainly not out of the question," he is quoted by the paper as saying.

"I mean, we all get along. No-one has died of a drug overdose. But it’s not something that we’re planning. No-one’s driven up with a van full of cash yet."

The 43-year-old’s solo album Jarvis was released last November - but it only reached No 37 in the UK.

He recently collaborated with Gossip frontwoman Beth Ditto on a cover version of the classic 80s track Temptation by Heaven 17 at the NME Awards in London (see photos) - and it’s rumoured the duo plan to release it as a single.

Stars perform kids’ songs? - Jan 24 2007
Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, Cerys Matthews and Belle & Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch have all apparently agreed to feature on a new compilation of children’s songs.

Songs For The Young At Heart, which will be released on February 26, was put together by members of Brit band Tindersticks, reports NME.

It seems the album was inspired by "memories from their childhood of music from the radio, school room and television", according to NME.

The tracks will first be released as a limited edition, packaged in a children’s book featuring the tale of Albert The Lion with illustrations by artist Sexton Ming.

It also includes a video of the Pulp frontman telling the story of the lion while sitting in a cage with a lion.

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Biography

Jarvis Branson Cocker was born in the Sheffield suburb of Intake in 1963. Whilst still at school he forms his first band with his schoolmates ’Arabicus Pulp’, soon to be renamed simply as ’Pulp’. Prior to Cocker completing his ’A’ levels, the band are offered the chance to record a session for John Peel at B.B.C. Radio One. Discouraged by the band’s lack of success, every member but Jarvis left the band in 1982 to go to university.

The following year, Jarvis assembled a new lineup which featured eight members. The group landed their first record contract, releasing their debut album, It, in 1984. It didn’t make much of an impact and the band fell apart again. After the second incarnation of Pulp disintegrated, Jarvis formed another version of the band,. In 1985, Pulp released a series of singles on Fire Records. Just as their fortunes were looking up, Jarvis became injured severely. As he was trying to impress a girl, he fell 30 feet out of a window, injuring his pelvis, foot, and wrist. For two months, he was confined to a wheelchair, but he performed concerts anyway.

Released in 1986, Pulp’s second album Freaks was a dense, dark affair. Following its release, the band split during the filming of the video for "They Suffocate at Night." In 1988, Jarvis moved to London and began studying filmmaking at St. Martin’s College. While he was studying, Pulp was offered the chance to record another album. The resulting album, Separations, was recorded in 1989 and reflected Jarvis’s newfound obsession with acid house but it also boasted some full-fledged pop songs.

Separations was released nearly three years later after it was completed. Jarvis was prepared to stake out a career in film when a single from the album, "My Legendary Girlfriend," was released. NME named the song Single of the Week in 1991 and Pulp’s career suddenly took off. In early 1992, Pulp left Fire Records for Gift, and began releasing a series of singles that consolidated the success of "My Legendary Girlfriend." In particular, "Babies" earned the band a great deal of attention. "Babies" led to a contract with Island Records, their first major-label deal.

Island released PulpIntro, a compilation of the Gift singles, as the band recorded its major-label debut, His N Hers. Upon its spring 1994 release, His N Hers earned positive reviews and became an unexpected success, reaching the British Top Ten; it was also nominated for the 1994 Mercury Award. For the rest of 1994 and the early part of 1995, Jarvis suddenly became known on British television. These suave, humourous television appearances became legendary, making Jarvis somewhat of a national hero, as well as a sex symbol.

No matter how popular Jarvis had become, the band didn’t break into the big time until they released "Common People." The single became a massive hit upon its May 1995 release, debuting at number two on the U.K. charts. In July, Pulp accepted a last-minute headlining slot at the Glastonbury festival when the Stone Roses had to cancel. Pulp’s set was rapturously received, launching the band into superstar status in England and conveniently setting the stage for their forthcoming album, Different Class. Their next album This is Hardcore was released in March 1998.
Written in 2000
June 2007

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