Musical mastermind Norman Cook has a talent for reinvention rarely equalled in the music industry.

Now best known for pioneering big beat dance music, Cook started his musical career with The Housemartins.

Cook's marriage to Zoe Ball brought press attention

It is a long way from Caravan of Love to Brighton beach, and Cook has visited many ports of call on the way.

Born Quentin Cook, musical inspiration during his childhood in Reigate, Surrey, came from a Donny Osmond performance on television.

After editing a punk fanzine as a teenager, at sixth-form college he met Paul Heaton, who later moved to Hull and formed The Housemartins.

When the original bass player quit in 1985 Cook moved to Hull to join them.

Their popularity peaked when they reached number one just before Christmas 1986 with a version of Caravan of Love, but by 1988 they had split up.

Direction change

Heaton and the band's drummer Dave Hemingway returned with the Beautiful South, while Cook moved to Brighton to pursue his new love - dance music.

His next project, Beats International, reached number one with Dub Be Good To Me, but a year later he became depressed. His first wife, a nurse, left him, and his career began to fall apart.

He again changed direction, forming Freakpower with jazz trombonist and singer Ashley Slater and scoring a big hit with Levi jeans theme Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out.

Cook has a reputation for a jetsetting lifestyle

He also released other records under different names such as Pizzaman and Mighty Dub Katz, but it is as Fatboy Slim that he has found lasting success.

Recording for a new record label, Skint, Cook caught a musical wave that brought success to other big beat acts like the Chemical Brothers.

Despite criticism that big beat was nothing more than repackaged dance music for fans who were essentially lovers of rock music, Cook has won some acclaim.

Cook, Skint and the Big Beat Boutique club night have become synonymous with the recent rise of Brighton as a cultural centre to rival London.

Award winners: Cook, Jonze and Walken

His beach party last year was partly a celebration of that status, although the likelihood of a third instalment of the free event is now surely diminished.

Cook's innovative videos - directed by trendsetters like Spike Jonze - have won numerous awards and drawn as much attention as the music itself.

Weapon of Choice saw Christopher Walken reprise the dancing skills he last showed in Pennies from Heaven.

Walken plays an exhausted businessman in an empty hotel lobby who suddenly gets an urge to do a song and dance number.

His previous video, Sunset (Bird of Prey) employed 60s film clips and a jet bomber, while the video for The Rockerfeller Skank was a style salad featuring afros, cowboy hats, bellbottoms and breakdancing.

US success

In 1999 he won three MTV awards for the video Praise You - for best direction, best choreography and best breakthrough video.

Cook's brand of dance music is popular in America, with Praise You used at presidential candidate Al Gore's rallies.

As much as he is known for his three albums Better Living Thru Chemistry, You've Come A Long Way Baby and Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars, much of Cook's impact has been through his remixes.

His take on a number of songs - such as Cornershop's Brimful of Asha and Groove Armada's I See You Baby - has been the prelude to chart success.

And his entry into the pop aristocracy was confirmed by his August 1999 wedding to BBC radio DJ and TV presenter Zoe Ball, who he met in Ibiza the year before.

Much of the subsequent press attention has been unwelcome, but Cook is still living and performing in the UK.