Jarvis Cocker facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jarvis Cocker
|
|
|---|---|
_(53082349174)_(cropped).jpg)
Cocker in 2023
|
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jarvis Branson Cocker |
| Born | 19 September 1963 Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Genres |
|
| Occupation(s) |
|
| Instruments |
|
| Years active | 1978–present |
Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is a famous English musician. He is best known as the leader, singer, and songwriter for the band Pulp. Pulp was a very popular band during the Britpop music era in the mid-1990s. Jarvis Cocker has also made his own music and hosted a radio show called Jarvis Cocker's Sunday Service on BBC Radio 6 Music for seven years.
Contents
Early Life and Beginnings
Jarvis Cocker was born in Sheffield, England. He grew up in the Intake area of the city. He went to City School. His father, Mac Cocker, was a DJ and actor. He left the family when Jarvis was seven years old. Jarvis and his sister, Saskia, were raised by their mother, Christine Connolly. She later became a local politician.
Jarvis has said that growing up mostly with women helped him understand how women think. He even wrote a song about his father leaving. In 1998, Jarvis and his sister traveled to Australia. They met their father for the first time in almost 30 years. Mac Cocker was a radio DJ in Sydney. Jarvis said he forgave his father, who passed away in 2016.
For many years in the 1980s, Jarvis lived in an old factory. He also lived in abandoned buildings in London for a while.
Music Career Highlights
Pulp: A Britpop Sensation
Jarvis Cocker started the band Pulp when he was 15 years old. He first called it Arabacus Pulp. He got the name from an economics class. After many changes to the band members, they shortened the name to "Pulp." The band became very famous in the 1990s. This happened with their successful albums His 'n' Hers (1994) and Different Class (1995).
Jarvis was the lead singer of Pulp. His glasses were a big part of his look. They seemed to stay on his face no matter how much he moved. He did this by using "a huge rubber band" around the back of his glasses.
Pulp released two more albums, This Is Hardcore and We Love Life. Critics liked these albums a lot. However, they did not sell as well as Different Class. The band took a break from 2003 to 2010. They started playing together again in 2011.
Jarvis is also known for his cleverness and thoughts on culture. He was often a guest on TV shows in the 1990s. He also hosted an art show for Channel 4 called Journeys into the Outside. In this show, he traveled the world. He met "outsider artists" who create unique and amazing art. He tried to understand why they made their art.
Jarvis's Solo Music
Jarvis: First Solo Album
.jpg)
Jarvis Cocker's first solo album, Jarvis, came out in the UK on 13 November 2006. At the 2006 Reading festival, the music video for his song "Running the World" was shown. It played on the main screens before the band Muse performed. The video had the song's words on screen. This helped the crowd sing along.
In March 2008, Jarvis toured in Latin America. He visited Mexico, Argentina, and Chile. He played a new song there called "Girls Like It Too."
Further Complications: Second Solo Album
Jarvis said he had written "Girls Like It Too" and "The Usual." He hoped to have enough songs for his next solo album. He wanted to record another album before the end of the year.
He first played a new song, "Angela," on BBC2 on 13 June 2008. On 6 March 2009, the album title Further Complications was announced. It was recorded by Steve Albini and released on 18 May 2009. Music critics said the album was "a huge leap forward" for Jarvis.
In October 2011, a book of his song lyrics was published. It was called Mother, Brother, Lover: Selected Lyrics.
Room 29: A Hotel Story
In March 2017, Jarvis released Room 29. This was a project with musician Chilly Gonzales. It was Jarvis's first album in eight years. Room 29 is a concept album. It tells stories about the Chateau Marmont, a famous hotel in Hollywood.
Jarvis stayed in room 29 at the hotel during a Pulp tour in 2012. The room had a piano. This made Jarvis wonder if the piano could tell stories of past guests. Each song on the album is a different story about a possible guest. The songs are not just about Hollywood glamour. They also talk about the illusions and disappointments of the industry. The album was performed at the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2017.
JARV IS...: A New Band
In late 2017, Jarvis formed a new band called "Jarv Is." The band includes Jarvis, Serafina Steer (harp/keys), Emma Smith (violin), Andrew McKinney (bass), Jason Buckle, and Adam Betts (drums). The band mostly performs live. They played new songs at festivals in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
On 15 May 2019, the band released their first song, "Must I Evolve?". On 2 March 2020, Jarvis announced the band's first album, Beyond the Pale. He also released the song "House Music All Night Long." The album was released on 17 July 2020.
On 21 March 2022, Jarv Is released music for the BBC TV show This Is Going to Hurt.
Other Music Projects
Jarvis Cocker has worked with many other artists. In 1996, he sang a duet called "Ciao!" with Miki Berenyi from the band Lush. In 1997, he worked with David Arnold on a cover of "All Time High" from the James Bond movie Octopussy. He also helped write several songs for The All Seeing I's album Pickled Eggs & Sherbet in 1999. He sang on their song "Drive Safely Darlin'."
In 2003, he formed a new band called Relaxed Muscle under the name "Darren Spooner." He also appeared on the Richard X album Richard X Presents His X-Factor Vol. 1. In 2004, Jarvis worked with Nancy Sinatra and Marianne Faithfull on their albums.
In 2005, he helped write three songs for the band The Lovers. That same year, he sang a song by Leonard Cohen for a tribute film. Jarvis also helped with the music for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He wrote and performed three songs: "This Is the Night," "Do the Hippogriff," and "Magic Works." He even appeared briefly in the film as the lead singer of the band the Weird Sisters. Other famous musicians like Jonny Greenwood and Phil Selway from Radiohead were also in this band.
In 2006, Jarvis appeared on albums like Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited and Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys. His song "Running the World" was played at the end of the film Children of Men. He also helped choose songs for a two-CD collection called The Trip. In 2007, Jarvis and Beth Ditto sang a cover of "Temptation" by Heaven 17. He also helped with two songs on the French band Air's album "Pocket Symphony."
Jarvis also organized the 2007 Meltdown Festival in London. He chose bands like Motörhead, Iggy & The Stooges, and The Jesus and Mary Chain to perform.
In 2009, he was in the animated film Fantastic Mr. Fox. He sang an original song called "Fantastic Mr. Fox AKA Petey's Song." In 2010, he worked with the National Trust to make an album of sounds. These sounds were recorded at 11 important historical places in Britain. He also narrated Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf at the Royal Festival Hall.
In 2021, he worked with Gucci Soundsystem on a song called "Let's Stick Around." This song was about climate change.
Music Videos and TV Shows
Jarvis Cocker has also directed music videos. He directed videos for artists like Aphex Twin and Nightmares on Wax. He also made short appearances in music videos for The Hives and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
His TV series Journeys into the Outside with Jarvis Cocker aired in 1999. In this three-episode series, Jarvis traveled the world. He explored different kinds of outsider art. He visited places like the Watts Towers in Los Angeles and Nek Chand's Rock Garden of Chandigarh.
Radio and Broadcasting
.jpg)
On 3 October 1996, Jarvis co-hosted an Australian TV show called Recovery.
On 12 October 2006, a story about a made-up version of Jarvis was on BBC Radio 2. On 31 December 2008, Jarvis was a guest editor for the Today show on BBC Radio 4. He also appeared on BBC's Question Time in July 2009.
In October 2009, BBC Radio 6 Music announced that Jarvis would host his own show. It was called Jarvis Cocker's Sunday Service. It started on 10 January 2010. He said he wanted to bring back the "boringness" to Sunday. Jarvis won an award for his radio show in 2010.
In January 2011, he was on a Radio 4 show called "In Search of the Holy Whale." He went on a whale-watching trip in Ireland with other musicians. In 2012, Jarvis started another Radio 4 show called Wireless Nights. In this show, he explored stories about people at night. This show won an award in 2012.
In December 2017, Jarvis presented his last Sunday Service show for the BBC. He said it was "not goodbye, it's just farewell."
Acting Roles
Jarvis Cocker has also acted in movies. He appeared in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005). He played Myron Wagtail, the lead singer of the Weird Sisters.
He also played himself in the 2007 romantic comedy The Good Night. Director Wes Anderson likes Jarvis's work. This led to Jarvis voicing Petey in Anderson's 2009 stop-motion movie Fantastic Mr. Fox. Petey also sings an original song in the film. Jarvis's appearance in the movie is based on himself. He also voiced a French pop singer in Anderson's 2021 film The French Dispatch.
In 2022, Jarvis voiced "Developer," a rat, in the stop-motion film The House. He also wrote and performed the closing song for this film. In 2023, he appeared as a musical cowboy in Wes Anderson's Asteroid City. He also played multiple roles in Anderson's The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.
Writing and Journalism
In June 2011, Jarvis Cocker was a guest editor for poetry in The Mays Anthology. This book collects new writing from students at Oxford and Cambridge.
In 2014, he worked as an editor for Faber and Faber publishing house. He said he likes to write about "the little things that stick in your mind." He believes most of these things are "eternal."
Jarvis has also written for The Guardian newspaper.
In 2022, Jarvis published a book called Good Pop, Bad Pop. It's a memoir where he looks back at his younger years. He did this by cleaning out his attic.
Personal Life
In November 1985, Jarvis had an accident. He fell out of a window while trying to act like Spider-Man. He ended up in the hospital and needed a wheelchair for a while. He even performed concerts in his wheelchair.
In 1988, when he was 25, Jarvis took a break from Pulp. He studied Fine Art and Film at Saint Martin's School of Art. He finished his studies in 1991.
Jarvis lived in Paris starting in 2003 with his wife, Camille Bidault-Waddington, and their son. In 2009, he announced they were divorcing. He stayed in Paris to be close to his son. Jarvis had lived in Paris before in the early 1990s. He wrote lyrics for Pulp's album His 'n' Hers there.
Jarvis now lives in Shepherd's Bush, London. He is married to Kim Sion, a creative consultant. They started dating in 2009 and got married in June 2024.
Jarvis is a fan of the football team Sheffield Wednesday.
Activism and Causes
In 2010, Jarvis Cocker was named a Cultural Ambassador for Eurostar. He has also been an ambassador for Scottish Love in Action (SLA) since 2010. This charity is based in Edinburgh. He also played on a CD to raise money for SLA.
In 2015, Jarvis was one of the people who signed a pledge called Artists For Palestine. In 2016, Jarvis supported staying in the European Union during the UK referendum.
Discography
- Jarvis (2006) No. 37 UK
- Further Complications (2009) No. 19 UK, No. 155 US
- Room 29 (with Chilly Gonzales) (2017)
- Beyond the Pale (with Jarv Is) (2020)
- Chansons d'Ennui Tip-Top (2021)
- This Is Going to Hurt (Original Soundtrack) (with Jarv Is) (2022)
See also
In Spanish: Jarvis Cocker para niños
