Jarvis Cocker
| Jarvis Cocker | |
|---|---|
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Cocker in 2012
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jarvis Branson Cocker |
| Born |
19 September 1963 Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Genres | Alternative rock, post-punk, Britpop, indie rock, indie pop, art rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer-songwriter, actor, voice actor, radio presenter, music video director |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass, percussion |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Associated acts | Pulp, Relaxed Muscle |
| Website | jarviscocker |
Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, actor, voice actor, radio presenter and music video director. He initially found success as the frontman of the band Pulp, becoming a figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Following Pulp's hiatus, Cocker has led a successful solo career, and presents a BBC Radio 6 Music show called Jarvis Cocker's Sunday Service.
Cocker was born in Sheffield, growing up in the Intake area of the city. His father, Mac Cocker, a DJ and actor, left the family and moved to Sydney when Cocker was seven, and had no contact with Cocker or his sister, Saskia. Thereafter, both were brought up by their mother, who later became a Conservative councillor.
Cocker credits his upbringing, almost exclusively in female company, for his interest in how women think and what they have to say. He wrote a song ("A Little Soul" on This Is Hardcore) about being abandoned by his father, working briefly as a butler, and in 1998 travelled with his sister to Australia to meet him for the first time in nearly 30 years.
Mac Cocker had a successful radio DJ career in Sydney beginning with Double J in the 1970s and then Triple J in the 1980s, and did not counter a common impression there that he was Joe Cocker's brother or cousin (despite both being from Sheffield, they are not related). By the time of his son's visit, Mac Cocker had moved to a hippie commune in Darwin, Northern Territory. Cocker says he has forgiven his father for abandoning them, saying, "I don't feel any bitterness towards him at all. I feel sorry for him."
Cocker founded "Arabacus Pulp" (named after a trade-able commodity he learned in an economics class) at the age of 15 while he was still at The City School of Sheffield. After numerous line-up changes, and shortening the name to "Pulp", the band eventually found fame in the 1990s with the success of the albums His 'n' Hers (1994) and Different Class (1995). As Pulp's frontman, part of Cocker's trademark image was his glasses, which seemed to "stay magically on his face" no matter what his antics on stage were. Apparently, this feat was achieved using "a huge rubber band round the back" of his glasses.
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