PRINCE FATTY
Renowned sound engineer and record producer Mike “Prince Fatty” Pelanconi has been a prominent member of the reggae and dub scene in the UK since the mid 90s.
Finding himself frustrated by the tempos and mixes of certain records he loved, he set about recording his own versions with a supergroup of Londonʼs finest reggae musicians. Prince Fatty has consistently made waves with long term support from BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, BBC 6 Music, BBC 1Xtra, XFM, Kiss, Choice FM, culminating in joining Hollie Cook for a live Maida Vale session for Radio 1ʼs Huw Stephens and a Later... With Jools Holland performance on BBC 2.
Prince Fatty and his MC's played a whole host of European summer
dates in 2012 with notable performances confirmed at Bestival,
Summerjam, Camp Bestival, WOMAD, Reggaesunska, Imagine Festival
Waterford
HOLLIE COOK
Her dad is the drummer in the Sex Pistols and her mum used to be in Culture Club, so it’s no surprise that Hollie Cook is in the music business. The London-based singer has a phenomenal voice and has labelled her style ‘tropical pop reggae dub’ and her self-titled 2011 debut album is a brilliant collection, with highlights including That Very Night, Milk and Hone y, Body Beat and the amazing Walking in the Sand . Her voice is in the same ballpark as that of Lily Allen, while Hollie has also recorded a memorable cover of the Amy Winehouse classic You Know I’m No Good .
Her mum and her dad (Paul Cook) have been hugely supportive of her music career to date, according to Hollie. “They’ve just let me get on with it and they were very encouraging. They wanted me to work hard at whatever I wanted to do,” she says. “My dad always wanted to make me aware of what a fickle and competitive world the music industry can be but not to take it all too seriously either. “My mum has a great voice; I can only sing because she’s a great singer. She did work here and there as a professional singer and was in Culture Club in the very early stages. She realised that they were going to get really big and decided it wasn’t for her.” Hollie says she has been singing for as long as she can remember. “Since I was born, really. I came out singing,” she laughs. “As a kid I sang all the time and sang with my parents and was exposed to loads of music, but professionally I’ve been singing since I was about 16.” She has collaborated with Ian Brown and Jamie T, toured with The Stone Roses last year and even appeared live with the reformed punk rockers The Slits. “Ari [Up] and Tessa [Pollitt] are old family friends of ours. I’ve known Ari my whole life and I grew up with Tessa’s daughter,” she says. “A bunch of us daughters all sang on a new Slits recording and then they said I should join them when they do some live shows, so before I knew it I was doing rehearsals with them and one of my first ever gigs was with The Slits. So those were my first proper gigs. It was amazing.”
Hollie had initially thought about going into the performing arts. “I went to a school that specialised in performing arts in London. So we did a lot of drama and theatre studies and music but it wasn’t a stage school or anything like that.” And she says she loves playing live but still gets pre-gig nerves. “I do get nervous. It’s confusing, because I do feel comfortable on stage but then I’m shy and don’t like being the centre of attention.” She says appearing on Lat er Wi th Jools was “the most surreal experience ever”. “I can remember it happening but I think I can only remember it because I’ve seen the recording of it. “I felt like a real rabbit in the headlights. I hadn’t done any television before that so I think I kept my eyes closed a lot to get through to the end,” she laughs.
How did she come to team up with Mike ‘Prince Fatty’ Pelanconi? “I was played his early album demos by a friend and I love his stuff. So I asked to meet him to say I’d be happy to help out if he was looking for any singers. I was being a bit of a chancer, really. We’ve been pretty firm friends for five years now.” Interview by Brian Campbell for THE IRISH NEWS
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