The Northern Soul classic that gave Fatboy Slim his first single…

Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, celebrates his 55th birthday today, having just made musical history as the first artist to headline the British Airways i360 pod, located 450 feet above the Brighton shoreline.

Cook, whose musical career (if you also include his time with The Housemartins) is pushing 35 years at this stage, released his first single under his now-infamous Fatboy moniker back in 1995, on the then-fledgling Skint label.  

Everybody Loves A 303 is built around, as you would expect, a Roland TB-303 loop, as well as a seriously funky bass riff, lifted from a 1977 album by Edwin Starr, best known for his 1970 protest single War [ “…what is it good for? Huh! Absolutely nothing..!”] as well as Northern Soul classics such as 25 Miles and Time.

The track in question is Everybody Needs Love, which featured on side B of Starr’s 1977 self-titled album, Edwin Starr.

And as you will discover, it’s an absolute belter (incidentally, the bass riff in question comes in at the 2:38 mark, followed closely by the “Everybody needs love” vocal snippet that also features in the Fatboy Slim track)…

Starr would go on to have a career lasting more than three decades, before passing away in 2003 at the age of 61.

So as the erstwhile Fatboy raises a glass to another successful year, 909originals thinks it’s only fitting to pay tribute to a soul legend, without whom the saga of Norman Quentin Cook might have turned out differently.

After all, it’s a goddamn funky track!

[Kudos to Fatboy Slim and ojsdfnfdspo for the YouTube uploads]