Desert Island Discs Revisited: British Music Makers - Jarvis Cocker

DESERT ISLAND DISCS REVISITED: BRITISH MUSIC MAKERS - JARVIS COCKER (320kbs-m4a/98mb/43mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 3rd September 2023

Pulp's singer and musician, Jarvis Cocker is castaway by Sue Lawley.

Jarvis formed the band Pulp in the late 1970s and says that as a gawky, self-conscious teenager he felt pop music did not properly inform him about the disappointments and miseries of growing up - and he was determined to write songs that included "the messy bits and the awkward, fumbling bits".

He had to wait more than a decade to find success - but Pulp went on to become one of the most popular bands of the 1990s, with hits including Do You Remember the First Time? Sorted For Es And Wizz and Common People.

The band's crowning glory was its performance of 'Common People' at the Glastonbury festival in 1995.

The following year, Jarvis Cocker made headlines again - this time the tabloid front pages after he invaded the stage while Michael Jackson was performing at the pop industry's annual awards ceremony. Fans were thrilled, but it marked the beginning of a difficult time in the singer's life.

Now he is married with a young son and living in Paris and has recently written songs for Nancy Sinatra and Marianne Faithfull as well as writing the music for the film Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire.

BOOK CHOICE: Sombrero Fallout - Richard Brautigan
LUXURY CHOICE: A bed with a mosquito net
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Sailing By - Ronald Binge

Desert Island Discs was created by Roy Plomley.

Producer: Leanne Buckle

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2005.

Robert Mellin - Theme
Joy Division - Transmission
Lieutenant Pigeon - Mouldy Old Dough
Engelbert Humperdinck - Ten Guitars
Scott Walker - The War Is Over
Dory Previn - Lady With The Braid
Johnny Cash - I See A Darkness
Ronald Binge - Sailing By