Jarvis Cocker (born September 10 1963) is a British pop star, best known for fronting the band Pulp.
He was born in Sheffield; his estranged father, Mac Cocker, left the family when Jarvis was a child and emigrated to Australia, where he became a well-known disk jockey in Sydney on alternative rock radio station 2JJ (Double Jay) in the late 1970s. Jarvis is not related to famous Sheffield-born rock singer Joe Cocker.
Jarvis founded Arabicus Pulp at the age of 15 whilst he was still at school. After numerous lineup changes, and a shortening of the name to just Pulp, they shot to fame in the 1990s with the great commercial success of the albums His and Hers (1994) and Different Class (1995). He famously invaded the stage at the 1996 Brit Awards to protest against Michael Jackson's performance. Although arrested and taken from the hall by the police, he was not prosecuted.
After two more albums (This Is Hardcore and We Love Life), neither of which achieved the commercial or critical success of earlier works, Pulp released a greatest hits album and went on hiatus. Jarvis moved to Paris with his wife, Camille Bidault-Waddington, with whom he has a son, Albert.
He reemerged in 2003 to promote a new album, under the pseudonym "Darren Spooner", for his new band called Relaxed Muscle. 2004 then brought Cocker briefly back into the limelight with two collaborations with Nancy Sinatra on her new album.
Cocker is producing the soundtrack for the fourth installment of the Harry Potter movie series. He will also appear in the film as a member of the fictious pop act the Weird Sisters, along with Jonny Greenwood and Phil Selway from Radiohead.
