Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, actor, voice actor, radio presenter, and music video director. He is known for being the frontman for the band Pulp. Through his work with the band, he became 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.

Biography

Soon after signing to Fire, in November 1985, Cocker fell out of a window while trying to impress a girl with a Spider-Man impression and ended up in hospital, temporarily requiring the use of a wheelchair, in which he appeared during concerts.

In 1988, at age 25, Cocker took a sabbatical from Pulp to study Fine Art and Film at Central St Martins, from which he graduated in 1991.

In the late 1990s, Cocker dated Chloë Sevigny. She later said in a 2009 interview:




“

When I was in my early 20s, I went out with a British pop star, Jarvis Cocker; of course, pop stars have much more celebrity, I think, than actors even. They're really hunted by their fans much more. I remember driving around these remote towns in Wales and kids running after us in the street. I was like, 'This is horrible!' And I saw the effect it had on him, and that's when I decided I never wanted to be a celebrity at that level, and I think that's why I've chosen to do the work that I do and just kind of work with directors that I love and try and do work that means something to me.

”



Cocker lived in Paris from 2003 with his wife, Camille Bidault-Waddington, and their son Albert (born 24 March 2003), known in the family as Alf. In April 2009 he announced that they were divorcing "on amicable terms", but that he was staying in Paris to remain in his son's life. Cocker had previously lived in Paris in the early 1990s, writing lyrics for Pulp's breakthrough album His 'n' Hers there, but he never learned to speak French, according to Bidault-Waddington.

In 2010, Cocker was named Cultural Ambassador for Eurostar. He has been an ambassador for the Edinburgh-based charity Scottish Love in Action (SLA) since 2010. He has also played on the band Everything Is New's debut CD. The CD was made to raise money for SLA.

In 2015, Cocker was among the signatories of a pledge committing to a "cultural boycott" of Israel.