Danbert Nobacon
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Danbert Nobacon, real name Nigel Hunter, was vocalist and keyboard player of the Leeds based anarchist band Chumbawamba. He is currently pursuing a solo career.
Nobacon has long aired his views through his music, producing cassettes in the early 1980s that featured songs exploring his views on anarchism, ecology and personal relationships. Despite being a member of Chumbawamba, the first vinyl release on their own Sky and Trees label was Nobacon's acoustic solo album, a re-recording of his scatalogical 'eco-concept' work The Unfairy Tale in 1985. He released two more solo singles, "Bigger Than Jesus" in 1987, an exploration of male sexuality that controversially featured a close up photograph of his own penis as cover artwork (the single was sold in a brown paper bag in the shops that stocked it), and "Why Are We Still in Ireland?" in 1989, a comment on the so called "Irish Troubles".
He is also renowned for his extrovert behaviour in public, as amusingly recounted in fellow band member Boff Whalley's autobiography Footnote*, and was also notorious for stripping naked at early solo performances. In later years he has described himself as transsexual, and has often worn a nun's habit during live performances. He gained notoriety and a great deal of press coverage by tipping an ice bucket over UK Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott at the 1998 BRIT Awards[1].
In July of 2005 Nobacon played as part of a series of protest gigs against the G8 Summit that were arranged as an alternative to the official Live 8 concerts. He is currently writing a history/current affairs book, working title "Smart Lies and Secret Wars." He is planning to release a new solo album in 2006, and continues to perform 'low key' gigs as a solo artist.
He is married to an American named Laura. [2]
[edit] Solo discography
(NB see also Chumbawamba discography)
- The Unfairy Tale/The War Inside Our Heads (Sky and Trees, 1984, cassette only release)
- The Unfairy Tale (Sky and Trees, 1985, vinyl release reworked version of material on above cassette)
- "Bigger Than Jesus" (Single, Mind Matter Records, 1987)
- "Why Are We Still in Ireland?" (Single, Rugger Bugger Records, 1989)
- The Unfairy Tale (GAP, 1997, CD re-issue of 1985 Sky and Trees album, with addition of songs from the other two singles)
[edit] References
- ^ Daily Telegraph, 11 February 1998, The anarchist in a mini-skirt who soaked Prescott
- ^ Daily Telegraph, 11 February 1998, How polite Nigel turned into Danbert the anarchist
