My breakthrough came when I stopped thinking, 'I've got to be profound' and started writing about everyday normal things.

Jarvis Cocker has been making music for two-thirds of his life. Two dozen of these years (1978-2002) were spent in Pulp, a group with whom he enjoyed most of the experiences you can have as the singer in a band. Over this time, Jarvis went from being the quintessential outsider to being one of the most recognised and cherished figures in Britain. He brought a rare, bookish wit to the pop charts, and cut an original dash in a rock'n'roll world often dominated by reductive cliche.