Partying harder than ever as he celebrates every day of being 60, DJ Fat Tony is feeling unequivocally grateful. And when he takes to the stage at Camp Bestival in Dorset this weekend, with his good mate Fatboy Slim, they will have far more in common than just their names.
For Fat Tony and Fatboy Slim, aka Norman Cook, are both long-term clean and sober. Tony has been sober for 20 years and Fatboy is just behind him at 17. Tony - whose real surname is Marnoch - will also be playing Electric Paradise on August 8 at Milton Keynes Bowl.
Sobriety and Gratitude
He is speaking to The Mirror from Ibiza, where he is about to play super club Amnesia. Sitting beside his husband, creative director Stavros Agapiou, 33, he says: “I've got everything I need in life, I just feel incredibly grateful.” Married in May 2025 at a star-studded London ceremony, Tony adds: “I'm incredibly happy. I was in the throes of addiction for 28 years. I didn't care about myself.”
Given his first line of cocaine by Freddie Mercury, after growing up on a London council estate, he partied with Boy George and Kate Moss and famously squandered £1 million on drugs. Describing himself as “in survival mode” for 15 years, he says: “Cocaine will get you ready for the party, but it won't get you there - that was me. I was a DJ, so I could make money. Then I'd spend it all on drugs. Addiction was a very harsh, hard-working labour camp.”
No Regrets, Shopping Addiction
But he does not regret his past - preferring to learn from it. Tony says: “I could quite easily say, ‘I wouldn't take drugs’ or ‘I wouldn't drink’, but all of those factors have got me to the happiest place in my life.”
Finding fame during the 1980s and 1990s, in the underground club and acid house scenes in London and New York, Tony, whose book Recover Me: A user's guide to overcoming addiction and insanity, is out now, adds: “I shouldn't be here. To say I am surprised to be alive is an understatement. I once took my own teeth out with a screwdriver. I was a complete crystal meth junkie with no teeth
“My vice now is shopping. I've swapped my drug addiction for a shopping addiction. I got so overwhelmed by the amount of clothes that I have in my house that I can't go there. So I'm just in the process of dealing with that.”
Friends' Advice and Future Hopes
He says shopaholism is something he has in common with his pal Sir Elton John - and that it saved them both. Warning that addiction can shift, from one thing to another, Tony says: “At one point he [Elton] had 40,000 pairs of shoes, and seven houses full of clothes. I have a bit of a way to go!”
But the Rocketman singer dishes out sage advice, according to Tony, who recalls his best tip from the star. “'Shut up, dear',” he laughs. “Which is a pretty sound tip if you ask me.”
Friends with supermodel Naomi Campbell, who is open about her own long-term recovery, he says she has also given him advice. Tony adds: “Naomi Campbell told me to 'play dead' and not comment on anything. When anyone says anything, just ignore it and play dead. ‘You don't need to buy into everyone else's argument’, she told me. She’s the queen of playing dead. I, however, have had a lifetime of arguing.”
But he won’t be following in the footsteps of his pal Boy George when it comes to clearing out his bursting wardrobes. George recently auctioned 370 items from his 45-year career, but Tony jokingly says it was “a load of old junk.” He adds: “I didn’t buy any of it.” And he won’t be selling anything on Vinted “for £2 a pop ‘ - preferring the idea of selling his stuff for charity.
Nightlife and Political Hopes
Optimistic about the future, Tony - who boasts 426,000 Instagram followers - feels the new Prime Minister is a positive force when it comes to the nighttime economy… and nightclubs in particular.
In response to Andy Burnham’s announced 20% cut in business rates for nightclubs, he says: "I grew up on nights out in Manchester, from the Haçienda to the little rooms where the next big act cuts its teeth. Those places gave people like me somewhere to belong, and I've watched too many go dark. For too long governments have stood by while they've been boarded up and handed to developers one by one. Not anymore."
And he hopes the PM will go further still. He says: “I have so much hope for the UK nightlife industry. Gen Z might not drink, but they want to see a DJ at a coffee club, or after a run. I run a day club which is packed out all the time. That said, I think clubs are a British institution and should be protected. They're places of cultural history.”
Also keen for Andy Burnham to back VAT cuts, he sees clubs and festivals as a valuable part of the country’s social history. He says: “Clubs are the least political places in the world. People meet, fall in love. Lives are changed in clubs - at festivals too.”
*For more information about Electric Paradise, see electric-paradise.co.uk; Recover Me by DJ Fat Tony, £25, published by Little Brown, is out now.
