Fifteen Quickfire Questions for . . . Cosey Fanni Tutti
By Faber Editor, 5 December 2024
Get to know Cosey Fanni Tutti, the author of Re-Sisters: The Lives and Recordings of Delia Derbyshire, Margery Kempe and Cosey Fanni Tutti and
Art Sex Music, who kindly humours us with rapid responses to fifteen entirely frivolous questions.
What is the best song to wake up to?
No one song in particular that I can think of, just something gentle and uplifting. Definitely not heavy metal or angst vocals – I’ve been woken by that kind of music and it wasn’t a good way to start my day.
What one meal could resurrect you from the dead?
What a weird question. I have actually been resurrected from the dead when my heart stopped during my stay at Papworth Hospital. The expert hands of the team brought me back; no food involved . . . although there was vegetable curry involved much later.
Who or what has most influenced your career?
I don’t think of myself as having a career and have never aspired to have one. I’ve always seen my life and lifestyle as being the core influence on my work. Being a post-war child has also certainly had a hand in the opportunities available to me.
What song do you wish you wrote?
‘Song to the Siren’ by Tim Buckley and Larry Beckett
What would you change about yourself if you could?
My heart, so I don’t have and will never have the ongoing condition anymore.
What is your most valued possession?
Strength of will.
Which artist would you most like to bring back to life?
Helen Chadwick.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
A vet, until I realised that I’d have to put some animals to sleep and I couldn’t face that.
What are you most fascinated with?
The power of sound.
What was your first job?
Office junior for a mill that produced animal feed. I can still remember the smell as I walked up the street.
Where would you take an alien to teach them about life on Earth?
Any city of industrial location. I guess it would be obvious that we’ve fucked up the planet.
What do you splurge on?
Equipment for my work. My last splurge was on an expensive granular synthesiser which hasn’t lived up to my expectations.
How do you pass time on a long flight?
I always take a book to read, sometimes watch a film and try to sleep.
How do you like to celebrate success?
A nice meal at a special restaurant.
From expensive candles to bowls of brown-free M&Ms on demand, the artist's rider is a key part of their mystique: what would yours be and why?
All my riders have been very practical – not what I’d regard as extravagant self-indulgences. Water (still, so I’m not belching on stage), fruit juices, bowl of fruit and crudité board with (non-garlic) dips, fresh towels and somewhere to lie down prior to the gig. Oh, and always M&Ms (all colours) for post-gig.
Re-Sisters: The Lives and Recordings of Delia Derbyshire, Margery Kempe and Cosey Fanni Tutti and
Art Sex Music are both available in paperback.
From the acclaimed author of Art Sex Music comes a vital meditation on womanhood, creativity and self-expression, and a revelatory exploration into the lives of three visionary artists.
Punk, pornographer, pioneer, provocateur: the incredible story of Cosey Fanni Tutti, the performer whose art and music inspired a generation and rocked the establishment to its core.
Cosey Fanni Tutti, whose career began in 1969, is a respected artist and musician of worldwide renown – for her art, her work in the sex industry, as co-founder of Industrial music and Throbbing Gristle, and her pioneering electronic music as ‘Chris & Cosey’ and ‘Carter Tutti’.
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