SUPERSTAR DJ Fatboy Slim has been announced as a headliner at a major music festival being held in Sussex this summer

The third edition of the popular Wild Life Festival at Shoreham Airport will also feature Uckfield-based rising star Rag ’N’ Bone Man, chart-topper Jess Glynne and rap star Wiley.

Norman Cook, the Hove resident behind the Fatboy Slim persona, told The Argus the Wild Life organisers had held off asking him to play the festival until now.

It will be the DJ’s first outdoor set in his home county since 2015. The festival takes place on June 9 and 10.

He said: “When they did the first festival, they rung me up and said ‘we know this is your turf but if you perform it will be all about you’. They’ve been respectful about it.

“Last year I wasn’t working and I could actually hear it from my house. I’ve been gagging to do it but at the same time keeping my powder dry.

“It appeals to me because it’s right on my doorstep and I’m chuffed to be invited.”

Cook said his set would be the “full bells and whistles show” and that it was his “job to make people smile and dance”.

Wild Life was founded by dance groups Rudimental and Disclosure in 2015. That year, Jess Glynne’s set opened proceedings – now she is headlining.

The festival is moving to Friday and Saturday night time slots, as opposed to Saturday and Sunday nights, to allow for a 1am finish.

Cook promised to play his most well known and best-loved hits at the event.

He said: “If I don’t have a nod to Praise You or Right Here, Right Now at some point in my set people tend to notice. I only have to chuck them in once in a while.

“A lot of people weren’t born when a lot of my songs first came out. I think that’s part of my appeal – what I lack in youth I can hopefully make up for in experience.”

When asked about how he is managing to raise his two children, Woody and Nelly May, after his break-up with wife Zoe Ball, Cook said: “It’s OK. She lives next door but one and it’s going all right.”

l For a full interview with Norman Cook, see The Guide on Friday.

Weekend tickets for Wild Life Festival are available from 10am on Friday. Visit: wildlifefestival.com