Danbert Nobacon


Nigel Hunter, known as Danbert Nobacon, is an English musician, the former vocalist and occasional keyboard player in the Leeds based anarchist band Chumbawamba.

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 scatological '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 featured a close up photograph of his own penis as cover artwork, and "Why Are We Still in Ireland?" in 1989, a comment on the Northern Irish Troubles.
He is renowned for his extrovert behaviour in public, as recounted in fellow band member Boff Whalley's autobiography Footnote*, and was notorious for stripping naked at early solo performances. In later years he has described himself as transvestite, 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.

Outside Chumbawamba

In July 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. In August 2007 he released an album, The Library Book of the World, on Chicago's Bloodshot Records label. After giving up on a book about current events, it was announced that Exterminating Angel Press would be releasing an "anarchist fairy tale" written by Nobacon and illustrated by filmmaker Alex Cox called Three Dead Princes. The release of Three Dead Princes coincided with the release of a new record entitled Woebegone in October 2010, during a U.S. tour.
In February 2011 he was living in Twisp, Washington, in the United States with his family and is pursuing a solo career.

Solo discography