About Cosey Fanni Tutti

Cosey Fanni Tutti (born Christine Carole Newby on 4 November 1951, in Hull, England) is best known as a performance artist and for her time in Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey. Before both of these she was a performer with Coum Transmissions in 1969. Her addition changed the nature of the group which, when she joined, was still mostly a musical venture. From that point on, COUM performances became events or, in sixties parlance, happenings, involving props, costumes, dance, improvisation and street theatre. Cosey continues to release solo recordings, including a retrospective deluxe box set with many photos and text, called Time to Tell, and she continues to perform as a performance artist in the Dada tradition. She also had a long career as a stripper and in the fields of pornographic film and magazines. Some of her performance art work has also drawn on her experience as an adult performer. Music was used in some of Tutti's performance art. The use of music lead to Cosey's interest in the concept of 'acceptable' music and she went on to explore the use of sound as a means of physical pleasure or pain. In 1976 she co-founded the group Throbbing Gristle with Chris Carter, Peter Christopherson and Genesis P-Orridge. They disbanded in 1981. Cosey and her partner Chris Carter then continued to work together as the duo Chris & Cosey. In 2004, after 23 years apart, Throbbing Gristle reunited, with all four original members, for recordings and events.