Peter Fox

by Nico Tobias Wirtz
Taking a break from his day job as one of three frontmen in the internationally popular dancehall orchestra Seeed, Pierre Baigorry (aka Enuff aka Peter Fox) entered his Kreuzberg-based studio in early 2006 to start working on a solo album. Always more of a producer than a natural-born singer, Baigorry intended to pull the strings in the background, giving his strained vocal chords some well-deserved rest. The spotlight was to be left to Atlanta soul-rapper Cee-Lo Green, whose voice had left a deep impression on Baigorry a year earlier when working with Green on Seeed's third full-length, Next! The American soul singer had readily agreed to collaborate with Baigorry and promised to come to Germany right after his work with producer Danger Mouse on a side project had ended. Just a few weeks later, however, Gnarls Barkley's very first single, "Crazy," had turned into a worldwide über-hit -- and the favored candidate was left with little time to contribute to his German friend's solo project.
Never a stranger to improvisation, though, Baigorry quickly got his act together, adapted a new alias for good measure, and went back to work. Instead of targeting a more international audience (as originally intended), the native Berliner decided to stick to his guns and write his lyrics in German (as always with a strong and proud local accent). Assisted by longtime writing partner Monk, Peter Fox's first solo album Stadtaffe (Cityape), was produced with the help of Seeed's DJ Illvibe and some voluminous use of the Berlin-based Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg. The album was accompanied by massive promotional activity from Warner, Fox's record label, which consequently boosted the singles "Alles Neu" and "Haus Am See" into the upper regions of the country's radio charts. With a live band rivaling his main employer Seeed in terms of sheer size (taking along a good part of the album's orchestra instead of saving a few euros and employing samples), Fox went on tour to promote the album in late 2008.