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The Streets star Mike Skinner has revealed he’s given up drug binges for a far quieter life as a family man.
The rapper, 47, rose to fame with his groundbreaking Noughties album A Grand Don’t Come for Free, which offered a blistering take on the empty landscape of manhood in the height of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Britain.
But Mike then shone a light on the challenges of the music scene through his follow-up The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living, which he described as a ‘complete collapse in morality,’ as it featured lyrics about drug binges with an unnamed popstar.
However, the star has now left that lifestyle far behind, and in a new interview, has shared how he’s moved from what he called a ‘collapse in morality,’ to a quieter life as a father-of-two.
The musician has been married to wife Claire Le Marquand since 2010, and they share a daughter Amelia, 17, and a son George, 14.
He described a typical family weekend as a lunch outing in Selfridges, adding, and then the girls went shopping and the boys hung out.’
Speaking to The Sunday Times Style Magazine, Mike also shared a glimpse into his pared-back lifestyle while offered insight into the years when he took a break from performing with The Streets to focus on filmmaking.
He added: ‘And then I started doing the Streets again because I’d spent ten years not making the film, but I then realised it might work if I made the music for it.
‘Plus, you know that Sylvester Stallone quote, that he made a film so his kids didn’t think all he did was play golf? There was an element of that too.’
Mike is returning to the stage this summer with a tour celebrating his most iconic album, and shared he is also working on new music for The Streets to go alongside a film he’s making about alien abduction.
The Streets’ catchy anthems about kebab shops, nightclubs, JD sports and Reebok Classics starting with Original Pirate Materialm won them an army of fans, scored them two number one albums and six top 20 singles.
But Mike has previously shared that while he was soaring to the top of the charts in the Noughties, he was traumatised by family tragedy and lose thousands of pounds on betting.
He told The Independent about the tough time he was going through behind the scenes following the death of his father, aunt and niece in quick succession.
He said: ‘I wouldn’t want to do that again. Which seems crazy – being in the charts, being in the newspapers…
‘I like the Noel Gallagher attitude: it’s your job to show the next generation that it’s amazing being a creative. Stop complaining and take your mental collapse like a proper rock star.’
Mike admitted he found himself losing tens of thousands of pounds after spread betting on football which was ‘incredibly traumatic.’
He also said he no longer suffers from the paralysis and anxiety of his 20s and 30s.
Adding: ‘I don’t have the feeling of being watched all the time any more, which is great. On my second or third album, you’d walk in somewhere and people would start talking about you. You didn’t know what people were going to do.’
