The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers (along with the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, The Crystal Method, and other acts) in bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture. After attracting Virgin Records, the duo achieved further success with the second album Dig Your Own Hole (1997), which topped the UK charts. In the UK, they have had six No. 1 albums and 13 top-20 singles, including two chart-toppers. Their name came about in 1995 after they dropped their original moniker the Dust Brothers due to the existence of a different band with the same name. In the United States, they have won six Grammy Awards including Best Rock Instrumental Performance, Best Dance Recording and Best Dance/Electronic Album of the year as recently as 2020. History 1984–1995: Formation and early incarnations Ed Simons was born the son of a barrister mother and a father he has described as "absent". After finishing an "expensive" public school with 11 O levels and three A levels, he continued on to study history, especially late medieval history, at the University of Manchester. Tom Rowlands was raised in Henley-on-Thames. He met Simons at the University of Manchester in 1989; they shared an interest in raves and club-going. Rowlands chose Manchester primarily to immerse himself in its music scene in general and the Fac 51 Hacienda in particular. Rowlands was also in a band called Ariel prior to meeting up with Simons. He formed Ariel in London with friends Brendan Melck and Mathew Berry. Their first single was "Sea of Beats", which was essentially a white label. Before Philip Brown set up Echo Logik Records, their first promo was "Bokadilo". Other songs, released on 12-inch, included "Mustn't Grumble" and their best-known, "Rollercoaster". After a year on Echo Logik they signed to the record label deConstruction. They insisted on a female singer and they recruited former Xpansions frontwoman Sally Ann Marsh, and after some disappointing songs such as "Let It Slide" (Rowlands would later describe it as "a stinker"), the band fell apart. One of the last things Ariel did was the song "T Baby", which was remixed by the pair. Rowlands and Simons started to DJ at a club called Naked Under Leather in the back of a pub in 1992, under the alias, the 237 Turbo Nutters