Name	French house ("nu-disco")
Bgcolor	silver
Color	black
Stylistic origins	French music Eurodance Euro disco US disco Hi-NRG P-Funk Chicago house
Cultural origins	Late 1970s-mid-90s in Europe and US
Instruments	Sampler • Drum machine • Synthesizer • Sequencer
Popularity	mid-1990s to early-2000s, mainly throughout Europe
Subgenres	Disco house

French house is a catch-all term for house music by many French artists, a popular strand of the late 1990s and 2000s European dance music scene and a form of Euro disco. The genre has also been referred to as "neu-disco" (new disco, distinct from the non-house "nu-disco" revival), "French touch", "filter house" and "tekfunk" over the years. The defining characteristics of the sound are heavy reliance on cut-off and phaser effects both on and alongside samples of late 1970s and early 1980s American or European disco tracks. Celebrated and successful purveyors of this music include Daft Punk, Cassius and Etienne de Crécy. Most tracks in this vein feature steady 4/4 beats with a tempo range of 110-130 beats per minute.

History and influences

French house is greatly influenced by the lineage of American dance music from the emergence of disco onwards, maintaining a distinct connection to Euro disco and the short lived space disco music style. Space disco was very popular in France, with artists like Cerrone, Space and Sheila B. Devotion during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Additional influences came from P-Funk, especially the George Clinton and Bootsy Collins hits of that era. Due to originating from the same foreign market, P-Funk was played alongside disco in many French discothèques, especially after the Disco Demolition Night took place in the United States. The Jacking aspect of Chicago house was also picked up on as a theme to incorporate (with "jack house" becoming a short-lived descriptive term for the sound in the UK).

Thomas Bangalter's tracks for his Roulé label may be considered the earliest examples of an attempt to establish a distinctive style of house music produced in France. His solo material, along with his work as a member of Daft Punk and Stardust, significantly impacted the French house scene during the mid-to-late nineties. Duo Motorbass (aka Philippe Zdar, later of Cassius, and Étienne de Crécy) were also among the first in France to produce house tracks which were largely based around samples and filtered loops - in turn inspired by emerging American house producers such as DJ Sneak, Green Velvet and Roger Sanchez and their penchant for producing sample-led monotonous house tracks with deep funky grooves. Parisian producer St. Germain produced house tracks with a similarly monotonous style at the time but these were more directly influenced by Jazz as opposed to the brasher vocal disco records appropriated, while other known French DJ-turned-producers at the time such as François Kevorkian and Laurent Garnier remained relatively distant from the emerging French house label.

The first French house experiments were warmly received by the UK dance music press and European DJ's in the mid-'90s but major commercial success did not occur until 1997. Daft Punk, Cassius and later Stardust were the first internationally successful artists of the genre. Along with Air these acts were signed to Virgin Records and benefited from distinctive music videos directed by the likes of Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry and Alex & Martin. Due to a reasonable amount of buzz generated from the huge clubbing scene and major record company support, Daft Punk's debut album Homework entered the top ten of the UK album charts on release and they effectively became the biggest-selling French act in the UK since Jean-Michel Jarre. The emergence of the French sound was well-timed as dance music's popularity in the influential UK market was peaking commercially with electronica.

Further international commercial success continued into 2000 with Bob Sinclar, Etienne de Crécy, Benjamin Diamond and Modjo achieving hit singles around Europe.

Terms, origins and variations

The term "French house" first used on MTV UK & Ireland during the Christmas holiday period of 1999. It used on an MTV News special, to describe a so called "French house explosion" phenomenon. Bob Sinclar was interviewed, as well as Air and Cassius. That news special later aired on all the MTV local variations worldwide, spreading the term and introducing the "French house" sound to the mainstream.

Prior to that (1996–2000), "French house" had been referred to among Europeans as "neu disco", "disco house" and "new disco". However, the term "French Touch" was first used by music journalist Martin James in his 1996 review of the first Super Discount EP in the now defunkt weekly music paper Melody Maker. This term became favoured among the French media and was then widely used in the UK press by 1998. []. Martin James was later recognised by French newspaper Liberation and Radio NRJ as the journalist responsible for naming the French house phenomenon French Touch.

One of the biggest markets for neu disco at the time, was Greece and especially Athens. A local music shop called Discobole Records imported the records direct from France and middle class clubs like City Groove dedicated totally to the genre between 1998 and 2001. In Greece this music style was promoted as "disco house".

At the same time, disco house began to gain success in Canada. During 1999 many events also took place on Spain's Ibiza, a very popular destination for British tourists. However "happy house" is nowadays mainly kept alive by a number of Ministry of Sound DJs in London. (see Ministry of Sound annual dance collections etc.)

French house is essentially a combination of three production styles. One is what the French still refer as "the French touch" and it is the style that greatly influenced by the space disco sound. The second is a continuation and update of Euro disco and greatly influenced by the productions of Alec R. Costandinos. The third would be the deep American house style as evident in the similar treatment of samples and repetitive 'funky' hooks. Naturally further variations and mutations followed. French house maintains the established "French touch" sound, focused more on Euro disco-like vocals and less emphasis on the "space disco" themes. However, most of the music's most successful acts have altered their sound since. Bob Sinclar's later work including the big hit "World, Hold On (Children of the Sky)", which had a video based on a science fiction theme, maintains only a distant connection to the original French house sound. Both Daft Punk and Etienne De Crecy developed a harder synthetic sound more directly inspired by techno and electro for their most recent albums. Producers such as , Alan Braxe, Fred Falke, Lifelike and Kris Menace remain popular out of the mainstream but still represent a direct progression of the sound including its space disco roots.

Disco house grew to a "heavy" instrumental version of French house. After the split, very quickly became a different music style, very popular on Greek Islands like Myconos, Lesbos, Zakinthos and Lefkada.

In Ibiza, disco house took later another direction: It combined vocals and some elements from the UK's speed garage (a mid '90s music style) with a local Latin flavor. On 2007, many underground disco house productions belonged to this Ibiza school.

French house influenced Benny Benassi for the creation of his "tek-house" music style (also known as "pumping house"). That short lived music style became very popular during 2002–2004 in continental Europe, with artists such Benassi Bros., Royal Gigolos and Shana Vanguarde. During 2007, a crossover of tek house and French house appeared in the French market, with limited success (promoted mostly through the M6Music music channel, W9 and NRJ Music). Most of those hits were remixed in a 2000s electro house style to reach mainstream audiences, mostly of the new established dance music style called Tecktonik.

Artists

Air

Alan Braxe

Alexandre Louvré

AlgoRythmiK

Benjamin Diamond

Bob Sinclar

Cassius (Phillipe Zdar & Boom Bass > La Funk Mob)

Daft Punk

Da Slammin Phrogz

Dimitri from Paris

DJ Falcon

Étienne de Crécy

Fred Falke

Galleon

Ghosts Of Venice

Go Go Bizkitt!

Jalouse

Justice (French band)

Justin Faust

Kojak

Laurent Wolf

Le Knight Club (Team: Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Eric Chedeville)

Lifelike

Louis La Roche

Marc Dangerfield

Martin Solveig

Mike Castro de Maria

MIGARI

Modjo

Motorbass

Moullinex

Mr Oizo

Nonsense

Phoenix

Play Paul

Rhythm Masters

Sedat (musician)/Billy Lo (musician)

Stardust (team: Thomas Bangalter, Alan Braxe and Benjamin Diamond)

St Germain

Superfunk

Sébastien Léger

The Edge (French band)

The Ones

The Supermen Lovers

Together (band) (team: Thomas Bangalter and DJ Falcon)

Xinobi

Yuksek

Record labels associated with the style

Crydamoure

Roulé

Vertigo

Darling Records

Second City Recordings

Ed Banger Records

Vulture Music

20000st

Diamond Traxx

Quatre Records

Yellow Productions

Supersonique Studio

D.I.S.C.O.Texas

Shiny Disco Club

References

Category:House music genres Category:French styles of music

Name	Thomas Bangalter
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Instrument	Guitar, synthesizer, keyboards, vocals
Nickname(s)	T Bang
Born	January 03, 5
Origin	Paris, France
Genre	House
Years active	1992–present
Label	Roulé
Associated acts	Darlin'Daft PunkStardustTogetherDa Mongoloids

Thomas Bangalter (born 3 January 1975)

Early life and career

Bangalter was born in Paris, France. He began playing the piano at the age of six. Bangalter stated in a video interview that his parents were strict in keeping up his practice, for which he later thanked them. His father, Daniel Vangarde was a famous songwriter and producer for such performers as the Gibson Brothers, Ottawan, and Sheila B. Devotion. As expressed by Bangalter, "I never had any intention to do what my father was doing."

Bangalter met Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo while attending the Lycée Carnot school in 1987. It was there that they discovered their mutual fascination of films and music of the 1960s and 70s, "very basic cult teenager things, from Easy Rider to the Velvet Underground." They and Laurent Brancowitz eventually joined to form an indie rock trio called Darlin', in which Bangalter performed bass guitar. Bangalter felt that "It was still maybe more a teenage thing at that time. It's like, you know, everybody wants to be in a band." In 1993 Bangalter presented a demo of Daft Punk material to Stuart Macmillan of Slam that led to their first single "The New Wave". Daniel Vangarde provided valuable advice for the duo. "He helped us by presenting to us what the situation was with the record industry and how it worked. Knowing that, we made certain choices in order to achieve what we wanted."

Vangarde was thanked for his efforts in the liner notes of Homework. The title of the album is partially attributed to the fact that Homework was recorded in Bangalter's bedroom. As he remarked, "I had to move the bed into another room to make space for the gear."

Around the same time of "Music Sounds Better with You", Bangalter co-produced Bob Sinclar's second single titled "Gym Tonic". The single caused a minor dispute as it contained samples from a Jane Fonda workout tape, which led Fonda herself to refuse permission for the single to be released officially. A different act called Spacedust released an re-recorded version of the track, titled "Gym and Tonic" under the label EastWest to wider commercial success. "Gym and Tonic" became a number one single in the United Kingdom shortly after "Music Sounds Better with You" had peaked at number two in the same chart.

During 1998, Bangalter and de Homem-Christo collaborated with Romanthony in what would become the first of the Discovery sessions. One of tracks produced, "One More Time" became Daft Punk's most successful single in 2000. Bangalter also performed on a Yamaha Cs-60 synthesizer on the track "Embuscade" in Phoenix's debut album United, which was released the same year. He also teamed up with DJ Falcon under the name Together to release their eponymous 2000 single.

Bangalter produced the score to the film Irréversible, released in 2002. A soundtrack album of the same name was later released featuring Bangalter's tracks as well as the works by Gustav Mahler, Étienne Daho and Beethoven used in the film. North American pressings of the album feature only the Bangalter tracks. Three of the tracks from the Trax on da Rocks EPs were released on the album: "Outrun", "Ventura" and "Extra Dry". 2002 also saw the release of the Bangalter produced track "113 Fout La Merde" for French hip hop group 113. Bangalter can be seen dancing in the music video, wearing his Daft Punk helmet.

Together released the single "So Much Love to Give" in 2003. The Eric Prydz track "Call on Me" was initially thought to be a follow-up to the Together release due to the similarity between the two songs and DJ Falcon's use of "Call on Me" in DJ sets.

Bangalter was the sound effects director for the 2009 film Enter the Void, his second work with filmmaker Gaspar Noé following Irréversible. He initially had been approached by Noé to compose the soundtrack of Enter the Void, but Bangalter was preoccupied with work on the score at the time. Bangalter instead provided various clips of drones and ambiance for the film to be accompanied by music by other artists from the 1960s and 70s.

Personal life

In 2002, Bangalter fathered a son, Tara-Jay, with actress Élodie Bouchez. In late 2004, Bangalter moved to his current home in Beverly Hills, California. The move is attributable to Bouchez's career in Hollywood and Bangalter's own interests in filmmaking.

Discography

Albums

Irréversible (2002)

EPs and singles

"Trax on da Rocks" (1995)

"Spinal Scratch" (1996)

"Trax on da Rocks Vol. 2" (1998)

"Outrage" (2003)

References

External links

Category:1975 births Category:Daft Punk Category:French bass guitarists Category:French expatriates in the United States Category:French film score composers Category:French pop guitarists Category:French record producers Category:Living people

Name	Fred Falke
Background	non_performing_personnel
Origin	Germany
Genre	French house
Years active	2000-present
Label	Vulture Music, Work It Baby
Associated acts	Alan Braxe, Kris Menace

Frédérick "Fred" Falke (born 7 January 1973) is a French based house producer and DJ of German origin.

Falke started out as a bass player around 1995 before turning his hand to production work in the late 1990s. His first record, a collaboration with Alan Braxe named Intro, which sampled The Jets 1987 hit Crush On You, was released in 2000 on Vulture Music.

The pair would form a very productive partnership releasing a handful of singles and becoming in-demand remixers for the likes of Goldfrapp, Röyksopp, Kelis and Justice. The partnership would last until 2008 when they went their separate ways.

Falke has also collaborated with France-based German producer, DJ and close friend

Discography

Singles, EPs and collaborations

Remixes by Fred Falke

Remixes by Alan Braxe & Fred Falke

References

External links

Category:French house musicians Category:Living people Category:French electronic musicians Category:1973 births

Name	David Guetta
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Born	November 07, 1967Paris, France
Genre	House, Electro-house, Hip House
Occupation	Singer, DJ, Songwriter
Years active	1996–present
Label	EMI Music France/Virgin, Positiva, Astralwerks
Associated acts	The Black Eyed Peas, Chris Willis, Fergie, will.i.am, Greyson Chance, Akon, Nicki Minaj, Flo Rida
Url

David Guetta (, born 7 November 1967) is a French house music producer and DJ. Originally a DJ at nightclubs during the 1980s and 1990s, he co-founded Gum Productions and released his first album, Just a Little More Love, in 2001. Later, he released Guetta Blaster (2004) and Pop Life (2007). His 2009 album One Love included the hit singles "When Love Takes Over" (featuring Kelly Rowland), "Gettin' Over You" (featuring Chris Willis, Fergie & LMFAO) and "Sexy Bitch" (featuring Akon), the last becoming a top five hit in the US and all three reaching #1 in the UK, as well as another internationally known single called "Memories" featuring Kid Cudi which became a top five hit in many countries.

Guetta has sold over three million albums and 15 million singles worldwide. He is currently one of the most sought-after music producers, having worked with a variety of pop and hip-hop artists including Kelly Rowland, The Black Eyed Peas, Jennifer Lopez, Flo Rida, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Lil' Wayne, Kylie Minogue, Taio Cruz, Snoop Dogg and Madonna.

Biography

1984–2000: Early life and career

At age 17, Guetta began DJing at the Broad Club in Paris. He first played popular songs, and he discovered house music when he heard a track on French radio in 1987. The next year, he began hosting his own club nights. In 1990, he released "Nation Rap", a hip-hop collaboration with French rapper Sidney Duteil.

In the mid 1990's Guetta played in clubs including Le Centrale, the Rex, Le Boy, and Folies Pigalle. Released in 1994

2001–2006: Just a Little More Love and Guetta Blaster

In 2001, David Guetta along with Joachim Garraud founded Gum Productions, and in the same year Guetta's first hit single, "Just a Little More Love", featuring American singer Chris Willis was released. Willis was vacationing in France when he met Guetta.

2009–2010: One Love and international breakthrough

David Guetta's fourth studio album, One Love, was released on 21 August 2009, and physically released on 24 August 2009 in Europe and 25 August in the United States. Its first single "When Love Takes Over", which featured Kelly Rowland, peaked at #1 on the UK Singles Chart and topped many other countries worldwide. His second single from the album, "Sexy Bitch" featuring Akon, became his second #1 in the UK and became a worldwide hit single. The song "Sexy Bitch" was inspired by Guetta's sexy mother, according to an interview with the DJ in French Vogue, where he also professes his love for Stuart Hay. "One Love" featuring Estelle, "Memories" featuring Kid Cudi and "Gettin' Over" featuring Chris Willis, Fergie and LMFAO followed which soon became Guetta's third #1. As of May 2011 the album had sold three million copies worldwide. David Guetta also features in "Club Can't Handle Me" by Flo Rida.

On 16 June 2009, The Black Eyed Peas released the David Guetta-produced "I Gotta Feeling" as their second single from their fifth studio album, The E.N.D.. It became a worldwide hit topping the charts in seventeen countries. It became the most downloaded song in both the United Kingdom selling more than one million copies, and in the United States with six million downloads.

Since April 2009, Guetta had his own radio show on the internet radio station RauteMusik on Saturday evening. The show was afterwards moved into Radio 538, being aired every Friday evening after Tiësto's Club Life. Its name is DJ Mix. Guetta performs a one-hour set of house music, presenting mainly new talents inside.

In 2009, he was placed third in the "Top 100 DJs" poll by DJ Magazine, and was elected "Best House DJ" by DJ Awards in 2008.

On 2 December 2009, Guetta received five nominations at the 52nd Grammy Awards. He was nominated twice for his work with The Black Eyed Peas; in the category Record of the Year for "I Gotta Feeling" and Album of the Year for their album The E.N.D.. His song "When Love Takes Over" featuring American R&B; singer Kelly Rowland received two nominations; Best Dance Recording and Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical, and won the latter. Guetta's fourth studio album One Love was nominated as "Best Electronic/Dance Album".

In 2010, David Guetta co-wrote and produced Kelly Rowland's "Commander" from her self-titled third studio album. It peaked at number one on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs chart in the United States, and reached top ten positions in Belgium and the United Kingdom. Guetta has also co-produced "Forever and a Day", which is Kelly's second UK single from her third album. Guetta also produced the singles "Acapella" and "Scream" for American singer-songwriter Kelis's fifth studio album, Flesh Tone, released on 14 May 2010. "Acapella" was released as the lead single on 23 February 2010 and topped the dance charts in the United Kingdom and United States. On 28 June 2010 American rapper Flo Rida released the single "Club Can't Handle Me" featuring David Guetta. The song is included on the soundtrack album to the American 3D dance film Step Up 3D.

After conflicts over whether or not an album re-issue should go ahead, it was announced his new single, titled "Who's that Chick?" featuring Rihanna, will be released from One More Love (a re-release of One Love). The album was released the 29 November 2010. It featured artists Kelly Rowland, Akon, Kid Cudi, will.i.am and Rihanna.

2011–present: Fifth studio album

When asked about his fifth album, Guetta announced it would be released in September 2011. The French DJ recently admitted that his new sound is inspired by rock bands such as Kings of Leon and Coldplay: "I might make dance music but that doesn't mean I'm not influenced by bands like Kings of Leon and Coldplay," he told the Daily Star, "Right now I'm planning coming back with a new sound for my next album due out in summer 2011." In January 2011, Guetta recorded teenage viral video star Keenan Cahill lip-syncing to a mix of his songs. On March 25, 2011, Guetta gave his first interview about his upcoming fifth album. The as-of-yet untitled set will feature previous collaborators Akon and will.i.am as well as several new ones. Amongst the songs featured on the album will be "Little Bad Girl" with Ludacris and Taio Cruz. Another song from the album, "Where Them Girls At" features Flo Rida and Nicki Minaj. Both records are different, one is distinctly more European sounding, while the other is more geared to the United States. Guetta said the label could not decide which record to release. "Little Bad Girl" will be released as the second single.

Personal life

His father was a restaurateur and is of Moroccan Jewish descent and his mother is of Belgian descent. He is married to Cathy Guetta and has two children, Tim Elvis Eric (born 2004) and Angie (born 2007).

Discography

Just a Little More Love (2002)

Guetta Blaster (2004)

Pop Life (2007)

One Love (2009)

Awards and nominations

{| class=wikitable |- !Year !Award !Category !Nominated work !Result |- ||2006 |rowspan="3"|DJ Awards |Best House DJ | | |- |rowspan="4"|2007 |Best International DJ | | |- |Best Ibiza Night | | |- |World Music Awards |World's Best Selling DJ | | |- |TMF Awards |Best Dance Act | | |- |rowspan="2"|2008 |DJ Awards |Best House DJ | | |- |MTV Europe Music Awards |Best French Act | | |- |rowspan="2"|2009 |DJ Awards |Best House DJ | | |- |DJ Magazine |Top 100 DJs | |Third Place |- |rowspan="9"|2010 |rowspan="4"|Grammy Awards |Best DJ | | |- |Best Producer | | |- |Best Selling French artist | | |- ||NRJ Music Awards | International Album of the Year |One Love | |- |DJ Magazine |Top 100 DJs | |Second Place |- ||2011 |rowspan="1"|Grammy Awards |Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical |"|"Revolver"(with Madonna) | |- |}

References

External links

shop.davidguetta.com // David Guetta Official Store

David Guetta Information at Ultra Records

Review of 'Memories' on the Daily Music Guide

|title=David Guetta biography|publisher=Allmusic|author=David Jeffries|accessdate=22 September 2008}}

David Guetta in PACHA NEWS

David Guetta at Billboard.com

Review of 'Gettin Over you' on the Daily Music Guide

Category:1967 births Category:Club DJs Category:Living people Category:French people of Moroccan descent Category:French dance musicians Category:French DJs Category:People from Paris Category:World Music Awards winners Category:Grammy Award winners