Laurent Garnier (born 1 February 1966), also known as Choice, is a French

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electro ...

producer and DJ. Garnier began DJing in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

during the late 1980s. He became a producer in the early 1990s and recorded several albums.

Early influences

In 1984, Garnier started working as a waiter for the French Embassy in London.Johnson, Miles (2007)
Profile – Laurent Garnier
, '' The List'', Issue 591, 29 November 2007. Retrieved 16 March 2012 He started to play with DJ Nelson a.k.a. DJ Stan in French club. He stayed there for a year and a half before moving to Manchester in 1986. Living in England he discovered the booming UK house scene and started DJing.

Career

In 1987, he discovered

The Haçienda The Haçienda was a nightclub and music venue in Manchester, North West England, which became famous during the Manchester years of the 1980s and early 1990s. It was run by the record label Factory Records. The club opened in 1982, eventually ...

in Manchester, and met Mike Pickering the resident DJ.

Chicago house Chicago house refers to house music produced during the mid to late 1980s within Chicago. The term is generally used to refer to the first ever house music productions, which were by Chicago-based artists in the 1980s. History and origins Disco ...

and Detroit techno became popular, and Garnier started mixing there under the name of DJ Pedro. In 1988, he went back to France to fulfill his military obligations. He also spent some time in New York City where he met

Frankie Knuckles Francis Warren Nicholls, Jr. (January 18, 1955 – March 31, 2014), better known as Frankie Knuckles, was an American DJ, record producer and remixer. He played an important role in developing and popularizing house music in Chicago during the ...

. Garnier shifted his attention back to France in the early 1990s, running the Wake Up parties at the Rex Club in Paris for three years, and in Dijon from 1990 to 1994 at L'An-Fer while in 1992 he played a three-night long Weekender set at the

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

venue,

Sir Henry's Sir Henry's was a bar and nightclub on South Main Street in Cork, Ireland. It was founded by Jerry Lucey in 1978. The name was derived from Henry O'Shea, a baker and building owner in the South Main Street area of Cork city. The club was known for ...

. He also mixed in clubs such as Le Palace or Le Boy, DJing in rave parties and gradually moving into recording as well. For the FNAC label, Garnier released "French Connection" and the ''A Bout de Souffle'' EP. After that label went out of business, he formed the F Communications label with Eric Morand (a friend who had also worked for

Fnac Fnac () is a large French retail chain selling culture, cultural and consumer electronics, electronic products, founded by André Essel and Max Théret in 1954. Its head office is in ''Le Flavia'' in Ivry-sur-Seine near Paris. It is an abbreviati ...

).Orlov, Peter (2000)
Label Profile: F Communications
, ''

CMJ New Music Monthly CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

'', November 2000, p. 15. Retrieved 16 March 2012 His first album, ''Shot in the Dark'', was released in 1995.Frater, Patrick (1996)
France
, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'', 20 January 1996, p. 53. Retrieved 16 March 2012 His second, ''30'', appeared in 1997 and included one of Garnier's best selling singles, "Crispy Bacon". ''30'' was followed by the retrospective ''Early Works''. After appearing worldwide with DJ appearances during the late 1990s, Garnier returned to production with ''Unreasonable Behaviour'', released in early 2000, which featured one of his best known songs, "The Man with the Red Face".

Selected discography

Charted albums

Charted singles

Albums

* ''Shot in the Dark'' (1994),

F Communications F Communications, also known as FCom, was a French record label based in Paris. It was founded in 1994 by Eric Morand and Laurent Garnier. It produces dance and electronic music by artists like Avril, Garnier, and Mr. Oizo amongst many others. ...

* ''Raw Works'' (US only compilation) (1996), Never Recordings * ''30'' (1997), F Communications/ PIAS France * ''Unreasonable Behaviour'' (2000), F Communications * ''Early Works'' (compilation) (1998), Arcade * ''The Cloud Making Machine'' (2005), F Communications/PIAS * ''Retrospective 1994 – 2006'' (compilation) (2006), F Communications/PIAS (with Håkon Kornstad) * ''Public Outburst'' (live album) (2007) * ''Tales of a Kleptomaniac'' (2009), PIAS * ''HOME box'' (2015), F Communications * ''De Película'' (2021), with The Limiñanas, Because Music

Singles and EPs

With Ed Banger records

* "Timeless EP" −2012

With FNAC Music Dance Division

* "French Connection" (with Mix Master Doody) – 'as French Connection' (1991) * ''Stronger By Design EP'' (1992) * "Join Hands" (remixes) – (1992) * ''Paris EP'' – 1993 – as 'Choice' (also published by Fragile Records) * ''A Bout de Souffle EP'' – (1993) (also published by

Warp Records Warp Records (or simply Warp) is a British independent record label founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store employees Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon.Southern, Richard (2003) "Label of Love: WARP", X-RAY, ...

) * "For House Music Lovers" – 1993 * "Lost in Alaska" – 'as Alaska' – 1993 * ''Planet House EP'' – 1993

With F Communications

* Dune (with Pascal Feos) – ''Alliance EP'' – 1994 * "Astral Dreams" – 1994 * Alaska – ''Deuxième EP'' – 1995 * ''Club Traxx EP'' – 1995 * "The Hoe" – 1996 * "Crispy Bacon Part 1" – 1997 – UK No. 60 * "Crispy Bacon Part 2" - 1997 * "Flashback" - 1997 * "Coloured City" - 1998 * ''Club Traxx EP Vol 2'' - 1998 * "The Sound of the Big Babou" - 1999 * "The Man with the Red Face" - 2000 - UK No. 65 * "Greed" / "The Man with the Red Face" – 2000 – UK No. 36 * "Sambou" – 2002 * "Returning Back to Sirius" – 'as Alaska' – 2003 * Marl Chingus (with Ludovic Llorca) – "6 Months Earlier" – 2004 * "The Cloud Making Machine" (reworks vol 1 & 2) – 2005

With Innervisions

* ''Back to My Roots EP'' – 2008

DVDs

* ''Greed'' – DVD single – F Communications, Film Office, TDK Mediactive – 2001 * ''Live à l'Elysée Montmartre'' – F communications – 2002

Compilations and DJ sessions

* ''X-Mix – Destination Planet Dream'' (Studio !K7 – 1994) * ''Mixmag Live Vol. 19'' (1995) * ''Laboratoire Mix'' (2xCD, React, 1996) * ''Early Works'' (2xCD, 1998) * ''Fashion TV: Spring – Summer 2001 Collection'' * ''Classic And Rare : La Collection Chapter 3'' (

, 2002) * ''Excess Luggage'' (3xCD,

, 2003) * ''The Kings of Techno'' (Rapster Records, 2006) * ''Mixmag 25 Years Anniversary '' (2008)

References

External links

Laurent Garnier
– official site
Laurent Garnier
discography at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

Laurent Garnier
profile at club The End's website
Laurent Garnier
interview on HarderFaster
Laurent Garnier
biography from RFI Musique (in French)
Laurent Garnier Essential Mix 2009

Laurent Garnier DJ mix
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garnier, Laurent 1966 births Living people Mute Records artists French DJs Audiogram (label) artists Thirsty Ear Recordings artists French house musicians