Guillaume Emmanuel "Guy-Manuel" de Homem-Christo (; born 8 February 1974) is a French musician, record producer, singer, songwriter, DJ and composer. He is known as one half of the former

French house music French house, also known as French touch, filter house and tekfunk, is a style of house music originally produced by French musicians in the 1990s. It is a form of Euro disco and a popular strand of the late 1990s and 2000s European dance ...

duo

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Widely regarded as one of the most influential acts in dance music history, they achieved popularity in the late 1990s as p ...

, along with

Thomas Bangalter Thomas Bangalter (; born 3 January 1975) is a French musician, record producer, singer, songwriter, DJ and composer. Son of French music composer and artist Daniel Vangarde. He is best known as one half of the former French house music duo Daft ...

. He has also produced several works from his now defunct record label

Crydamoure Crydamoure (a variation of the French phrase ''cri d'amour'' or "cry of love" in English) was a French house record label owned by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, one former half of the duo Daft Punk, and Eric Chedeville. Background The label wa ...

with label co-owner Éric Chedeville.

Early life

Homem-Christo was born on 8 February 1974 in

Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; literally 'Neuilly on Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is a commune in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in France, just west of Paris. Immediately adjacent to the city, the area is composed of mostly select residentia ...

. He is the grandson of

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

poet Homem Christo Filho, and the great-great-grandson of Portuguese military figure

Francisco Manuel Homem Cristo Francisco Manuel Homem Christo (8 March 1860 – 25 February 1943) was a Portuguese military and political republican. He was distinguished as one of the officers of the Portuguese Army involved in the events surrounding the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty ...

, who was forced into exile in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1910. Homem-Christo was given a toy guitar and keyboard at around seven years of age. He was eventually given an electric guitar at age 14, and uses a guitar when writing music.Bryan Reesman
Daft Punk interview
mixonline.com. Retrieved on 6 March 2007.

Career

Homem-Christo met

when they were attending the

Lycée Carnot The Lycée Carnot is a Public school (government funded), public secondary school, secondary and higher education school at 145 Boulevard Malesherbes in the XVIIe arrondissement, 17th arrondissement, Paris, France. The Lycée Carnot was founded in ...

school together in 1987. It was there that they discovered their mutual fascination for films and music of the 1960s and '70s: "very basic cult teenager things, from ''

Easy Rider ''Easy Rider'' is a 1969 American independent drug culture road drama film written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda, and directed by Hopper. Fonda and Hopper play two bikers who travel through the American So ...

'' to the

Velvet Underground Weave details visible on a purple-colored velvet fabric Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabri ...

".Matthew Collin, "Do You Think You Can Hide From Stardom?" ''

Mixmag ''Mixmag'' is a British electronic dance and clubbing magazine published in London. Launched in 1983 as a print magazine, it has branched into dance events, including festivals and club nights. History The first issue of ''Mixmag'' was prin ...

'' (August 1997)
archived
at techno.de) The two and

Laurent Brancowitz Laurent may refer to: *Laurent (name), a French masculine given name and a surname **Saint Laurence (aka: Saint ''Laurent''), the martyr Laurent **Pierre Alphonse Laurent, mathematician **Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent, amateur astronomer, discoverer ...

eventually joined to form an

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

trio called Darlin', in which Homem-Christo performed 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." A negative review referred to their music as "a daft punky thrash", which inspired Bangalter and Homem-Christo's new name.Alan Di Perna, "We Are The Robots" ''Pulse!'', April 2001, pp. 65–69. The two soon became interested in electronic dance music after going to a club in 1992. Homem-Christo is credited for designing the Daft Punk logo in the liner notes of ''

Homework Homework is a set of tasks assigned to students by their teachers to be completed outside the classroom. Common homework assignments may include required reading, a writing or typing project, Exercise (mathematics), mathematical exercises to b ...

''. Regarding Daft Punk's creative process and working with Bangalter, Homem-Christo commented that "he's much more of the tech guy than I am. We did everything together. But I have more distance". He added, "I'm more critical of everything we do. We're two-halves of one solid combination. There's balance there – completeness between us, yeah". Homem-Christo is also a co-founder of the group Le Knight Club, along with Éric Chedeville from Pumpking Records. They are the founders of the record label

, named after a variation of the French phrase "cri d'amour" or "cry of love" in English. Crydamoure also published works by Homem-Christo's brother Paul de Homem-Christo, under the name Play Paul. In regards to Crydamoure, Homem-Christo stated: He produced

Sébastien Tellier Sébastien Tellier (; born 22 February 1975) is a French singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with his song "Divine". He has also produced songs for Dita Von Teese and composed m ...

's 2008 album titled ''

Sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

''. In 2010, Homem-Christo worked with SebastiAn on the

Kavinsky Vincent Belorgey (born 31 July 1975), known professionally as Kavinsky, is a French musician, producer, DJ, and actor. His production style is reminiscent of the electropop film soundtracks of the 1980s. Kavinsky claims that his music is inspire ...

song " Nightcall". In 2012, he was featured on Tellier's album ''

My God Is Blue ''My God Is Blue'' is the fourth studio album and a concept album by French musician Sébastien Tellier, released on 23 April 2012 by Record Makers. Release On 12 January 2012, Tellier announced he was releasing his fourth studio album, with pr ...

'' on the track "My Poseidon." Following the release of Daft Punk's fourth album ''

Random Access Memories ''Random Access Memories'' is the fourth studio album by the French electronic music, electronic duo Daft Punk, released on 17 May 2013 through Columbia Records. The album pays tribute to late Music history of the United States in the 1970s, 197 ...

'', Homem-Christo and Bangalter collaborated on two tracks with

The Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, Romance (love), ...

, " Starboy" and "

I Feel It Coming "I Feel It Coming" is a song by Canadian singer the Weeknd featuring French electronic duo Daft Punk, from his third studio album, '' Starboy'' (2016). It was written by the trio alongside Doc McKinney, Cirkut and Eric Chedeville, being produc ...

," with the former gaining the duo their first number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and the latter, co-written by Chedeville of Le Knight Club, peaking at number four. Homem-Christo and Bangalter both contributed writing and production credits to the 2017 song "Overnight" by Parcels. This would be Daft Punk's final production work as a duo, as Daft Punk announced their split via YouTube in February of 2021. Homem-Christo worked on the title track to

Charlotte Gainsbourg Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg (; born 21 July 1971) is a British-French actress and singer. She is the daughter of English actress Jane Birkin and French musician Serge Gainsbourg. After making her musical debut with her father on the song "Lemon I ...

's fifth studio album ''

Rest Rest or REST may refer to: Relief from activity * Sleep ** Bed rest * Kneeling * Lying (position) * Sitting * Squatting position Structural support * Structural support ** Rest (cue sports) ** Armrest ** Headrest ** Footrest Arts and entert ...

'', released in 2017. He also contributed to the 2018 song “ Hurt You”, a collaboration with The Weeknd and

Gesaffelstein Mike Lévy (; born 24 June 1987), known professionally as Gesaffelstein (), is a French music programmer, DJ, songwriter and record producer from Lyon. He has worked alongside artists such as The Weeknd, Daft Punk, Kanye West, A$AP Rocky, Elec ...

. In 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Homem-Christo created a curated playlist called "Star of a hero" for Italian brand MEDEA, containing tracks from the

Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

, The Weeknd,

George Duke George M. Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a pr ...

, and Thundercat, among others. On 22 February 2021, Daft Punk released a video announcing their breakup. Friend and collaborator

Todd Edwards Todd Edward Imperatrice (born December 9, 1972), known professionally as Todd Edwards, is an American garage house record producer, DJ and singer from Bloomfield, New Jersey. He began producing primarily for New York's Nervous Records in the 19 ...

later clarified that Bangalter and Homem-Christo remain active separately.

Personal life

Homem-Christo has two children: a daughter and a son. He and his wife divorced in 2010. Both Homem-Christo and Bangalter have no interest in being celebrities or discussing their private lives. In the rare events of interviews, Bangalter did the majority of talking to journalists. With regard to working and collaborating with other artists, Homem-Christo sees it as a matter of timing and creativity, rather than fame and opportunity. He once stated in an interview:

Discography

Production credits

Albums

* ''Waves'' (2000) * ''Waves II'' (2003) * ''

'' by

(2008)

Tracks

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Homem-Christo, Guy-Manuel De 1974 births Daft Punk members Darlin' (French band) members French people of Portuguese descent French pop guitarists French male guitarists Living people Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Lycée Carnot alumni French disco singers Grammy Award winners Electronic dance music DJs