Sébastien Akchoté-Bozović (born 3 February 1981), known

mononymously A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. In some cases, a mononym selected by an individual may have originally been from a polynym, a word which refers to one o ...

as Sebastian (stylised as SebastiAn), is a French musician, composer, producer, mixer, engineer, vocalist and DJ affiliated with

Ed Banger Records Ed Banger Records (sometimes referred to as Ed Rec) is a French electronic music record label founded by Pedro Winter in 2003 as a division of Headbangers Entertainment. It focuses on house music, particularly French house, as well as alterna ...

. He has worked as a solo

electronic musician ''Electronic Musician'' is a monthly magazine published by Future US featuring articles on synthesizers, music production and electronic musicians. History and profile ''Electronic Musician'' began as ''Polyphony'' magazine in 1975, published ...

and as a

remixer A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

for bands and singers such as

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 " Lemo ...

, Daft Punk,

Beastie Boys Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Mike D, Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (voca ...

Bloc Party Bloc Party are an English Rock music, rock band, composed of Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, sampler), Russell Lissack (lead guitar, keyboards), Justin Harris (bass guitar, keyboards, saxophones, backing vocals) and Loui ...

, and

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

. He has also composed and produced songs for Charlotte Gainsbourg, Katerine, Juliette Armanet,

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 ...

Frank Ocean Christopher Francis "Frank" Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987), is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper. His works are noted by music critics for featuring avant-garde styles and introspective, elliptical lyrics. Ocean ...

Uffie Anna-Catherine Hartley (born December 9, 1987), known professionally as Uffie (), is an American-French singer, songwriter, rapper, DJ, and fashion designer formerly signed to French electronic music record label Ed Banger Records. Uffie's musi ...

and

Woodkid Yoann Lemoine (; born 16 March 1983), known professionally as Woodkid, is a French music video director, graphic designer and singer-songwriter. His most notable works include his music video direction for Katy Perry's " Teenage Dream", Taylo ...

, and he has composed soundtracks for the films ''

Our Day Will Come "Our Day Will Come" is a popular song composed by Mort Garson with lyrics by Bob Hilliard. It was recorded by American R&B group Ruby & the Romantics in early December 1962, reaching #1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Ruby & the Romantics' orig ...

'', '' The World Is Yours'' and ''Steak'' (in which he also acted, credited under the name Sebastian Akchoté). Many of his tracks have been used on television and in video games.

Early life

Akchoté is of Serbian-French heritage. He was born in Boulogne-Billancourt and raised in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

by a single mother.Green, Thomas H (July 2011)
"Encore Une Fois"
''Mixmag'' He is the younger brother of popular independent guitarist

Noël Akchoté Noël Akchoté (born 7 December 1968) is a French guitarist in free improvisation, classical, experimental, and free jazz. Career Starting on guitar at when he was eight years old,Philippe Carles, André Clergeat et Jean-Louis Comolli, ''Dict ...

. His early musical history included both

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and experimental influences from his older brother as well as hip hop influences from artists like

DJ Premier Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966), known professionally as DJ Premier (also known as Preemo), is an American record producer and DJ. He is considered one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time. He was half of the hip hop du ...

.Bark, Theo (7 July 2011)
"Sebastian Stands Apart From Daft Punk and 'French Touch' With Hip-Hop Roots"
''Spinner'' He first started producing music around the age of fifteen.

Career

While working with a hip-hop band in 2005, Sebastian was given the phone number for

by one of the band's members, who had found it in a newspaper. After a

cold call Cold calling is the solicitation of business from potential customers who have had no prior contact with the salesperson conducting the call. It is an attempt to convince potential customers to purchase either the salesperson's product or servic ...

to label owner

Annie Annie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Annie (given name), a given name and a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Annie (actress) (born 1975), Indian actress * Annie (singer) (born 1977), Norwegian singer The ...

, Benjamin Theves, and Daft Punk, whose "

Human After All ''Human After All'' is the third studio album by French electronic music duo Daft Punk, first released on 14 March 2005 through Virgin Records. Unlike their previous studio album ''Discovery'' (2001), whose sound was inspired by disco and ga ...

" remix by Sebastian is said to be the duo's all-time favourite remix of their own work. In the summer of 2006, Ed Banger Records released the EP ''Ross Ross Ross''. That year also saw more remixes by Sebastian than any other. In 2007, he composed the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

for

Quentin Dupieux Quentin Dupieux (, born 14 April 1974), also known by his musical stage name Mr. Oizo (), is a French filmmaker, electronic musician, and DJ. Dupieux is credited with his legal name for his films, while the name "Mr. Oizo" is used for his musica ...

's film ''Steak'' alongside Sebastien Tellier and Mr. Oizo (Dupieux himself). He also appears in the film in the role of Felix, one of the members of the Chivers. Also that year, as well producing numerous remixes and releasing his ''Walkman 2'' EP, Sebastian joined

to open with DJ sets for Daft Punk on their

Alive 2007 ''Alive 2007'' is the second live album by the French electronic music duo Daft Punk, released on 19 November 2007 by Virgin Records. It features Daft Punk's performance at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy arena in Paris on 14 June 2007 durin ...

tour. An original song called "Greel" was also released in 2007 on Ed Banger's compilation ''Ed Rec Vol. 2''. There were two Sebastian releases in 2008: ''Motor'', an EP with three original tracks, and ''

Remixes A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

'', a 17-track compilation featuring various remixes produced by Sebastian. His track "Dog" was also included on that year's ''

Ed Rec Vol. 3 Ed Banger Records (sometimes referred to as Ed Rec) is a French electronic music record label founded by Pedro Winter in 2003 as a division of Headbangers Entertainment. It focuses on house music, particularly French house, as well as alterna ...

''. In 2009, Sebastian played his first

live set Live-set refers to any performance of electronic music that is generated live out of a bank of equipment or a laptop rather than a DJ mix, which is played from a pre-recorded medium, such as vinyl and CD with turntables or audio files with DJ soft ...

as an exclusive performance at the Sónar Festival in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. Sebastian produced the single " Difficult" for label-mate

in 2010 on her debut album ''

Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans ''Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans'' is the debut studio album by French-American singer Uffie. It was released on June 14, 2010, by Ed Banger Records and Because Music. Produced by Feadz, J-Mat, Mr. Oizo, Mirwais Ahmadzaï, Mirwais and Sebastian (Frenc ...

'' and provided a remix, titled "Difficult (2006 Parties Remix by SebastiAn)". He also had his experimental track "Threnody" released that year on an Ed Banger Records Christmas compilation. The same year, he composed the

for the film ''

'', directed by

Romain Gavras Romain Gavras (; born 4 July 1981 in Paris, France) is a French filmmaker. He is known for directing Jamie xx's video " Gosh", Kanye West's video "No Church in the Wild" and M.I.A.'s video " Bad Girls". He also directed Justice's "Stress" and M ...

and starring

Vincent Cassel Vincent Cassel (; ; born 23 November 1966) is a French actor. He first achieved recognition for his performance as a troubled History of the Jews in France, French Jewish youth in Mathieu Kassovitz's 1995 film ''La Haine (Hate)'', for which he ...

. The soundtrack contains also "L'enfance d'un chien" performed by Sébastien Tellier, which features on his first album '' L'incroyable Vérité'', released in 2001.

2011–2013: ''Total''

In early 2011, Sebastian provided the track "Enio" for the Ed Banger compilation album ''Let the Children Techno''. Later, his debut album '' Total'' was announced, followed by the release of a video for the title track featuring a series of violent and sexual images. A video for Sebastian's new song "Embody" was also released, along with the song's release as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

. The album ''Total'' itself was subsequently released on 30 May 2011 in Europe and 7 June 2011 in North America. It was followed by releases of singles "C.T.F.O." and "Love In Motion" from the album. 2011 was also the year of Sebastian's "Primary Tour", a tour visually themed as a political campaign and spanning Europe,

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...

, and North America from August to December. Three remixes done by him were also released that year, including his remix for the

. 2012 saw Sebastian's remixes for bands

, The Shoes,

Van She Van She are an electropop band formed in 2002 in Sydney, Australia, with Matt Van Schie (pronounced Van Ski) on bass guitar/vocals, Tomek Archer on drums/sequencer, Michael Di Francesco on synth/guitar and Nicholas Routledge on vocals/guitar. ...

, and

. That year also saw the release of ''The EP Collection'', a box set of vinyl ''Total'' singles along with tracks "Organia" and previously unreleased "Holloback". A Sebastian remix of

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

's "New Lands" was released on 25 June 2012.

2013–2019: Production for other artists

In 2013, Kavinsky released his first album, '' OutRun'', of which Sebastian produced 9 tracks and mixed the entire album. In February 2014, the album has been awarded to

Victoires de la Musique Victoires de la Musique (; en, Victories of Music) is an annual French award ceremony where the Victoire accolade is delivered by the French Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The classical and jazz ...

in the category "Electronic/Groove/Dance Album of the Year". The same year, he composed, produced and arranged the track "Stabat Mater", performed by

, which features on his album, '' The Golden Age''. In 2014, Sebastian composed and produced the title track "

American Beauty/American Psycho ''American Beauty/American Psycho'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''AB/AP'') is the sixth studio album by American rock band Fall Out Boy, released on January 16, 2015 through Island Records as the follow-up to the band's comeback album ''Save Ro ...

" for the band

Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...

on their album of the same name. The same year, he composed, produced and mixed

Philippe Katerine Philippe Blanchard (; born 8 December 1968), known professionally as Philippe Katerine, is a French singer-songwriter, actor, director and writer who began his career in 1991. Some of his popular singles include "Mon cœur balance", "Je vous em ...

's album ''Magnum''. It was Katerine who offered to work with him, because he appreciates, as he quoted, the "sexual tension" of his compositions. Sebastian proposed instrumental parts, on which Katerine placed his voice and wrote the texts afterwards. The album released on 7 April 2014 by

Barclay Barclay may refer to: People * Barclay (surname) * Clan Barclay Places * Barclay, Kansas * Barclay, Maryland, a town in Queen Anne's County * Barclay, Baltimore, Maryland, a neighborhood * Barclay, Nevada, a town in Lincoln County * Barclay, ...

. In 2015, Ed Banger owner

Pedro Winter Pedro Winter (born Pierre Winter; 21 April 1975), also known by the stage name Busy P, is a French record producer, DJ, record label owner, and former artist manager. After being the manager of Daft Punk from 1996 to 2008,Frank Ocean Christopher Francis "Frank" Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987), is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper. His works are noted by music critics for featuring avant-garde styles and introspective, elliptical lyrics. Ocean ...

, allowing him to work on his next album. Sebastian appears on the track "Facebook Story" and has also participated as an instrumentalist on "White Ferrari" and "Godspeed" on Frank Ocean's album, ''

Blonde Blond (male) or blonde (female), also referred to as fair hair, is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color can ...

'', released in 2016. Sebastian and

worked together for the 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 ...

'' in 2017. Before working with her, he remixed her cover of "

Hey Joe "Hey Joe" is an American song from the 1960s that has become a rock standard and has been performed in many musical styles by hundreds of different artists. The lyrics tell of a man who is on the run and planning to head to Mexico after shooting ...

", released in 2014. When they first met, he told Gainsbourg that he would like to work with her but that he wanted the project to be done in French, but she refused to do so. A year later, Gainsbourg, after the death of her sister Kate Barry, contacted him again and told him that she would like to express certain things and that she could only say them in French. Thus, they started working on ''Rest'' in New York. This album, which he produced and composed, was released on 17 November 2017. Gainsbourg received a

Victoire de la Musique Victoires de la Musique (; en, Victories of Music) is an annual French award ceremony where the Victoire accolade is delivered by the French Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The classical and jazz ...

in the "Female Artist of the Year" category in 2018 for ''Rest''. The next year, he composed and produced 3 new tracks, which featured on her EP ''Take 2''. In 2019, Gainsbourg appears on Sebastian's second album, ''Thirst'', on the track "Pleasant". Sebastian created the soundtrack for the Yves Saint Laurent Winter 18 Collection campaign, which was held on 27 February 2018 in Paris, France. The same year, he co-composed the soundtrack for the film '' The World Is Yours'' (original title: ''Le Monde est à toi''), directed by

, starring

Karim Leklou Kareem (alternatively spelled Karim or Kerim) ( ar, کریم) is a common given name and surname of Arabic language, Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honorable". It is also one of the Names of God in Islam in the Quran. Given name ...

Isabelle Adjani Isabelle Yasmina Adjani ; born 27 June 1955) is a French actress and singer of Algerian and German descent. She is the only performer in history to win five César Awards for acting; she won the Best Actress award for ''Possession'' (1981), ''O ...

and

2019–present: ''Thirst''

In May 2019, SebastiAn released two new tracks, "Thirst" (with his music video directed by

Gaspar Noé Gaspar Noé (, ; born 27 December 1963) is an Argentine filmmaker based in Paris, France. He is the son of Argentine painter, writer, and intellectual Luis Felipe Noé. In the early 1990s, Noé along with his wife Lucile Hadžihalilović were ...

) and "Run for Me", featuring the American singer Gallant, to promote his new album ''Thirst''. On 9 July 2019, SebastiAn released a third single titled "Beograd". The fourth single "Better Now", featuring

Mayer Hawthorne Andrew Mayer Cohen (born February 2, 1979), better known by his stage name Mayer Hawthorne, is an American singer, producer, songwriter, arranger, audio engineer, DJ, and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles, California. Cohen performs a ...

, released on 5 September 2019. The fifth and final single, "Sober", featuring

Bakar Bakar ( it, Buccari; hu, Szádrév) is a town in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. The population of the town was 8,279 according to the 2011 Croatian census, including 1,473 in the titular settlement. Ninety percent of the ...

, released on 8 October 2019. The album released on 8 November 2019 by Ed Banger Records, with, among others,

Sparks Sparks may refer to: Places *Sparks, Georgia * Sparks, Kansas *Sparks, Kentucky *Sparks, Maryland * Sparks, Nebraska *Sparks, Nevada *Sparks, Oklahoma *Sparks, Texas * Sparks, Bell County, Texas * Sparks, West Virginia Books * ''Sparks'' (Raffi ...

Sevdaliza Sevda Alizadeh (; born 1 September 1987), known professionally as Sevdaliza, is an Iranian-Dutch singer, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and director. In 2015, she released two EPs, ''The Suspended Kid'' and ''Children of Silk''. Whi ...

and Syd as guests. On 10 September 2020, he released "Hysterias", which is the soundtrack of the Yves Saint-Laurent Men Spring Summer 2021 Collection. SebastiAn contributed a track titled "Don't Tread on Else Matters" to the charity tribute album ''

The Metallica Blacklist ''The Metallica Blacklist'' is a various artists tribute album featuring covers of every track from Metallica's 1991 self-titled album (commonly known as ''The Black Album''). The collection was assembled in conjunction with the original album' ...

'', released in September 2021; the track combines remixes of the Metallica songs " Don't Tread on Me" and "

Nothing Else Matters "Nothing Else Matters" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released in 1992 as the third single from their self-titled fifth studio album, ''Metallica''. The song peaked at number 11 on the ''Billboard'' Mainstream Rock Tra ...

Discography

* ''

'' (2008) * '' Total'' (2011) * ''Thirst'' (2019)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sebastian 1981 births Electro house musicians Electronic dance music DJs French dance musicians French DJs French electronic musicians French house musicians French people of Serbian descent French record producers Living people Musicians from Paris Remixers Because Music artists