Thomas Bangalter

French musician, record producer, singer, songwriter, composer and DJ. Born in Paris on 3 January 1975 as son of Daniel Bangalter and [a2603400]. Married to French actress Élodie Bouchez with whom he has two sons: Tara-Jay (born 2002) and Roxan (born 2008).

Bangalter is most famous as one half of the duo Daft Punk, which initially started out as Darlin', with a 3rd member playing the punky thrash that gave birth to the Daft Punk name. While the duo debuted with a single in 1993 and an album in 1995, Bangalter also did solo work, viz. the two famous Trax On Da Rocks EPs which blended various samples set to funky house and techno beats. He released Music Sounds Better With You on his own label Roulé as part of Stardust as well as his remix for Rock Shock by Roy Davis Jr.. In 1998, his track Gym Tonic was the center of controversy as Chris The French Kiss (Chris LeFriant, later known as Bob Sinclar) released it as a single (caving to the pressure of his distributor Warner) on his album Paradise (which was initially supposed to be a compilation/concept album of tracks produced anonymously by various artists, all hidden behind the moniker "Bob Sinclar") without clearning the samples & breaking a promise made to Thomas. This resulted in a lawsuit from fitness guru and actress Jane Fonda (whose voice had been illegally sampled on the record) & Thomas cutting all ties with Chris.

Keen on his privacy and anonimity, Bangalter nonetheless has given a few interviews in and out of the Daft Punk phenomenon. Although a lot of people credit him for the invention of 'filtered house', he has cited Throw by Carl Craig aka Paperclip People and Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez as precursors of the style. Outside Daft Punk, Bangalter used to DJ but he stopped his DJing career due to hearing issues. In 2022, he started his own Alberts & Gothmaan label (its name is an anagram of Thomas Bangalter).