Sébastien Tellier
Sébastien Tellier
Sébastien Tellier | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Born | 22 February 1975 Le Plessis-Bouchard, France |
| Genres | French pop, new wave, synthpop, electronica |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, piano, bass guitar, synthesizer, keyboards, percussion |
| Years active | 2001–present |
| Labels | Record Makers |
| Website | www.sebastientellier.com [18] |
Sébastien Tellier | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Born | 22 February 1975 Le Plessis-Bouchard, France |
| Genres | French pop, new wave, synthpop, electronica |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, piano, bass guitar, synthesizer, keyboards, percussion |
| Years active | 2001–present |
| Labels | Record Makers |
| Website | www.sebastientellier.com [18] |
Biography
Sébastien Tellier performing "Divine" at the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia, 24 May 2008
Tellier's first album, L'incroyable Vérité (The Incredible Truth), was released in 2001. Tellier went on tour with Air in support of the album and was joined on stage by theremin player Pamelia Kurstin. L'incroyable Vérité is a pop album featuring styles from lo-fi electronica to bizarre cabaret tunes. Its sleeve featured Tellier in full evening dress on the front, while the back of jacket had a shot of him cavorting in a playboy's pool. He instructed listeners only to listen to the album by candlelight.
Tellier followed L'incroyable Vérité with his second studio album Politics (2005). A particularly popular song from Politics was "La Ritournelle", a string-led tune, which featured Nigerian drummer, Tony Allen who worked with Fela Kuti. "La Ritournelle" was remixed by various artists, notably in Britain by Metronomy.
Since the release of Politics, Tellier has also recorded an acoustic album of his more popular songs, Sessions (2006). The album was repackaged for the British market as Universe (2006), to include both highlights from the French CD, as well as compositions from Tellier's score for the film Narco. This compilation included a cover of La Dolce Vita, a song originally by French singer Christophe.
His third studio album Sexuality was produced by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk. Like his previous album Politics, Tellier used a single term as title and theme of the album. Tellier's label Record Makers collaborated with retailer American Apparel for an exclusive three month pre-release of the album, whilst American Apparel sold limited edition versions of the Sexuality CD, LP and "Divine" 7" and 12" single through their North American stores and website.
On 7 March 2008, it was announced by Bruno Berberes, head of EBU delegation in France, that Tellier would represent France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. It was held in Belgrade on 24 May 2008. Tellier sang "Divine". This was the first time in the history of the contest that the nominated French entry was to be performed largely in English,[2] which caused controversy,[3] leading to Tellier pledging to increase the amount of French in the song prior to the competition itself. In total, the entry received 47 points.
The album Confection was released in October 2013. This was partially inspired by the death of Tellier's grandmother. Some of the music on the album was intended to appear on a film soundtrack, but ended up not being used. In an interview with artistxite, Tellier noted: "You can say my grandmother's death as well as this nonexisting soundtrack had an impact on “Confection“. To me this has been a super strange situation. I was full of love for my grandmother and full of dedication to this soundtrack; "Confection" is the result of both of these emotional conditions."[4] In Spring 2014, Tellier performed a medley of tracks from Confection at the Chanel Haute Couture show at the Grand Palais. Tellier recounts that Karl Lagerfeld invited him to perform, having listened to the album himself.[5]
The album L'Aventura, was released on 14 July 2014. The album was inspired by Brazil, where the video to its lead single, L'Adulte, is set.[6]
Soundtrack work
Tellier has composed and performed original scores for three French films: Narco (2004), Saint-Amour and Marie et les naufragés (2016). The soundtracks were released by Record Makers in 2007 and 2016, respectively.
Use of Tellier's songs
The track "Fantino" from L'incroyable Vérité was chosen by Sofia Coppola for the soundtrack to her 2003 film Lost in Translation. Coppola also used the song "Look" from his Sexuality album in her 2010 film Somewhere
The songs "Look" and "La Ritournelle" were featured in Ugly Betty's episodes "Crush'd" and "Dressed for success", respectively.
"La Ritournelle" also featured in Joachim Trier's Oslo, August 31st movie soundtrack.
The song "Universe" from the album L'incroyable Vérité is featured in the film Daft Punk's Electroma.
"Divine" (as remixed by Danger) was used in the 2009 racing game Gran Turismo for the PSP.
"La Ritournelle" is sampled in The Weeknd's single, "Kiss Land"
"La Ritournelle" is the first of many final soundtracks used in the movie "One Way" - 2006.
"Slow Lynch" was used by Top Gear in Seasons 13 Episode 3 (Ken Block’s Airfield Rally Run).
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album | Peak positions | Certifications | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FRA [7] | BEL [8] | SWE [9] | |||
| 2001 | L'incroyable Vérité | – | – | – | |
| 2004 | Politics | 123 | – | – | |
| 2007 | Narco (Original Motion Picture Score) | ||||
| 2008 | Sexuality | 33 | 68 | 43 | |
| 2012 | My God Is Blue | 17 | 31 | – | |
| 2013 | Confection | 52 | 69 | – | |
| 2014 | L'Aventura | 53 | 54 | – | |
| 2016 | Marie et les naufragés (Original Motion Picture Score) | ||||
| 2017 | A Girl Is a Gun (Music from the Original Series) | ||||
- Others
| Year | Album title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Sessions | A collection of previous songs recorded with new arrangements (peaked in FRANCE: #192) |
| 2006 | Universe | compilation album featuring tracks from Sessions and Narco |
| 2010 | Sexuality Remix | |
| 2010 | Love Songs | A collection of previous songs |
| 2018 | Dita Von Teese | Debut album by Dita Von Teese, written and composed by Tellier |
Other contributions
Acoustic 07 (V2 Records, 2007) - "La Ballade du Georges"
Collaborations
Tellier sang on the track "A Mountain For President" by Principles of Geometry for their 2007 album Lazare.
In 2007, Tellier contributed songs to and collaborated with Mr. Oizo for the soundtrack of Oizo's feature film directorial debut, Steak.
In 2013 Tellier released a single with Caroline Polachek of Chairlift, "In The Crew Of Tea Time".
Tellier collaborated with Jean-Michel Jarre on the track Gisele of his 2016 album Electronica 2: The Heart of Noise.
Sang on chorus of "When You Die" on the MGMT album Little Dark Age.
Singles
| Year | Song | Peak positions | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FRA [7] | BEL [8] | DEN [10] | GER [11] | SWE [9] | UK [12] | |||
| 2005 | "La Ritournelle" | 167 | – | – | – | – | 66 | Politics |
| 2006 | "Broadway" | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| 2008 | "Divine" | – | 15 | 39 | – | 4 | 106 | Sexuality |
| 2009 | "Kilometer" | – | 64 | – | – | – | – | |
| 2009 | "Fingers of Steel" | 89 | – | – | – | – | – | |
| 2011 | "L'amour et la violence" | – | – | – | 97 | – | – | |
| 2012 | "Cochon ville" | 69 | 78 | – | – | – | – | My God Is Blue |
| 2013 | "L'amour naissant" | 154 | – | – | – | – | – | Confection |