David Guetta – the pioneer of French house with Up & Way, a garage-style track with vocals by Robert Owens released in 1992 – really made a name for himself in the mid-90s as one of the key catalysts of Parisian nightlife by promoting evenings at such renowned Paris hot spots as Folies Pigalle, Queen, Bataclan, Palace and Les Bains, where he invited DJ legends like Little Louie Vega, David Morales, DJ Pierre and Roger Sanchez to join him on the turntables. In 2001, however, he went back to his first love: making music.
Launched by the single Just A Little More Love, an electro-funk-house cocktail featuring Chris Willis of the band Nashville on vocals, David Guetta’s first album was released by Virgin in June 2002 and went on to sell 250,000 copies. This resounding success carried through in the album’s second, even more devastating single, Love Don't Let Me Go, a track reminiscent of Moroder‘s techno-disco style crossed with Depeche Mode’s new-wave sound.
Like fellow Frenchman Laurent Garnier, David started off his career in the gay clubs around Paris’ Les Halles district in the mid-80s, going on to make a name for himself in acid-house and hip-hop. His first album heralded the beginning of a new DJ career – this time on a global level. Named after the parties he hosts on Ibiza, the fabled isle of techno, David’s F*** ME I'M FAMOUS: IBIZA DJ MIX, which featured his remix of David Bowie’s Heroes, went gold: no small feat for a compilation CD. For the last three years, David has been invited to mix throughout Europe on a regular basis and, more and more often, in the United States, Australia, Japan, Singapore and Israel as well. He is also resident DJ at The Cross in London, Barcelona ‘s Discoteca and the Lausanne club Mad.
Propelled by the rock guitars of the single Money, David’s second album, GUETTA BLASTER, is even gutsier. David and Joachim Garraud (the first album’s co-composer and co-producer) applied themselves to creating real songs modeled on electro-pop classics of the 80s by such masters as Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Dead Or Alive and New Order, to name the most prominent influences. All the tracks on this second album are original compositions. The gospel sounds of Chris Willis and the stylings of guest vocalists JD Davis (lead singer of Sinema), James Perry (alias Jimmy Polo, renowned singer/producer on the Chicago scene) and Britain’s Stereo MCs give the tracks a unique luster, while the production skills of Guetta and Garraud lift the album to new – and always spectacular – heights.
From GUETTA BLASTER’s opening salvos, Money and Stay, we get beats that are cranked up a notch beyond the hard-dance formula of Just A Little More Love. Without an ounce of hesitation, the album launches itself at the experimental roots of house music and cold-wave, displaying an unexpected stylistic versatility, then oscillates between powerful mixtures of hot & cold and black & white. The result is 100% addictive.
Used To Be The One, with vocals by Willis, owes a debt to both Yazoo’s Don't Go and garage music. Similarly, the counterpoint of Time evokes Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams, blending the best of English pop and dance culture – something David has mastered like no one else. Open Your Eyes, a track tailor-made for the Stereo MCs, is built on a rubbery break beat and an acid sequence, with a rap that brings their classic Connected to mind. The abrasive AC/DC, clearly a future hit on the underground/rave circuit, is like the missing link between Jeff Mills and Ministry Of Sound.
Two velvet-smooth cuts neatly crown the album: In Love With Myself, a track that could hold its own against Moroder & Oakey’s Electric Dreams any day, is followed by Higher, on which Chris Willis pays homage to the style of phrasing and embellishment popularized by Stevie Wonder, an approach that has proliferated in both R&B and garage/house music à la New Jersey duo Blaze. GUETTA BLASTER drives its point home with the metronomic Movement Girl, featuring James Perry, and the killer Get Up, on which macho riffs, the hysterical falsetto of Chris Willis and screaming guitars swirl around a punchy beat.
On GUETTA BLASTER, David Guetta has not only successfully avoided the pitfalls of second albums – he has truly launched himself into a new dimension.
Some dates
Nov. 7, 1967 Born in Paris; at the age of 17, David works as a DJ at club Broad in Paris.
1988-90 David mixes house music on Radio Nova (Paris?s famous indie radio) & plays house, hip-hop and garage music at various clubs in Paris (Palace, Les Bains, Le Centrale and Le Rex).
1990 David mixes at former cabaret Folies Pigalle, the only Parisian club besides Le Boy to play house music.
1992 David’s first single, Up & Way, with Robert Owens on vocals, is released through FNAC Music. The cut is featured on the ART OF FRANCE compilation. David opens infamous club Le Queen on Champs Elysées, where he mixes for two years alongside various international DJs he invites along, including Little Louie Vega, Roger Sanchez, Morales, Morillo and DJ Pierre.
1994 Leaves Le Queen to work at the Bataclan, a club that packs in more than 2,500 people on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
1995 Goes back to Le Palace, where he organizes the "Happy House" nights. Daft Punk plays in the Palace cigar room.
1997 Les Bains Douches: first "Scream" evening (that party has since become one of the most famous in Paris).
2001 David signs with Virgin France and releases his first single, Just a Little More Love, a No. 1 hit on the French club scene. He starts mixing again.
2002 The release of his first album, JUST A LITTLE MORE LOVE, highlighted by the hit song Love, Don’t Let Me Go, which is the most-aired video of the year in France. David plays more than 50 club dates.
2003 The F*** ME I’M FAMOUS compilation - which includes a David Bowie remix by David Guetta, Just for One Day (Heroes) - goes Gold in France. Two F*** ME I’M FAMOUS evenings take place at club PACHA in Ibiza for the seventh year. David continues to mix, mostly abroad.
David gets a club hit and a Top 20 single in the UK with Just a Little More Love.
2004 Release of his second album GUETTA BLASTER. David mixes non stop at clubs all over Europe & holds his F*** ME I’M FAMOUS party in Ibiza again in August to hundreds of hysterical clubbers chanting his name.
Radio 1 star DJ Pete Tong invites David to play at his Radio 1 Week End in Ibiza, the UK biggest Dance Radio show of the year, at that!
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