Julian Casablancas

Julian Casablancas
Casablancas on stage
Background information
Birth name	Julian Fernando Casablancas
Born	23 August 1978 (1978-08-23) New York City, New York, United States
Origin	New York City, USA
Genres	Indie rock, New Wave, alternative rock, garage rock, post-punk revival, synthpop
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, musician
Instruments	Lead vocals, keyboards, guitar, bass, drums, guitar synthesizer, harmonica
Years active	1998–present
Labels	Cult, Rough Trade, RCA, Sony BMG
Associated acts	The Strokes, Queens of the Stone Age, The Lonely Island, Danger Mouse, N.E.R.D, Santigold, Digitalism (band), Pearl Jam
Website	www.juliancasablancas.com www.thestrokes.com

Julian Fernando Casablancas (born August 23, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter and frontman of The Strokes. Casablancas pursued a solo career during The Strokes' hiatus, releasing the album Phrazes for the Young on November 3, 2009.

Early life, education, and personal life

Julian Casablancas was born in New York, New York, to Catalan American business mogul John Casablancas, the founder of Elite Model Management, and Jeanette Christiansen, a former model and Miss Denmark. His paternal grandfather, Fernando Casablancas, was a well-known textile businessman. His parents divorced and his mother subsequently married painter Sam Adoquei. Adoquei helped shape Casablancas' early musical taste by exposing him to music such as The Doors which was markedly different from the mostly Phil Collins-influenced music he originally listened to.

The first member of The Strokes Casablancas met was Nikolai Fraiture, who attended Lycée Français de New York with him (Fraiture graduated in 1997, Casablancas in 1996). When he was 14, Casablancas' father sent him to Institut Le Rosey, an elite boarding school in Switzerland. It was during Julian's brief stay in Switzerland that he met future Strokes member Albert Hammond, Jr. Casablancas attended The Dwight School with two other future Strokes, Nick Valensi and Fabrizio Moretti. Casablancas never finished school, but continued to take music classes where he says he first enjoyed himself in class.

Musical career

Influences

Julian Casablancas' has said that Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" is his favorite song of all time. In addition, Julian Casablancas has also cited Lou Reed of The Velvet Underground as a major influence on his lyrics and singing style. "The way Lou Reed wrote and sang about drugs and sex, about the people around him — it was so matter-of-fact", Casablancas stated in a Rolling Stone interview, "Reed could be romantic in the way he portrayed these crazy situations, but he was also intensely real. It was poetry and journalism". He has also stated very often throughout his career that Bob Marley was one of his favorite songwriters to go back to.

Solo work

His first solo album, Phrazes for the Young (inspired by the Oscar Wilde book "Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young"), was released on November 2 in the UK and November 3, 2009, in the United States. Recorded in Omaha, Nebraska, and Casablancas' home city New York, the album was produced by Jason Lader, with additional production from Bright Eyes' Mike Mogis. The album was strongly influenced by new wave and electronica, with Casablancas utilizing synthesizers for many songs. He discussed his new influences by saying "I would've gone weirder with the music, but I wanted to be smart. I didn't want people to say, 'Okay, this is his weird abstract thing,' and dismiss the album. I worked too hard on it for that to happen...I wanted to be crazy original and bridge the gap between traditional music and modern music."

Julian Casablancas made his live solo debut for a private party for fashion brand Opening Ceremony in Tokyo, Japan. To celebrate the release of the EP, Casablancas performed a series of shows in October 2009 at The Downtown Palace Theatre in Los Angeles with his live show band, The Sick Six. Other members of The Sick Six include Jeff Kite (keyboard), Nelson London (synthesizer), JP Bowersock (guitar), Danielle Haim (percussion) and Alex Carapetis (drums). Casablancas then toured with The Sick Six in Europe, United States, Australia and Japan from November 2009 until July 2010.

Other work

Known to not play much on Strokes recordings, Julian has proven himself an able multi-instrumentalist through guest appearances. He has played a casio guitar and provided backing vocals on "Sick, Sick, Sick" by Queens of the Stone Age, bass guitar and backing vocals on Albert Hammond, Jr.'s "Scared", and the second set of drums on the Strokes' "Evening Sun".

Julian, along with the Strokes, provided vocals on a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" with Joshua Homme on drums and Eddie Vedder on backup vocals. The cover was released in 2006 as the b-side to "You Only Live Once".

In 2009, during his solo phase, Julian recorded "Boombox" with Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer of The Lonely Island for their debut album, and was featured in an SNL Digital Short for the same song. In addition, Julian also recorded "I Wish It Was Christmas Today", a festive song based on a Saturday Night Live skit made popular by Jimmy Fallon, Horatio Sanz and Tracy Morgan. Julian performed the song live on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on December 21, 2009, together with The Roots, Horatio Sanz and Jimmy Fallon.

He also collaborated with Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse on the song "Little Girl" on the 2010 album, Dark Night of the Soul. Julian also lent his vocals to the title track, "Rave On", on a 2011 tribute album to Buddy Holly, Rave On Buddy Holly. Aside from vocal collaborations, Julian also contributed to a song, "Forrest Gump", on Digitalism's sophomore album I Love You, Dude in 2011. The electronica duo initiated a collaboration with Julian Casablancas through his manager, and Julian contributed 'a 30-second recording with him on guitar' via email.

Julian has also contributed musically to several advertising campaigns. In 2008, Julian recorded a song with Santigold (then known as Santogold) and Pharrell of N*E*R*D called "My Drive Thru" for Converse. Julian Casablancas also composed an original song "I Like The Night", as part of his endorsement deal to represent Azzaro's new mens fragrance, Decibel, dB. The Azzaro Decibel television commercial featuring Julian aired in France on September 1, 2011.

He has also served as inspiration for several other musicians and the painter Elizabeth Peyton. Courtney Love's song "But Julian, I'm a Little Bit Older Than You", from her debut solo album America's Sweetheart (2004), was written about Julian Casablancas.

Discography

Main article: The Strokes discography

Studio albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions
		US	US Alt	US Rock	IRE	NZ	SWE	UK
Phrazes for the Young	Release date: October 30, 2009 Label: RCA Records Formats: CD, music download	35	10	12	30	34	49	46

Singles

Year	Single	Peak positions	Album
		JAP
2009	"11th Dimension"	48	Phrazes for the Young
	"I Wish It Was Christmas Today"	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

External links

• Official website