Sébastien Tellier

Sébastien Tellier
Sébastien Tellier at Printemps de Bourges 2008
Background information
Born	1975
Origin	Paris, France
Genres	Electronica, French pop, R&B, Downtempo, Ambient, New Wave
Instruments	Vocals, electric guitar, piano, synthesizer, keyboards, percurssion
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Record Makers
Website	Official website

Sébastien Tellier (born 1975, Paris) is a French singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is currently signed to Record Makers, a French independent record label. He sings in English, French and Italian.

Biography

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 world-renowned theremin player Pamelia Kurstin. L'incroyable Vérité is a pop album featuring styles from lo-fi electronica to bizarre cabaret tunes.^{[citation needed]} 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 of Fela Kuti fame. "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, which caused controversy, 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.

Sébastien Tellier performing "Divine" at the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia, 24 May 2008

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.

Discography

• L'incroyable Vérité (Record Makers, 2001)
• Politics (Record Makers, 2004)
• Narco, Original Soundtrack (Record Makers, 2004)
• Sessions (Record Makers, 2006) - a collection of previous songs recorded with new arrangements
• Universe (2006) - compilation album featuring tracks from Sessions and Narco albums
• Sexuality (Record Makers, 2008)
• Sexuality Remix (Record Makers, 2010)
• Love Songs (Record Makers, 2011)
• My God Is Blue (Record Makers, 2012)

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.

External links

• Official website
• Sébastien Tellier on Myspace
• Anthem interview with Sebastian Tellier
• Sébastien Tellier at the Internet Movie Database
• Photos of Tellier Performing in Philadelphia, April 2009

Preceded by Les Fatals Picards with L'amour à la française

France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

Succeeded by Patricia Kaas with Et s'il fallait le faire