Sébastien Tellier

Sébastien Tellier
Sébastien Tellier at Printemps de Bourges 2008
Background information
Born	1975
Origin	France
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Record Makers
Website	Official website

Sébastien Tellier (born 1975 in 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. 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 candle light. The track, "Fantino", was chosen by Sofia Coppola for the soundtrack to her 2003 film Lost in Translation.

Tellier followed L'incroyable Vérité with his second studio album Politics (2005), which, like his third album Sexuality (2008), took a single term as both its title and theme. The album dealt with ways of power and governance. The most prominent song on Politics was "La Ritournelle", a string-led tune, which featured Nigerian drummer, Tony Allen, drummer and musical director of Fela Kuti's band Africa 70 from 1968 to 1979.

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. In 2007, Tellier contributed songs to and collaborated with Mr. Oizo for the soundtrack of Oizo's feature film directorial debut, Steak.

His third studio album Sexuality was produced by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk. Tellier's label Record Makers collaborated with retailer American Apparel for an exclusive three month pre-release of the album. Limited edition versions of the Sexuality CD, LP and "Divine" 7" and 12" single was sold in all North American American Apparel stores and on the companies website beginning 22 July 2008.

His song "La Ritournelle" achieved renown in Britain after being remixed by London based band Metronomy.

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, with Tellier's song "Divine". This was the first time in the history of the contest that the nominated French entry was to be performed largely in English,^[1] which caused controversy,^[2] leading to Tellier pledging to increase the amount of French in the song prior to the competition itself.^[3] In total, the entry received 47 points.

The song "Look" from his Sexuality album, and "La Ritournelle" were both featured in the Ugly Betty episode "Crush'd".

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

Discography

• L'incroyable Vérité (2001, Record Makers)
• Politics (2004, Record Makers)
• Sessions (2006, Record Makers) - a collection of previous songs recorded with new arrangements
• Universe (2006) - compilation album featuring tracks from Sessions and Narco albums
• Sexuality (2008, Record Makers)

Other contributions

• Acoustic 07 (2007, V2 Records) - "La Ballade du Georges"

References

External links

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