Sébastien Akchoté-Bozović (; born 3 February 1981), known

mononymously A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. A mononym may be the person's only name, given to them at birth. This was routine in most ancient societies, and remains ...

as Sebastian (stylised as SebastiAn, ), is a French musician, composer, producer, mixer, engineer, vocalist and DJ affiliated with

Ed Banger Records Ed Banger Records (sometimes referred to as Ed Rec) is a French electronic music record label founded by Pedro Winter in 2003 as a division of Headbangers Entertainment. It focuses on house music, particularly French house, as well as alternati ...

. He has worked as a solo

electronic musician Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

and as a

remixer A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

for bands and singers such as

Charlotte Gainsbourg Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg (; born 21 July 1971) is a British and French actress and singer. She is the daughter of English actress and singer Jane Birkin and French singer Serge Gainsbourg. After making her musical debut with her father on the ...

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...

Bloc Party Bloc Party are an English Rock music, rock band that was formed in London, England, London in 1999 by co-founders Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, sampler) and Russell Lissack (lead guitar). Their first four albums all featur ...

, and

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...

. He has also composed and produced songs for Charlotte Gainsbourg, Katerine,

Juliette Armanet Juliette Anne Solange Armanet (; born 4 March 1984) is a French singer and songwriter. She won the Album Révélation of the Year in 2018 at the Victoires de la Musique for "Petite amie". Discography Studio albums EPs Singles Ot ...

Kavinsky Vincent Belorgey (born 31 July 1975), known professionally as Kavinsky, is a French musician, producer, DJ, and actor. His production style is reminiscent of the electropop film soundtracks of the 1980s. Kavinsky claims that his music is inspire ...

Frank Ocean Frank Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987) is an American singer and songwriter. He has been credited by several music journalism, music critics as a pioneer of the alternative R&B genre. Ocean has won two Grammy Awards and a B ...

Uffie Anna-Catherine Hartley (born December 9, 1987), known professionally as Uffie (), is an American-French singer, songwriter, rapper, DJ, and fashion designer formerly signed to French electronic music record label Ed Banger Records. Uffie's music ...

and

Woodkid Yoann Lemoine (; born 16 March 1983), known professionally as Woodkid, is a French music video director, graphic designer and singer-songwriter. His most notable works include his music video direction for Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream (Katy Perry ...

, and he has composed soundtracks for the films ''

Our Day Will Come "Our Day Will Come" is a popular song composed by Mort Garson with lyrics by Bob Hilliard. It was recorded by American R&B group Ruby & the Romantics in early December 1962, reaching #1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Ruby & the Romantics' ori ...

'', '' The World Is Yours'' and ''Steak'' (in which he also acted, credited under the name Sebastian Akchoté). Many of his tracks have been used on television and in video games.

Early life

Akchoté is of Serbian-French heritage. He was born in

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...

and raised in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

by a single mother.Green, Thomas H (July 2011)
"Encore Une Fois"
''Mixmag'' He is the younger brother of popular independent guitarist

Noël Akchoté Noël Akchoté (born 7 December 1968) is a French guitarist in free improvisation, classical, experimental, and free jazz. Career Starting on guitar at when he was eight years old,Philippe Carles, André Clergeat et Jean-Louis Comolli, ''Dictio ...

. His early musical history included both

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and experimental influences from his older brother as well as

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

influences from artists like

DJ Premier Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966), known professionally as DJ Premier (also known as Preemo), is an American record producer and DJ. He has been frequently lauded as one of hip hop's greatest producers by publications such as '' ...

.Bark, Theo (7 July 2011)
"Sebastian Stands Apart From Daft Punk and 'French Touch' With Hip-Hop Roots"
''Spinner'' He first started producing music around the age of fifteen.

Career

While working with a hip-hop band in 2005, Sebastian was given the phone number for

by one of the band's members, who had found it in a newspaper. After a

cold call Cold calling is the solicitation of business from potential customers who have had no prior contact with the salesperson conducting the call. It is an attempt to convince potential customers to purchase the salesperson's product or service. Gene ...

to label owner

Pedro Winter Pedro Winter (born Pierre Winter; 21 April 1975), also known by the stage name Busy P, is a French record producer, DJ, record label owner, and former artist manager. He was the manager of Daft Punk from 1996 to 2008,EPs ''H.A.L.'' and ''Smoking Kills (?)'' later that year. 2005 also saw his remixes for Annie, Benjamin Theves, and

, whose "

Human After All ''Human After All'' is the third studio album by the French electronic music duo Daft Punk, released on 14 March 2005 through Virgin Records. Whereas their previous studio album, ''Discovery'' (2001), was inspired by disco and garage house and ...

" remix by Sebastian is said to be the duo's all-time favourite remix of their own work. In the summer of 2006, Ed Banger Records released the EP ''Ross Ross Ross''. That year also saw more remixes by Sebastian than any other. In 2007, he composed the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

for

Quentin Dupieux Quentin Dupieux (, born 14 April 1974), also known by his musical stage name Mr. Oizo (), is a French electronic musician, record producer, songwriter, and filmmaker. Dupieux is credited with his legal name for his films, while the name "Mr. Oiz ...

's film ''Steak'' alongside Sebastien Tellier and Mr. Oizo (Dupieux himself). He also appears in the film in the role of Felix, one of the members of the Chivers. Also that year, as well producing numerous remixes and releasing his ''Walkman 2'' EP, Sebastian joined

to open with DJ sets for Daft Punk on their

Alive 2007 ''Alive 2007'' is the second live album by the French electronic music duo Daft Punk, released on 19 November 2007 by Virgin Records. It features Daft Punk's performance at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy arena in Paris on 14 June 2007 durin ...

tour. An original song called "Greel" was also released in 2007 on Ed Banger's compilation ''Ed Rec Vol. 2''. There were two Sebastian releases in 2008: ''Motor'', an EP with three original tracks, and ''

Remixes A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

'', a 17-track compilation featuring various remixes produced by Sebastian. His track "Dog" was also included on that year's '' Ed Rec Vol. 3''. In 2009, Sebastian played his first

live set Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film * ''Live'' (2023 film), a Malayalam-language film *'' Live: Phát Trực Tiếp'', a Vietnamese-langua ...

as an exclusive performance at the Sónar Festival in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. Sebastian produced the single " Difficult" for label-mate

in 2010 on her debut album ''

Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an offspring that inherit ...

'' and provided a remix, titled "Difficult (2006 Parties Remix by SebastiAn)". He also had his experimental track "Threnody" released that year on an Ed Banger Records Christmas compilation. The same year, he composed the

for the film ''

'', directed by

Romain Gavras Romain Gavras (; born 4 July 1981) is a French film director. He is known for directing M.I.A.'s videos " Bad Girls" and "Born Free", Kanye West and Jay-Z's video " No Church in the Wild" and Jamie xx's video " Gosh". He also directed Justice's ...

and starring

Vincent Cassel Vincent Cassel (; ; born 23 November 1966) is a French actor. He has earned a César Awards, César Award and a Canadian Screen Awards, Canadian Screen Award as well as nominations for a European Film Awards, European Film Award and a Screen Ac ...

. The soundtrack contains also "L'enfance d'un chien" performed by Sébastien Tellier, which features on his first album '' L'incroyable Vérité'', released in 2001.

2011–2013: ''Total''

In early 2011, Sebastian provided the track "Enio" for the Ed Banger compilation album ''Let the Children Techno''. Later, his debut album ''

Total Total may refer to: Mathematics * Total, the summation of a set of numbers * Total order, a partial order without incomparable pairs * Total relation, which may also mean ** connected relation (a binary relation in which any two elements are comp ...

'' was announced, followed by the release of a video for the title track featuring a series of violent and sexual images. A video for Sebastian's new song "Embody" was also released, along with the song's release as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

. The album ''Total'' itself was subsequently released on 30 May 2011 in Europe and 7 June 2011 in North America. It was followed by releases of singles "C.T.F.O." and "Love In Motion" from the album. 2011 was also the year of Sebastian's "Primary Tour", a tour visually themed as a political campaign and spanning Europe,

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

, and North America from August to December. Three remixes done by him were also released that year, including his remix for the

. 2012 saw Sebastian's remixes for bands

, The Shoes,

Van She Van She were an electropop band formed in early 2002 in Sydney, Australia, with Matt Van Schie (pronounced Van Ski) on bass guitar/vocals, Tomek Archer on drum kit, drums/music sequencer, sequencer, Michael Di Francesco on synthesizer, synth/gu ...

, and

. That year also saw the release of ''The EP Collection'', a box set of vinyl ''Total'' singles along with tracks "Organia" and previously unreleased "Holloback". A Sebastian remix of

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

's "New Lands" was released on 25 June 2012.

2013–2019: Production for other artists

In 2013, Kavinsky released his first album, '' OutRun'', of which Sebastian produced 9 tracks and mixed the entire album. In February 2014, the album has been awarded to Victoires de la Musique in the category "Electronic/Groove/Dance Album of the Year". The same year, he composed, produced and arranged the track "Stabat Mater", performed by

, which features on his album, '' The Golden Age''. In 2014, Sebastian composed and produced the title track "

American Beauty/American Psycho ''American Beauty/American Psycho'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''AB/AP'') is the sixth studio album by American rock band Fall Out Boy, released on January 16, 2015 through Island Records as the follow-up to the band's comeback album '' Save R ...

" for the band

Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...

on their album of the same name. The same year, he composed, produced and mixed

Philippe Katerine Philippe Blanchard (; born 8 December 1968), known professionally as Philippe Katerine, is a French singer-songwriter, actor, artist, director and writer who began his career in 1991. Some of his popular singles include "Mon cœur balance", "Je ...

's album ''Magnum''. It was Katerine who offered to work with him, because he appreciates, as he quoted, the "sexual tension" of his compositions. Sebastian proposed instrumental parts, on which Katerine placed his voice and wrote the texts afterwards. The album released on 7 April 2014 by Barclay. In 2015, Ed Banger owner

Pedro Winter Pedro Winter (born Pierre Winter; 21 April 1975), also known by the stage name Busy P, is a French record producer, DJ, record label owner, and former artist manager. He was the manager of Daft Punk from 1996 to 2008,Frank Ocean Frank Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987) is an American singer and songwriter. He has been credited by several music journalism, music critics as a pioneer of the alternative R&B genre. Ocean has won two Grammy Awards and a B ...

, allowing him to work on his next album. Sebastian appears on the track "Facebook Story" and has also participated as an instrumentalist on "White Ferrari" and "Godspeed" on Frank Ocean's album, ''

Blonde Blond () or blonde (), also referred to as fair hair, is a human hair color characterized by low levels of eumelanin, the dark pigment. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color can be ...

'', released in 2016. Sebastian and

worked together for the album ''

Rest REST (Representational State Transfer) is a software architectural style that was created to describe the design and guide the development of the architecture for the World Wide Web. REST defines a set of constraints for how the architecture of ...

'' in 2017. Before working with her, he remixed her cover of "

Hey Joe "Hey Joe" is a song from the 1960s that has become a rock standard and been performed in many musical styles by hundreds of different artists. The lyrics are from the point of view of a man on the run and planning to escape to Mexico after sho ...

", released in 2014. When they first met, he told Gainsbourg that he would like to work with her but that he wanted the project to be done in French, but she refused to do so. A year later, Gainsbourg, after the death of her sister

Kate Barry Margaret Catherine Moore Berry (November 29, 1752 – September 29, 1823) operated as a scout and guide for Brigadier General Daniel Morgan during the American Revolutionary War. Morgan learned that General Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornw ...

, contacted him again and told him that she would like to express certain things and that she could only say them in French. Thus, they started working on ''Rest'' in New York. This album, which he produced and composed, was released on 17 November 2017. Gainsbourg received a Victoire de la Musique in the "Female Artist of the Year" category in 2018 for ''Rest''. The next year, he composed and produced 3 new tracks, which featured on her EP ''Take 2''. In 2019, Gainsbourg appears on Sebastian's second album, ''Thirst'', on the track "Pleasant". Sebastian created the soundtrack for the Yves Saint Laurent Winter 18 Collection campaign, which was held on 27 February 2018 in Paris, France. The same year, he co-composed the soundtrack for the film '' The World Is Yours'' (original title: ''Le Monde est à toi''), directed by

, starring

Karim Leklou Karim Leklou (born June 20, 1982) is a French actor who started his career in small role in Jacques Audiard 's film ''A Prophet'' (2009) and followed by '' Suzanne'' and '' Grand Central''.

Isabelle Adjani Isabelle Yasmine Adjani (born 27 June 1955) is a French actress and singer of Algerian and German descent. She has received various accolades, including five César Awards and a Lumière Award, along with nominations for two Academy Awards. ...

and

2019–present: ''Thirst''

In May 2019, SebastiAn released two new tracks, "Thirst" (with his music video directed by

Gaspar Noé Gaspar Noé (; ; born 27 December 1963) is an Argentine filmmaker, who lives and worked primarily in France. He is one of the primary exponents of New French Extremity, with his most notable works including the feature films '' I Stand Alone'' ...

) and "Run for Me", featuring the American singer Gallant, to promote his new album ''Thirst''. On 9 July 2019, SebastiAn released a third single titled "Beograd". The fourth single "Better Now", featuring

Mayer Hawthorne Andrew Mayer Cohen (born February 2, 1979), better known by his stage name Mayer Hawthorne, is an American singer, producer, songwriter, arranger, audio engineer, DJ, and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles, California. Cohen performs and ...

, released on 5 September 2019. The fifth and final single, "Sober", featuring

Bakar Bakar may refer to: *Bakar, Croatia Bakar is a town in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. The population of the town was 8,279 according to the 2011 Croatian census, including 1,473 in the titular settlement. Ninety percent of th ...

, released on 8 October 2019. The album released on 8 November 2019 by Ed Banger Records, with, among others,

, Sparks,

Sevdaliza Sevda Alizadeh (; born 1 September 1987), known professionally as Sevdaliza, is an Iranian-Dutch singer, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and director. In 2015, she released two EPs, ''The Suspended Kid'' and ''Children of Silk''. Whil ...

and Syd as guests. On 10 September 2020, he released "Hysterias", which is the soundtrack of the Yves Saint-Laurent Men Spring Summer 2021 Collection. SebastiAn contributed a track titled "Don't Tread on Else Matters" to the charity tribute album ''

The Metallica Blacklist ''The Metallica Blacklist'' is a various artists Cover version, tribute album featuring covers of every track from Metallica's Metallica (album), 1991 self-titled album (commonly known as ''The Black Album''). The collection was assembled in con ...

'', released in September 2021; the track combines remixes of the Metallica songs " Don't Tread on Me" and "

Nothing Else Matters "Nothing Else Matters" is a power ballad by American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released in 1992 as the third single from their self-titled fifth studio album, ''Metallica''. The song peaked at number 11 on the ''Billboard'' Album Ro ...

Discography

* ''

'' (2008) * ''

'' (2011) * ''Thirst'' (2019)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sebastian 1981 births Electro house musicians French electronic dance music DJs French house musicians French people of Serbian descent Living people Musicians from Boulogne-Billancourt Musicians from Paris French remixers Because Music artists