Thomas Pablo Croquet (born 21 November 1976), known professionally as Thomas Mars, is a French musician and the lead singer of the French

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

band Phoenix.

Early life

Thomas Pablo Croquet was born on 21 November 1976 in

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

, France. Croquet was originally inspired to learn English by his uncle, Horst. Croquet formed the band Phoenix with schoolfriends Chris Mazzalai and Deck d'Arcy. Mazzalai's older brother, Laurent Brancowitz, also joined the band after the break-up of Darlin'. Croquet says that he "destroyed every single other option that would lead me to any potential career other than music", attending college for only four days, studying economics.

Career

Croquet is the frontman of the band Phoenix, which formed in 1995. He adopted a stage name, Thomas Mars, along with other bandmates in order to "sound cooler". In an interview, the band's bassist Deck D'Arcy said that he and Mars started playing music when they were around 11-years-old. The band eventually became a full-time profession for Mars following his dropping out of college. The band pressed 500 copies of a single on their own label before being signed to Paris-based label, Source Records. Mars wrote and produced Phoenix's first charting single in France, "Too Young", which peaked at number 97. Eventually Phoenix's first studio album, '' United'' was released in 2000, shipping 150,000 units worldwide. The band has released seven albums and won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

in 2010. Under the pseudonym Gordon Tracks, Mars co-wrote, performed vocals and drummed on the 2000

Air An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

song "Playground Love" from ''The Virgin Suicides'', which reached No. 25 on the UK singles chart.

Personal life

In 2011, Croquet married filmmaker

Sofia Coppola Sofia Carmina Coppola ( , ; born May 14, 1971) is an American filmmaker and former actress. She has List of awards and nominations received by Sofia Coppola, won an Academy Awards, Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, a Golden Lion, and a Can ...

at Palazzo Margherita in Bernalda. The couple met in 1999 on the set of ''The Virgin Suicides'', which she directed and he contributed music to under the pseudonym Gordon Tracks. They have two daughters together, Romy and Cosima. The German literary critic Hellmuth Karasek was his uncle. As of 2018, Croquet lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

with his wife and children. He travels to Paris monthly and has a residence there. The rest of his Phoenix bandmates reside in France.

References

1976 births Living people 20th-century French musicians 21st-century French musicians Musicians from Versailles Grammy Award winners 21st-century French singers 20th-century French male musicians 21st-century French male singers {{France-musician-stub