Sébastien Tellier


Sébastien Tellier is a French musician, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with his song Divine. He has also produced songs for Dita Von Teese and he has composed music for the French films Narco and Steak among others. He is currently signed to Record Makers, a French independent record label. He sings in many languages as English, French and Italian.

Biography

Tellier's first album, L'incroyable Vérité, was released in 2001. Tellier went on tour with Air in support of the album and was joined on stage by 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 candlelight.
Tellier followed L'incroyable Vérité with his second studio album Politics. A particularly popular song from Politics was "La Ritournelle", a string-led tune, which featured Nigerian drummer, Tony Allen who worked with Fela Kuti. "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. The album was repackaged for the British market as Universe, 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.
His fourth album My God Is Blue was released in 23 April 2012. As the name suggests, the concept of this album is religion. Tellier is presented in this album as a guru, founder of a fictional sect called "Alliance Bleue". The album is entirely produced by Mr Flash and Pavle Kovacevic.
His fifth album Confection was released in October 2013. This was partially inspired by the death of Tellier's grandmother. Some of the music on the album was intended to appear on a film soundtrack, but ended up not being used. In an interview with artistxite, Tellier noted: "You can say my grandmother's death as well as this nonexisting soundtrack had an impact on “Confection“. To me this has been a super strange situation. I was full of love for my grandmother and full of dedication to this soundtrack; "Confection" is the result of both of these emotional conditions." In Spring 2014, Tellier performed a medley of tracks from Confection at the Chanel Haute Couture show at the Grand Palais. Tellier recounts that Karl Lagerfeld invited him to perform, having listened to the album himself.
His sixth album L'Aventura, was released on. The album was inspired by the childhood and Brazil, where the video to its lead single, "L'Adulte", is set.. This album, consisting of 10 tracks, is sung entirely in French.
In 2018, Tellier composed all the songs from the eponymous album by Dita Von Teese.
In 2020, Tellier returns with a new single "A Ballet", released on January 29, to promote his seventh album Domesticated, consisting of 8 tracks, which released on 29 May 2020. On April 8, "Domestic Tasks", the second single released and "Stuck in a Summer Love" the third single on May 19. The concept on this album is domestic life. This concept was born following his marriage and the birth of his two children. The album is produced by Corentin "nit" Kerdraon, Mind Gamers, Jam City, Varnish La Piscine and Philippe Zdar. Apart from this album, on February 14 2020, he appeared as a featured artist on "Boycycle" by Salvatore Ganacci.

Soundtrack work

Tellier has composed and performed original scores for three French films: Narco, Saint-Amour and Marie et les naufragés. The soundtracks were released by Record Makers in 2007 and 2016, respectively. He also composed a few songs with Mr. Oizo, for the soundtrack of the film :fr:Steak |Steak, released in 2007. The soundtrack were released by Ed Banger and Because Music the same year.

Use of Tellier's songs

Tellier is married to Amandine de la Richardière with whom he has two children.

Discography

Studio albums

Soundtracks

Compilations

Other contributions

Singles

Guest appearances