Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo

Early life

Guillaume Emmanuel de Homem-Christo was born on 8 February 1974 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine. He is the great-grandson of Portuguese poet , as well as the great-great-grandson of Portuguese military figure Francisco Manuel Homem Cristo, who was forced into exile in France in 1910.

He was given a toy guitar and keyboard at around age 7. He was also given an electric guitar at age 14; he still uses a guitar when writing music.

Career

Homem-Christo met Thomas Bangalter when they attended the Lycée Carnot in Paris in 1987. It was there that they discovered their mutual fascination for films and music of the 1960s and 1970s: "very basic cult teenager things, from Easy Rider to the Velvet Underground". The two and Laurent Brancowitz eventually joined to form an indie rock trio called Darlin', in which Homem-Christo performed guitar. Bangalter felt that "It was still maybe more a teenage thing at that time. It's like, you know, everybody wants to be in a band." A negative review referred to their music as "a daft punky thrash", which inspired Bangalter and Homem-Christo's new name. The two soon became interested in electronic dance music after going to a club in 1992. Homem-Christo is credited for designing the Daft Punk logo in the liner notes of Homework (1997), the duo's first album.

Regarding Daft Punk's creative process and working with Bangalter, Homem-Christo commented that "he's much more of the tech guy than I am. We did everything together. But I have more distance". He added, "I'm more critical of everything we do. We're two-halves of one solid combination. There's balance there – completeness between us, yeah".

Homem-Christo is a co-founder of the group Le Knight Club, along with Éric Chedeville from Pumpking Records. They are the founders of the record label Crydamoure, named after a variation of the French phrase "cri d'amour" or "cry of love" in English. Crydamoure published works by Homem-Christo's brother Paul, under the name Play Paul. They also published records by Deelat, Raw Man, The Eternals, and many others. In regards to Crydamoure, Homem-Christo stated:

Daft Punk produced three projects in the 2000s, their sophomore album Discovery (2001), their third album Human After All (2005), and the soundtrack to TRON: Legacy (2010). The duo also did a world tour in 2006 and 2007, eventually releasing an accompanying live album, Alive 2007.

In between these projects, Homem-Christo produced Sébastien Tellier's 2008 album Sexuality. He also has one cameo for each track, 'Kilometer' and 'Divine'. In 2010, Homem-Christo and Bangalter were admitted into the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, an order of merit of France. The two were individually awarded the rank of Chevalier (knight). Homem-Christo also worked with Sebastian on the Kavinsky song "Nightcall", released in 2010. In 2012, he was featured on Tellier's album My God Is Blue on the track "My Poseidon".

Following the release of Daft Punk's fourth album Random Access Memories, Homem-Christo and Bangalter collaborated on two tracks with the Weeknd, "Starboy" and "I Feel It Coming", with the former gaining the duo their first number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and the latter, co-written by Chedeville of Le Knight Club, peaking at number four. Homem-Christo and Bangalter both contributed writing and production credits to the 2017 song "Overnight" by Parcels. This would be Daft Punk's final production work as a duo, as Daft Punk announced their split via YouTube in February 2021.

Homem-Christo worked on the title track to Charlotte Gainsbourg's fifth studio album Rest, released in 2017. He contributed to the 2018 song "Hurt You", a collaboration with the Weeknd and Gesaffelstein.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Homem-Christo created a curated playlist called "Star of a hero" for Italian brand MEDEA, containing tracks from The Beach Boys, the Weeknd, George Duke, and Thundercat, among others.

On 22 February 2021, Daft Punk released a video announcing their breakup. Friend and collaborator Todd Edwards later clarified that Bangalter and Homem-Christo remain active separately. The two still share a studio and equipment.

In 2023, Travis Scott released "Modern Jam," written and produced by Homem-Christo, from his album Utopia. In 2025, Rosalía released "Reliquia," co-written by Homem-Christo, from her album Lux.

Personal life

Homem-Christo has two children: a daughter and a son. He and his wife divorced in 2010.

Both Homem-Christo and Bangalter have no interest in being celebrities or discussing their private lives. In the rare events of interviews, Bangalter did the majority of talking to journalists. With regard to working and collaborating with other artists, Homem-Christo sees it as a matter of timing and creativity, rather than fame and opportunity. He once stated in an interview:

Discography

Production credits

Albums

• Waves (2000)
• Waves II (2003)
• Sexuality by Sébastien Tellier (2008)

Tracks

References

References

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