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Bob Sinclar
The Many Different Faces of French House
14/01/1999 -
The man behind the international dance smash "Gym Tonic" likes to hide his true identity behind the stage name Bob Sinclar - a reference to a famous character in Philippe de Broca's film "Le magnifique" (played by one of France's favourite acting idols, Jean-Paul Belmondo). In reality, the House version of Bob Sinclar is a little less macho action hero than Belmondo, and a little more of an ironic take on smooth lady-killing spycatchers à la James Bond or The Saint. Bob has a true gift for comic genius, sending up the genre with a suave little pencil moustache and a gymful of 'gorgeous girls' dressed in tight-fitting leotards.
Code Name: Bob, Bob Sinclar
Last summer on his first mission Agent Bob teamed up with Thomas Bangalter (of Daft Punk and Stardust fame) and master-minded a cunning little plan. Mixing a spot of House music and bodybuilding culture, the duo created a catchy dance hybrid entitled "Gym Tonic". The single "Gym Tonic", which fused upbeat House rhythms with a Jane Fonda-style "Work Out" - yes, the chorus "two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and back" is guaranteed to buzz around your brain for days! - proved to be an instant hit in clubland and on French radio. Soon everyone was begging for more Bob Sinclar and the French house-master's album "Paradise", released on the indie Paris label Yellow Productions, sold a staggering 36,000 copies (which is, you will agree, an amazing score for an album released as a vinyl LP!)
Encouraged by this success, Agent Bob went on to release a CD version of his album "Paradise" in the autumn of '98 (on the East West label). This also proved an instant hit with international dance fans. "Paradise", which opens with a brilliant imitation of Général de Gaulle, features thirteen jaunty dance tracks which are guaranteed to keep clubbers on the dancefloor for a full 60 minutes. All the tracks are in Bob's inimitable send-up style and "Paradise" also boasts a wonderfully kitsch album cover (mixing bad-taste 70's ads for after-shave and facecream with a bevy of pouting pin-ups!)
In a recent interview published in "Trax" (the monthly French music mag devoted to techno and dance music), Bob Sinclar gave a brief glimpse of his 'gimmicks and groove' philosophy: "The Bob Sinclar project is essentially aimed at the club scene," he says, "We want to get all the girls up there grooving on the dancefloor! The idea was to come up with a catchy musical gimmick so that people wouldn't get bored to death dancing to the same loop for six minutes. But you have to remain really minimalist about it. A gimmick won't work on its own, you know, you have to keep the music groovy and weave in a bit of a melody line as well." In Bob's case, all we have to say is, mission accomplished!
Gimmicks and Groove
When it comes down to it, Bob Sinclar's House style is not actually all that innovative, but the French mix-master's talent for weaving ludicrously catchy gimmicks into his House beats has proved devastatingly effective. The other secret behind Bob's dizzying rise to fame is that he takes his inspiration not from the cold machine-like sound of techno, but from funk (cf. "Ultimate Funk") and disco (cf. "Disco 2000 Selector" and "Vision of Paradise"). Mighty Bob also experiments with a few Latin grooves on one of his album tracks "The Ghetto", which is a bit unexpected but ultimately very enjoyable! Bob's album "Paradise" also features some rather special guest stars, Lee A. Genesis guesting on "My Only Love" and Karl stepping in to give a helping hand on "The Ghetto".
Three months after its release, the CD version of "Paradise" has already built up impressive sales at home as well as proving a big hit with dance fans in Great Britain, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. You'd think that with this international success under his belt Bob Sinclar would be tempted to drop his pseudonym, rip off his mask and reveal his true identity - but you'd be wrong! Bob Sinclar continues to use his code name. Luckily, Le Petit Journal has been on the case and we can now reveal a few juicy facts about Bob's real identity.
The Many Faces of Bob Sinclar
In fact, behind the mysterious code name of Bob Sinclar lurks none other than … Christophe "Da French Kiss" Le Friant, one of the leading figures of the French house movement. Young Christophe launched his career in 1987 just as he turned 18, working as a DJ on the Paris club scene. Following the success of The Mighty Bop and more recently the Bob Sinclar project, Christophe "Da French Kiss" has now gone on to make a name for himself world-wide, his house tracks scoring a major hit on dancefloors all the way from London to New York (via Hong Kong, Ibiza, Vienna, Hyères and Le Fou-du-Roy!)
And in recent years multi-talented Christophe has developed his career even further. Setting up his own label, Yellow Productions, in 1993 with Alain Ho. Having an inkling that the 'French Touch' would soon invade the international club scene, two of the first acts that Christophe signed to Yellow Productions were the top French DJs Kid Loco and Dimitri from Paris.
Christophe's intuition has certainly paid off. Following in the wake of France's House pioneer Laurent Garnier, bands such as Daft Punk, Air and Stardust have caused a huge stir on the international dance scene over the past two years, taking the famous 'French Touch' to the top of the charts. A bevy of indie labels have sprung up around France's thriving dance scene and, together with labels such as Garnier's F Communication, Yellow Productions is up there at the top of the pile.
Interestingly enough, the French Touch has proved far more successful on the international club scene than it has done with dance fans at home. Like F Communication, nearly 90% of 'Yellow Productions' sales are accounted for in export. It seems you can't be a House prophet in your own country - indeed, of the 90,000 CD versions of Bob Sinclar's "Paradise" sold in total so far, only 35,000 have been bought in France! 'Yellow Produtions' other major star Kid Loco has sold 55.000 copies of his album "Grand Love Story" in all - but 35.000 of that figure is accounted for abroad !The same goes for Dimitri from Paris (the French DJ has sold just 10,000 copies of his latest album "Sacrebleu" in his homeland, but a staggering 90,000 abroad!)
Fortunately, Christophe Le Friant and his partner have been very sensitive to the vagaries of the dance market. And from the very beginning of Yellow Productions they have refused to let themselves get stuck in the kind of 'ghetto' which has bankrupted other independent techno labels such as Fairway Records. Yellow Productions have always worked towards establishing an eclectic catalogue, signing artists from all spheres of the dance scene (from house and rap to acid jazz, trip hop and jungle). Today, Christophe le Friant's label boasts a truly diverse selection of artists, producing EJM, La Funk Mob, Louise Vertigo, Reminscence Quartet, The Mighty Bop and Bang Bang as well as 'French Touch' stars Kid Loco and Dimitri from Paris.
Meanwhile, Christophe le Friant aka Bob Sinclar continues to lead his double life, managing to call up his shrewd business skills when needed for his record label, but revert to the manic humour and kitschness of Sinclar whenever he ventures out onto the House scene. And his Jekyll and Hyde approach certainly appears to work wonders!!!
Gilles Rio
