David Guetta

David Guetta
David Guetta performing in May 2007
Background information
Birth name	David Pierre Guetta
Born	7 November 1967 (1967-11-07) (age 43) Paris, France
Genres	Electro house, hip house, dance-pop
Occupations	Producer, DJ
Years active	1984–present
Labels	Virgin
Website	www.davidguetta.com

David Pierre Guetta (French pronunciation: [david ɡɛˈta]; born 7 November 1967)^[1] is a French house producer, singer and DJ. Originally a DJ at nightclubs during the 1980s and 1990s, he co-founded Gum Productions and released his first album, Just a Little More Love, in 2001. Later, he released Guetta Blaster (2004) and Pop Life (2007). His 2009 album One Love included the hit singles "When Love Takes Over" (featuring Kelly Rowland), "Gettin' Over You" (featuring Chris Willis, Fergie & LMFAO) and "Sexy Bitch" (featuring Akon), the latter becoming a top five hit in the US and all three reached #1 in the UK. He has worked with a variety of pop and hip-hop artists including Akon, Chris Willis, Kelly Rowland, Lil' Wayne, Kelis, Madonna, Kid Cudi, Estelle, Fergie, Amy Palmer, K'naan, will.i.am, LMFAO, Dane Bowers, Flo Rida, Shakira, Julie Mcknight and apl.de.ap.

Biography

1984–2000: Early life and career

At age 17, Guetta began DJ'ing at the Broad Club in Paris.^[2] He first played popular songs, and he discovered house music when he heard a Farley Jackmaster Funk track on French radio in 1987. The next year, he began hosting his own club nights.^[1] In 1990, he released "Nation Rap", a hip-hop collaboration with French rapper Sidney Duteil.^[3]

In the early 1990s, Guetta played in clubs including Le Centrale, the Rex, Le Boy, and Folies Pigalle.^[2][4] Released in 1994,^[3] Guetta's first single, a collaboration with American house vocalist Robert Owens titled "Up & Away", was a minor club hit.^[1] In 1995, David Guetta became the manager of Le Palace nightclub and he continued to organise parties there and in other clubs, such as the "Scream" parties in Les Bains Douches.^[5]

2001–2006: Just a Little More Love and Guetta Blaster

In 2001, David Guetta along with Joachim Garraud founded Gum Productions, and in the same year Guetta's first hit single, "Just a Little More Love", featuring American singer Chris Willis was released. Willis was vacationing in France when he met Guetta.^[1] Guetta's debut album Just a Little More Love was released in 2002 on Virgin Records and sold over 300,000 copies. The follow-up single, "Love Don't Let Me Go", was released in 2002. Guetta released a compilation, Fuck Me I'm Famous, in 2003, named after his party in Ibiza. It included "Just For One Day (Heroes)", a remix of David Bowie's song "Heroes".^[1] Later in his career, Guetta continued recording compilations under that title.

Guetta's second album, Guetta Blaster, was released in 2004 and contained "The World is Mine" featuring JD Davis. In 2006 "Love Don't Let Me Go" was released as a mash-up with the Tocadisco remix of "Walking Away" by The Egg. The mash-up single charted higher than the original release of the song.

2007–2008: Pop Life

In 2007, Guetta's third album Pop Life was released. The album was successful in the UK and Ireland as well as in mainland Europe. According to EMI in 2010, the album has sold a total of 530,000 copies worldwide. The lead single "Love Is Gone" reached Number 1 on the American Dance Chart and charted on the Billboard Hot 100.

He played in many countries around the world to promote the album. He played in Mauritius in January 2008, accompanied by French rapper JoeyStarr. In the same year, he and his wife Cathy also planned a new event which took place in the Stade de France on 5 July 2008. The event was called "UNIGHTED", he performed with Tiësto, Carl Cox, Joachim Garraud and Martin Solveig in front of a crowd of 40,000.^[6]

2009–present: One Love and international breakthrough

David Guetta's fourth studio album, One Love, was digitally released on 21 August 2009, and physically released on 24 August 2009 in Europe and 25 August in the United States. Its first single "When Love Takes Over", which featured Kelly Rowland, peaked at #1 on the UK Singles Chart & topped many other countries worldwide becoming a huge summer & dancefloor hit. His second single from the album, "Sexy Bitch" (featuring Akon) became his second #1 in the UK & also topped many countrys worldwide becoming his second summer hit. The song "Sexy Bitch" was inspired by Guetta's sexy mother, according to an interview with the DJ in French Vogue. "One Love" featuring Estelle, "Memories" featuring Kid Cudi and "Gettin' Over" featuring Chris Willis, Fergie and LMFAO followed which soon became Guetta's third #1. The album has sold 1.4 million copies worldwide since its release according to Billboard.

On 16 June 2009, the Black Eyed Peas released the David Guetta-produced "I Gotta Feeling" as their second single from their fifth studio album, The E.N.D.. It became a worldwide hit topping the charts in seventeen countries. It became the most downloaded song in both the United Kingdom, selling more than one million copies, and in the United States, with six million downloads.^[7][8]

Since April 2009, Guetta had his own radio show on the internet radio station RauteMusik on Saturday evening. The show was afterwards moved into Radio 538, being aired every Friday evening after Tiësto's Club Life. Its name is equal to the Fuck Me I'm Famous compilation. For his fans, Guetta performs a one-hour set of house music, presenting mainly new talents inside.

In 2009, he was placed third in the "Top 100 DJs" poll by DJ Magazine,^[9] and was elected "Best House DJ" by DJ Awards in 2008.

On 2 December 2009, Guetta received five nominations at the 52nd Grammy Awards. He was nominated twice for his work with the Black Eyed Peas; in the category Record of the Year for "I Gotta Feeling" and Album of the Year for their album The E.N.D.. His song "When Love Takes Over" featuring American R&B singer Kelly Rowland received two nominations; Best Dance Recording and Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical, and won the latter. Guetta's fourth studio album One Love was nominated as "Best Electronic/Dance Album".^[10]

David Guetta co-wrote and produced Kelly Rowland's "Commander" from heir self-titled third studio album. It peaked at number one on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs chart in the United States, and reached top ten positions in Belgium and the United Kingdom. Guetta has also co-produced 'Forever And A Day', which is Kellys 2nd UK single from her third album.^[11][12]

Guetta produced the songs "Acapella" and "Scream" for American singer-songwriter Kelis's fifth studio album, Flesh Tone, released on 14 May 2010. "Acapella" was released as the lead single on 23 February 2010 and topped the dance charts in the United Kingdom and United States.

On 28 June 2010 American rapper Flo Rida released the single "Club Can't Handle Me" featuring David Guetta. The song is included on the soundtrack album to the American 3D dance film Step Up 3D. It has so far peaked at number one in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

It is reported that David Guetta will collaborate with Rihanna on a new track which is titled "Adrenalin Rush". The duet between Guetta and Rihanna is penned and produced by Rico Love and will reportedly be available in the beginning of the fall (September-October) for Rihanna's fifth TBA album. Rihanna Diva claim that they will exclusively premiere a preview of the song and that fans should stay tuned for further information.^[13][14] However, other report suggest that the song will be entitled 'Feel The Adrenaline' and it is said to be for a re-launch of Guetta's album One Love, according to Madonnatribe the re-launch One Love album will feature a new song that he recorded with Madonna which he rates highly and has hit written all over it.^[15] But Guetta himself told that One Love would not have a re-release and that he is planning a new album next summer.^[16]

He will collaborate with the Flemish/Dutch girlgroup K3 for their newest album.

Personal life

David Guetta was born and raised in France (Montguyon). His mother is of French descent while his father was a restaurateur and of Moroccan Jewish descent.^[17] He is married to Cathy Guetta and has two children, Tim Elvis (born 2004) and Angie (born 2007).

Discography

• Just a Little More Love (2002)
• Guetta Blaster (2004)
• Pop Life (2007)
• One Love (2009)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• David Guetta Information at Ultra Records
• Review of 'Memories' on the Daily Music Guide
• David Jeffries. "David Guetta biography". Allmusic. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=DAVID. Retrieved 22 September 2008. 
• David Guetta at the Internet Movie Database
• David Guetta on Myspace
• David Guetta in PACHA NEWS
• David Guetta channel at YouTube
• Official widget
• David Guetta at Billboard.com
• Official Fansite
• Review of 'Gettin Over you' on the Daily Music Guide