Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo

Homem-Christo was born on 8 February 1974[1] in Neuilly-sur-Seine.[2] He is the great-grandson of Portuguese poet Homem Cristo Filho, and the great-great-grandson of Portuguese military figure Francisco Manuel Homem Cristo, who was forced into exile in France in 1910.[3][4] Homem-Christo was given a toy guitar and keyboard at around seven years of age.[5] He was eventually given an electric guitar at age 14, and uses a guitar when writing music.[6]

Homem-Christo met Thomas Bangalter when they attended the Lycée Carnot school in 1987. It was there that they discovered their mutual fascination for films and music of the 1960s and '70s: "very basic cult teenager things, from Easy Rider to the Velvet Underground".[7] 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."[7] A negative review referred to their music as "a daft punky thrash",[8] which inspired Bangalter and Homem-Christo's new name.[9] 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".[10]

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 de Homem-Christo, under the name Play Paul.[11] In regards to Crydamoure, Homem-Christo stated:

Myself and Thomas have the same tastes in music. When I make records for Crydamoure it's a different style than what may end up as Daft Punk music. I know what Thomas likes, and he knows what I like. Crydamoure is not so production oriented, even if it's not too far from Daft Punk. The Daft Punk material is more orchestrated and slightly different. I may be working on a sample for Crydamoure, and maybe no one else can hear the difference, but we know. It's very precise.[12]

Daft Punk produced three projects in the 2000's, 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.[13]

In between these projects, Homem-Christo produced Sébastien Tellier's 2008 album Sexuality.[14] In 2010, Homem-Christo worked with Sebastian on the Kavinsky song "Nightcall".[15] 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.[16] Homem-Christo and Bangalter both contributed writing and production credits to the 2017 song "Overnight" by Parcels.[17] This would be Daft Punk's final production work as a duo, as Daft Punk announced their split via YouTube in February of 2021.[18]

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.[19][20]

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.[21]

On 22 February 2021, Daft Punk released a video announcing their breakup.[22][23] Friend and collaborator Todd Edwards later clarified that Bangalter and Homem-Christo remain active separately.[24] The two still share a studio and equipment.[25]

Homem-Christo's first release after the split was producing the song "Modern Jam" with Travis Scott for Scott's album Utopia, released in July 2023.[26][27]

Homem-Christo has two children:[28] a daughter and a son. He and his wife divorced in 2010.[29]

Both Homem-Christo and Bangalter have no interest in being celebrities or discussing their private lives.[30] 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:

Well that depends on what we want to do at the time. It depends. I don't know. Yeah, exactly. There are all these considerations you're talking about. But yes, it just depends on the moment you're asked. If you feel it and if you feel something creatively interesting then it's possible. For everything that we're asked to do, if we have a creative answer and think we might bring something to a project then we can do it. But if we don't have any ideas or don't think we can push the envelope by creating with anybody... well, if you take Sébastien Tellier for example it is one of the few collaborations where I had the idea that I could do something and bring something to it. But it's all about the moment and the situation. When it feels right to us, when we feel it we do it, and when we have the time. There's so many factors.[31]

• Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo discography at Discogs