Phoenix

From Versailles to the Olympics

The founders Thomas Mars, Deck d'Arcy and Christian Mazzalai met at school in Le Chesnay and formed a band in 1991 at the lycee Hoche, per French Wikipedia; English Wikipedia says they began as a garage band at Mars's house in Versailles and that Laurent Brancowitz, Mazzalai's older brother, joined in 1995 after his band Darlin' ended. Darlin' was formed by Brancowitz with Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, later Daft Punk. They took the name Phoenix in 1997, self-released the 500-copy single "Party Time" and "City Lights", signed to Source and Virgin, toured with Air in 1998 and released "Heatwave" in 1999. The line-up has never changed, with Thomas Hedlund the session drummer since 2005 and Robin Coudert on keyboards live.

United (June 12, 2000), Alphabetical (March 22, 2004), It's Never Been Like That (May 15, 2006, recorded in Berlin) and Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (May 25, 2009) followed. They played Saturday Night Live on April 4, 2009, reportedly the first French band as SNL's musical guest, and Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix won the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album on January 31, 2010. On October 20, 2010 they played Madison Square Garden, with Daft Punk joining for a final encore of "1901", "Together", "Human After All" and "Rock'n Roll". Bankrupt! (April 22, 2013) debuted at 4 on the Billboard 200, then Ti Amo (June 9, 2017) and Alpha Zulu (November 4, 2022), recorded in 2020 at the Musee des Arts decoratifs in the Louvre and inspired by Philippe Zdar. Liberte, Egalite, Phoenix!, an oral history with Laura Snapes, appeared from Rizzoli on October 15, 2019.

On August 11, 2024 they played the Paris Olympics closing ceremony at the Stade de France, with Kavinsky and Angele on "Nightcall", Air on "Playground Love" and Ezra Koenig on "Tonight", closing with "1901". A 2025 single, "UFO", came out on September 23, 2025.