Sébastien Tellier
The French singer and producer whose 2004 album Politics holds "La Ritournelle", a seven-minute single with Tony Allen on drums.
Record Makers and Air
Sébastien Tellier, born on February 22, 1975, is a French singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, active since 2001, who sings in French, English, Spanish, German and Italian. His father, Alain Tellier, was reportedly a rhythm guitarist linked to the band Magma. English Wikipedia places his birth in Le Plessis-Bouchard, Val-d'Oise, while his label's biography says Paris, so we give neither. Air's Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel noticed his recordings around 1999, he toured with them in 2001 (the label's biography says the following year), and signed to Record Makers, the label co-founded by Air. His influences include Serge Gainsbourg, François de Roubaix, Salvador Dalí, Lucio Battisti and Stevie Wonder.
L'incroyable Vérité came out on June 12, 2001, and "Fantino" was used in Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation (2003). Politics (January 31, 2004) followed, and in 2004 he scored the film Narco. Sessions (January 20, 2006), an acoustic album, was repackaged in the UK as Universe. In 2007 he co-composed the Steak soundtrack with Mr. Oizo and SebastiAn and acted in the film.
Sexuality and after
Sexuality (February 25, 2008) was produced by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk. On May 24, 2008 he represented France at the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade with "Divine", sung entirely in English apart from a few French words added for the final after controversy; France finished 19th of 25 with 47 points by the English Wikipedia page, 18th tied with Sweden by the French one. My God Is Blue (April 23, 2012), Confection (October 2013), L'Aventura (July 2014, in French), Domesticated (2020) and Kiss the Beast (January 30, 2026, Because Music) followed.
He performed a medley at Karl Lagerfeld's Chanel Haute Couture show at the Grand Palais in spring 2014 and was named a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in April 2025. His collaborations include backing vocals on Kavinsky's "Nightcall", Caroline Polachek, Jean-Michel Jarre's "Gisele" (2016), MGMT's "When You Die" (2018), Christophe and Nile Rodgers. Setlist.fm lists 226 setlists.
Albums
- Politics 2004 · Record Makers
His second album: eleven tracks in English, German and Spanish, mixed by Philippe Zdar, with Tony Allen on drums.
Songs
- La Ritournelle Politics · 2004
Tellier's seven-minute single with Tony Allen on drums, later sampled by the Weeknd and played at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
Sources
- Sébastien Tellier, Wikipedia
- Sébastien Tellier, Wikipedia
- Politics (Sébastien Tellier album), Wikipedia
- Sébastien Tellier: Politics, Tiny Mix Tapes