David Guetta Biography

France's David Guetta belongs to the sparkling wave of DJs that combine Daft Punk's sleek house with a pinch of electroclash's punch. Guetta had been DJing around France playing popular tunes, but his brain was particularly rewired in 1987 when he heard a Farley Jackmaster Funk track on French radio. He taped the track, took it to a gig, and cleared the floor with it during one of his own sets. Things loosened up a year later when acid house came to France and Guetta successfully promoted his own club nights. It was on one of those nights in 1992 that he met Robert Owens during the Chicago house legend's European tour. Guetta played Owens some of his own tracks and Owens picked one he liked enough to sing over. It was "Up and Away," a minor hit that lurked in garage DJ crates for the next four years.

Guetta's attitude that he only produces good music while he's having casual fun kept him from releasing anything until 2001's "Just a Little More Love." The track featured American gospel singer Chris Willis, who met Guetta while on vacation in France. Another slow burner, "Just a Little More Love," kept popping up in sets for the next two years, first in an electro version, later in a pumped-up Wally Lopez remix. During this time Guetta snuck out a bootleg remix of David Bowie's "Heroes," retitled "Just for One Day." Bowie gave the go-ahead to release the track officially and Guetta had a massive hit on his hands. Guetta featured the liberated boot on his first mix CD, Fuck Me I'm Famous, named after Guetta's successful Ibiza-based party. The fun-loving slacker DJ finally got around to releasing a collection of his own productions in 2004, Just a Little More Love on Astralwerks. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide