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Biography

Jean-Michel Jarre is one of the most important and influencing

musicians in contemporary music, who has settled the background for

today's Electronica scene.

Jean-Michel André Jarre (his full name) was born on August 28th,

1948 in Lyon, France. His father, Maurice Jarre, is a musician well

known by his work in movies sountracks (Ghost, A Walk in the clouds,

Lawrence of Arabia, Ghost, Dead Poets Society among others).

However, his father wasn't an influence in his work because their parents

got separated when Jean-Michel Jarre was still very young (Maurice

Jarre went to the United States to continue his career), but his mother

took care of him and he started his piano lessons when he was 5 years

old.

Jean-Michel studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Jeannine Rueff,

where he gets the classical grounds. Somewhere around this time, he

forms 2 bands, finishes his thesis, leaves the conservatoire, and gets

in touch with the man that changes his way of making

music: Pierre Shaeffer

In 1968, Pierre Shaeffer was the director of the Group de Recherches

Musicales¹. Jean-Michel Jarre

is accepted in the Group and learns about electroacustic music.

From this moment to 1975 he became a prolific and experimental

musician, writing music for jingles, commercials, soundtracks,

ballet... you name it.

But then it came 1976, the year in which Jean-Michel Jarre turned

his dining room into a homemade studio, and using analogue synthesizers

and an 8 track recorder, made a 6 movements masterpiece:

Oxygene². This album changes the way electronic music was perceived around the world, since in those days synthesizers where

considered only experimentation toys and not musical instruments.

Oxygene was a great success all around the world. After it, it came

Equinoxe, an album following the same line, exploring sound

landscapes, filled with swirling layers of sounds.

The Mega Concerts Era

After the success of his first two big albums, Jarre began to explore and work with visual art and was interested in combining music, visual and space in one form of expression. He found the answer: a concert. But instead of going with the typical concert tour around the world, he wanted to stage a massive show on a big open space, so that everybody could watch, hear and be part of the event.

Jean-Michel began the planning and preparations for the concert. The place choosen for it was the 'Place De La Concorde' in Paris, and it was scheduled for the Bastille Day³, July 14th, 1979. After months of planning, over one million people gathered on and around the Place De La Concorde, enjoying a huge display of Jarre's music, lasers, fireworks and light.

A Brief Discography⁴

• 1970 - La Cage/ErosMachine
• 1972 - Deserted Palace
• 1973 - Les Granges Brulees
• 1976 - Oxygene
• 1978 - Equinoxe
• 1981 - Magnetic Fields
• 1982 - The Concerts in China
• 1983 - Music for Supermarkets
• 1984 - Zoolook
• 1986 - Rendez-Vous
• 1987 - Cities in Concert
• 1988 - Revolutions
• 1989 - Destination Docklands
• 1990 - Waiting for Cousteau
• 1991 - Images (1st edition)
• 1993 - Chronologie
• 1995 - Hong Kong
• 1995 - Jarremix
• 1997 - Oxygene 7-13
• 1997 - Complete Oxygene
• 1997 - Images (2nd edition)⁵
• 1998 - Odyssey Through O₂
• 2000 - Metamorphoses