Daniel Vangarde

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Daniel Vangarde, born Daniel Bangalter in 1947,^[1] is a French songwriter and producer. He is the father of music composer Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk.

[edit] History

In the early 1970s Vangarde worked with French singers, husband and wife Ringo (real name Guy Bayle) and Sheila (later known as Sheila B. Devotion), as well as releasing some records under his own name in France.^[2] On many of these and later records he worked with fellow writer and producer Jean Kluger.

In 1971 Vangarde and Kluger released the cult LP Le Monde Fabuleux Des Yamasuki, a pseudo-Japanese concept album of pop songs, described on the sleeve of its CD reissue as "a fuzzed-out-educational-multi-cultural psych-rock-opera.... proto-psychedelic hip-hop with overweight drum beats and basslines", which much later became a highly sought-after source of bass and drum breaks. The song "Aieaoa" on the album was later recorded, as "Aie a Mwana", first by Black Blood and then by Bananarama, becoming the first UK hit for the latter group.

Vangarde's main international successes came later in the 1970s, as writer and producer with Ottawan ("D.I.S.C.O.") and the Gibson Brothers ("Cuba"). He also worked extensively with the Antillean group La Compagnie Créole, popular in France in the 1980s.

In recent years Vangarde has led a campaign to ensure that descendants of Jewish artists in France, whose rights were taken from them in the Second World War, receive financial compensation.^[3]

Vangarde is the father of Thomas Bangalter, who is best known as a member of the electronic music duo Daft Punk. He is credited with aiding the duo in their early musical career.^[4]