| Modjo | |
|---|---|
| Origin | France |
| Genres | French house, nu-disco |
| Years active | 1998–2002 |
| Labels | Barclay/Universal Records |
| Website | Modjo Official Website |
| Members | |
| Romain Tranchart Yann Destagnol |
|
Modjo was a French house/pop musical duo made up of producer Romain Tranchart and vocalist Yann Destagnol (aka Yann Destal). It had major success with its hit single "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)".
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Romain Tranchart (born on June 9, 1976, in Paris) first moved with his family to Mexico and Algeria, to finally live in Brazil. This is where he started learning the guitar, finding inspiration through jazz classics. He was also exposed to Bossa Nova but chose another direction, playing in a rock band called Seven Tracks once back in Paris. After a few gigs in Parisian clubs La Loco and Le Grand Rex, the band split.
At that time, he became a fan of house music, influenced by DJ Sneak, Ian Pooley, and Daft Punk. He released his first house single as Funk Legacy titled "What You're Gonna Do, Baby" on Vertigo Records in 1998. Later, he decided to enter the American School of Modern Music in Paris, the French division of the Berklee School of Music.
Also Parisian, Yann learned to play flute and clarinet when he was a small child. As he aged he became deeply influenced by The Beatles, The Beach Boys, David Bowie and other pop acts. He started to play drums by emulating them. He also learned to play the piano and the guitar. He later bought himself a four track recording machine and started songwriting and singing. Fascinated more by voices than by charismatic band leaders, he liked bands such as Aerosmith, The Police and Queen and lately became a great fan of R&B divas.
After being a drummer and sometimes-vocalist in a few bands, he met Romain in 1998, and the partnership was born. The two quickly began recording, and from those sessions came "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)". The single got recognition later on in 2000. It's a "French-flavour" house track with heavy pop and disco influences, which featured a sample from Chic's "Soup For One". The track became an instant number-one across Europe, and was followed up by other singles Chillin', What I Mean and No More Tears. With this last single, they started calling themselves Modjo Band.
After "No More Tears", they started their respective solo careers, with Romain Tranchart remixing songs from various artist like Res ("Golden Boys"), Shaggy ("Sexy Lady"), Mylène Farmer ("California") and post producing the likes of Everynote's "Once Upon a Time." Yann Destal's released a very Queen-esque album, titled The Great Blue Scar, reaching some success in France.
| Released | Album | UK | U.S. | AUS | NZ | GER |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Modjo | — | — | — | — | 30 |
| Released | Single | Album | UK[1] | U.S. | AUS | NZ | GER |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" | 1 | 81 | 10 | 8 | 2 | |
| "Chillin'" | 12 | — | 35 | — | 38 | ||
| 2001 | "What I Mean" | 59 | — | — | — | 67 | |
| 2002 | "No More Tears" | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "On Fire" | — | — | — | — | — |
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