Antoine Becks

Antoine Becks
Background information
Birth name Antoine Marcel Toupin
Born 28 June 1981
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Genres Alternative, electronic, dance, house, synthpop, new wave
Occupation(s) Musician, DJ, composer, singer, songwriter, producer, ex child actor
Years active 1999 - present
Labels Vandit, System, Mute, Ultra, Transmission, Mad Decent, Radikal
Associated acts Second Sun, CB7, Shannon Leto & Antoine Becks
Website antoinebecks.com

Antoine Becks (born Antoine Mercel Toupin; 28 June 1981) is a Canadian-American Ex-child actor, musician, DJ, former singer of the live act duo Second Sun, and frontman of the alternative band CB7.

Early life

Antoine was born in Montreal, but lived in the United States in his first year of life. He is French Canadian on his father's side and American on his mother's side. His parents are both artists, which is why they've supported his desire to be a musician since the beginning.[1] In an interview during one of his visits to Kiev he told the story of, "When I was 5 years old, I was obsessed with The Beatles. I made myself a cardboard guitar, sat everyone around and pretended that I was one of The Beatles. I had my first real guitar at the age of 7. I sang and played, and I never stopped",.[2] At 8 years old, besides the guitar, he already played bass, drums and the piano.

As a teenager, Antoine played in many garage bands but he left them eventually. Being a fan of raves,[3] he used things like Nintendo gloves and pants from the bubble polyethylen,[4] and went to the clubs, whose music he always felt in his heart.[5]

Career

Acting

At 12 years old Antoine started to on a Canadian soap show called Le Retour & a teen drama called ZAP and a cameo appearance in the Canadian court show Les grands procès[6] At the age of 20 after he got his first record deal with Vandit records; Antoine gave up acting to focus on his live act Second Sun

Second Sun

Adam White (L) & Antoine Becks (R) as the live act Second sun

In early 2000, Antoine met Adam White, who worked at a music store at the time. "I came in the store to buy something and it all ended up with me asking Adam to join me.", he recalls. They later became known as Second Sun.

The early hits of the band were not successful because they were not familiar with the equipment used for dance music. After 6 months of trying to create one good track, Antoine gave a CD to Paul Van Dyk, asking him what he thought about it. A week later, Paul offered to sign them on Vandit Records and they took the chance. From then on, the requests for Second Sun shows went off the scale.[7]

Their debut album "Inside Out" was expected to be trance, but the duet surprised everyone with a variety of sounds and acoustic instruments. "We love the airy feeling of trance music, but at the same time we want to add more dance bits to our music", said Antoine, and it was ultimately reflected in their single "Doing It Well" with Paul Harris of Dirty Vegas.[8]

Later the duet worked with Ultra Records, and then System records. In late 2010, Antoine posted on his official Facebook that Second Sun would no longer be making music due to wanting to pursue his upcoming band, CB7.

Official group members:

Albums:

Inside Out - 19 April 2005


Tracks:

Uncovered EP - 21 February 2006


Tracks:

The lost weekend - 31 August 2010 Tracks:

Sun king EP - 22 March 2011 Tracks:

Singles:

CB7

CB7 started with the meeting of Antoine and Shannon Leto, drummer of the popular US band 30 Seconds To Mars. They met at a party in Miami at the end of 2009, when Antoine played there under the name Mr. Becks.[9]

In the spring of 2010, Shannon mentioned CB7 for the first time in an interview:[10]

Finally, I can share it with all of you. This is what I've been working at for several years... It's CB7.

.

Together with his cousin and drummer Matt Becks, bass player Noah Luger and guitarist Adam White,[11] who was also the member of Second Sun, the band released 4 demo-tracks and toured as the opening band for 30 Seconds To Mars in the North American leg of their "Closer to the Edge" tour.

In January 2011, Antoine announced that the current group members were his cousin Matt and himself. Later Chelsea Davis, Frankie Sizr and Jamie Reed joined the group, after meeting them in L.A. and Montreal through friends, as live members. Chelsea has her own band called Annabelle vs the Villain and Jamie is a friend of Jared Leto, Shannon's younger brother and singer of 30 Seconds To Mars. After Shannon and Antoine broke up their live act, Shannon said via Twitter he will no longer manage CB7. On 15 March 2014 Antoine stated on he will no longer pursue working on CB7 due to him working on his own solo music. All song that was created under "CB7" will be featured on his solo album that is coming out in the near future.

Former group members:

Singles:

Shannon Leto & Antoine Becks

Antoine Becks (L) & Shannon Leto (R)

The duo Shannon Leto & Antoine Becks (sometimes SLetoABecks) was created in 2011, originally as an after-party for a 30 Seconds To Mars project. However it charmed the world's dance stages, and the duet became independent and traveled all over the world.[12]

According to Shannon and Antoine, their project is "when two artists get together to wreak havoc in the night clubs all over the world".

In the summer of 2012 the official website, YouTube and Twitter were removed; this lead the fans of the group to believe they broke up. Antoine later stated on Twitter he was still good friends with Shannon, and Shannon later tweeted that he is no longer doing music or shows with Antoine.

Official project members:

DJ Antoine Becks

Antoine DJing

Besides being a member of Second Sun, Antoine was playing in the clubs all over the world on his own under the name Mr. Becks. He worked with Cedric Gervais, Paul Harris, Paul Van Dyk and others. During the "SLetoAbecks" tour in Europe, Antoine changed his stage name to Antoine Becks, and kept using it. Presently, Antoine recorded the single "Life of the Wild", which was released 28 January 2013 on Beatport,[13] and on iTunes[14] 17 February 2013.

Just a week after the release, "Life of the Wild" took the 22nd place in the dance chart on TwitMusic.[15]

Mixes:

Singles:

Other Facts

References

  1. ↑ .CB7 Interview
  2. ↑ .Interview in Kiev
  3. ↑ .Shannon Leto & Antoine Becks interview (Talk To Me. 1.)
  4. ↑ .Second Sun: Interview/Recap
  5. ↑ .Interview for Rolling Stone Russia
  6. ↑
  7. ↑ .Antoine Becks Rocks Loss Angeless
  8. ↑ .Second Sun Interview
  9. ↑ .Shannon Leto & Antoine Becks Interview for Bacardi Russia
  10. ↑ .On the Verge featuring Thirty Seconds to Mars
  11. ↑ .Interview with CB7
  12. ↑ .Shannon & Antoine on Ukrainian TV
  13. ↑ .Life of the Wild by Antoine Becks on Beatport
  14. ↑ .Life of the Wild by Antoine Becks on iTunes
  15. ↑ ."Life of the Wild" is #22 on the Twitmusic dance charts!
  16. ↑ .Fun facts by Antoine

External links