St. Germain

Vinyl Discography:

Biography:

At the age of fifteen, Ludovic Navarre ended his athletic ambitions in sailing and windsurfing after an accident. He then devoted himself to music, and in particular to computer composition. Passionate about electronic music, such as Detroit techno and electro, he is also interested in soul, jazz, and hip-hop. He played at St Germain alongside DJ Roger Sanchez, Little Louie Vega, Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez, and others.

He began a career as a DJ in Parisian clubs and then focused on composing with his friend Guy Rabiller in their home studio in Chatou. They signed with a young label very interested in electronic music, Atom, and then with Fnac. He debuted in 1995 with "Boulevard (The Complete Series)." It was an album of new house sounds combined with traditional jazz and blues that became a mainstay of the French house scene. In 1999, he released "From Detroit to St Germain," an album compilation of his EPs, released under various pseudonyms.

In 2000, he released his biggest success, Tourist, on Blue Note Records, for which the tracks were written, produced, and mixed by St. Germain himself. For this album, the French producer recruited six musicians to play on his syncopated music, and AllMusic described it as "an excellent step toward the perfect blend of jazz and electronica." "Rose Rouge," the album's first track, which sampled Marlena Shaw's extraordinary voice, was chosen by The Rolling Stones as their pre-show theme song.

Thanks to the incredible success of Tourist, St. Germain embarked on a two-year tour, at the end of which the artist took a break from recording, explaining to The Independent: "I had to take a break from music. I realized I didn't want to make something famous like Tourist."

It wasn't until 2015 that he re-emerged into the spotlight with the eponymous album "St. Germain." The album was the product of a long journey through Nigeria, Ghana, and Mali, during which St. Germain encountered traditional African instruments like the n'goni and the kora, which, thanks to local musicians, he decided to incorporate into the elegant and refined sound of the recordings.

In 2021, for the 26th anniversary of Tourist, he selected iconic DJs like JoVonn and Ron Trent to re-arrange their favorite tracks from the album. He chose "So Flute" for himself, which he re-released in amapian key (a style of house music from South Africa). This new version of the record, titled "Tourist 20th Anniversary Travel Versions," encompassed all the musical influences that emerged and developed in the first two decades of the 2000s, which St. Germain and his guests encountered during their musical travels around the world.