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The French DJ/producer Joachim Garraud has a career which spans more than two decades, from his pioneering DJ sets at Boy Club in Paris in 1989, through to performing with French icon Jean-Michel Jarre in front of an unimaginable 2.4 billion television watchers on New Year’s Eve 1999 in Cairo, up to more recently becoming the first French DJ to play at Berlin’s Love Parade in front of over a million people.

Garraud’s studio pedigree is equally impressive, having remixed and produced artists such as the aforementioned Jean-Michel Jarre, David Bowie, Kylie Minogue, Cassius, Moby and many more. Perhaps most relevant here is his work his F*ck Me I’m Famous co-founder on albums, producing and writing songs.

Continuing the flow of ideas, Garraud created his own ‘Space Invaders’ community for first solo album ‘Invasion’, which allowed each fan to create their own CD and artwork making a unique, personal collector’s item.

A brand-new ‘Invasion 2011′ album will be coming next year,” along with an exciting new live audio-video show. As he has recently signed a deal with Unlimited Productions, (producers of Tiësto and Ferry Corsten’s shows), Garraud’s ideas should not be lacking in opportunities to come to fruition.

Bio

Born in Nantes on the 27th September 1968, Joachim Garraud was classically trained before deciding to turn to his now passion, electronic music.

It was at the Boy club in Paris in 1989, that Joachim first began to DJ. His success at the Boy led him to immerse himself in the universe of writing and production at the heart of radio Maxximum, France’s first national radio entirely devoted to dance. Later on, he featured in the first rave in Moscow, known as the Youri Gagarine Party which brought over 300,000 people together in 1991. Inspired by this, Joachim became DJ at Paris’ infamous Queen club between 1993 and 1997.

But whilst club shows were still a thrill for Joachim, he strived for the feeling he got when playing in front of huge crowds. In 1999, he got the opportunity to relive this feeling once again by playing in front of a massive 2.4 billion television watchers on New Years Eve in Cairo with French icon, Jean-Michel Jarre for his show entitled “Metamorphoses”. This work propelled him to become a digital pioneer and create along with Jean-Charles Carre, his own recording studio in the heart of Paris which allowed him to remix, arrange and produce artists such as David Guetta, Jean-Michel Jarre, Paul Johnson, Deep Dish, David Bowie, OMD, Kylie Minogue, Mylene Farmer, Cassius, Ceronne, Moby, Robbie Rivera and many more. He also created in 2000, the label Gumprod, in association with David Guetta and Jean-Charles Carre.

More than a simple DJ and producer, Joachim developed a brand new concept which fused the DJ world with live musical improvisation, creating a genuine show, which was an instant success and attracted attention from all four corners of the globe. This was further enhanced when he created a community which he named, Space Invaders. Yet whilst live shows were gaining a strongly loyal fanbase for Joachim, his production was also gaining him a good deal of attention when in 2001, he co- wrote and co-produced David Guetta’s “Just a little more love” album, which featured the number one hit “Love, don’t let me go”, staying at 12 weeks at the top of the charts and selling over 500,000 copies in France alone.

2004 and 2005 were busy years for Joachim respectively. He co-produced David Guetta’s The World is Mine. This all led to the creation of the F*** me i’m Famous record label along with David. 2005 saw him release “Summer Moon”, a collaborative project with Tim Deluxe, Bob Sinclar and David Guetta. The year was capped off with a double gold disc for his work on Guetta Blaster which was a great success and sold over 200,000 copies in France. By now, honors and attention were on Joachim, proven by his 2006 Grammy nomination with David Guetta, for the best remix of the year. His own Zemixx podcasts and live videos then became ranked 1st and 2nd position in the iTunes Podcast chart in France. The end of 2006 saw Joachim become the first ever French DJ to play at Berlin’s Love Parade in front of over 1 million people.

In the last three years, Joachim has been busy, firstly being named as godfather of Paris’ Technoparade. He later won the “Trophee de la Nuit” in 2007 for Best French DJ, as well as being crowned Best Electro House DJ by Burn FG DJ Awards. The following year, Cathy Guetta invited him to take part in the Unighted show at the Stade de France in front of 45,000 people and featuring 4 of his peers, Carl Cox, Tiesto, Guetta and Martin Solveig.

Later in 2008, Joachim comes up with another groundbreaking concept when he launches his first solo album entitled “Invasion”. Instead of following tradition, Joachim allows each fan to create their own CD and artwork, meaning that each CD is unique and a collectors item.
This is followed up by The Box Invasion which is limited to 2000 copies and sold exclusively through Virgin Megastores and features 8 CDs and 2 DVDs; Joachim does a live session in Virgin’s Champs Elysees store to launch the product. Fans and media alike can only respect both his work ethic and visionary movement, which ends up being rewarded by a 27th placed position in DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJ’s.

2009 saw Joachim receive the Best French Producer accolade from Only for DJ’s magazine. Other notable mentions include the release of Toolroom Knights, a double CD on the prestigious English label, as well as launching his own iPhone application and producing remixes for the likes of Tocadisco, Felix Da Housecat, Robbie Rivera and Basement Jaxx. He also shot a video to his track “Wrecking Ball” in New York and announced the first Inox Park festival in Paris which will take place on the 3rd July 2010 in Chatou. Further to this, the compilation “ClubFG Zemixx” was launched with glaring success at Paris’ Queen club.

2010 sees Joachim come in 3rd position in Radio FG’s Top World DJ’s ranking as well as putting pen to paper and signing a deal with Unlimited Productions, producers of Tiesto and Ferry Corsten, taking his Space Invaders themed show to new heights and infinitely pushing the boundaries.

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