Sinclair (singer)

Mathieu Blanc-Francard, stage name Sinclair (born 19 July 1970), is a French musician and singer-songwriter.

Sinclair
Birth nameMathieu Blanc-Francard
Born (1970-07-19) 19 July 1970
Tours, France
GenresFunk
Occupation(s)Musician, singer-songwriter
Years active1993–present
LabelsEMI, Warner

Early life

Born in 1970 at Tours as son of Dominique Blanc-Francard and brother of Hubert Blanc-Francard (alias Boom Bass), Mathieu Blanc-Francard grew up in Paris and went to school at the lycée Janson-de-Sailly. He became interested in music as a teenager and missed his baccalauréat. He briefly worked in a recording studio as an assistant sound engineer and learned the guitar.[1][2] At this time he formed his first band and chose his stage name.[3]

Career

Musical career

Sinclair's first album, Que justice soit faite ("Let justice be done"), was released in 1993 and recorded with his brother's help. In the recording he played all the instruments except the drums.[1] The album sold 100,000 copies and was certified as a "golden disc".[3] Sinclair gave a hundred concerts to publicise this album, including a performance at the New Morning nightclub in May 1993.[1] For his second album, Au mépris du danger ("In defiance of danger"), musicians including Matthieu Chedid and Fixi of the group Java formed his group "Système Sinclair". His third album, La Bonne attitude ("The Good attitude"), on which he invited Manu Katché, sold 200,000 copies.[4] Sinclair composed, arranged and produced his fourth album, Supernova Superstar, which came out in 2001.[1][5]

In 2002, Sinclair composed the soundtrack for the film Mon Idole, directed by Guillaume Canet.[6] In 2004 he released a new album Comme je suis 1992–2004 with title song Comme je suis ("As I am") and a compilation of his most successful songs. His sixth studio album, Morphologique ("Morphology"), was published in October 2006 by his own label, Mini Strong.[1][7] In 2008 he directed (together with David Dahan) the music for a television series, Duval et Moretti.[1] In early 2011, Sinclair signed a contract with Warner Music Group which released an eponymous album in May of that year. A single, Ça tourne dans ma tête ("It runs in my head"), preceded the release of the album.

Other activities

Sinclair was on the jury for seasons 6 and 7 of the TV series Nouvelle Star (broadcast by M6) alongside the composer, arranger and pianist André Manoukian, the journalist Philippe Manœuvre and the singer Lio. In autumn 2009 he announced his intention to withdraw, being dissatisfied with the musical standard of the 2008–09 season.[8] However, in season 9 of Nouvelle Star, starting in December 2012, he returned to the jury with Manoukian, Maurane and Olivier Bas. In 2013 he produced an album Premières rencontres ("First meeting") for the singer Sophie-Tith Charvet, winner of season 9.

Filmography
Year Title Director Notes
2002 Whatever You Say Guillaume Canet
2004 Narco Tristan Aurouet & Gilles Lellouche
Du bois pour l'hiver Olivier Jahan Short
2005 Love Is in the Air Rémi Bezançon
2007 Santa Closed Douglas Attal Short
2008 The First Day of the Rest of Your Life Rémi Bezançon (2) Nominated – César Award for Best Original Music
2009 Le siffleur Philippe Lefebvre
2011 A Happy Event Rémi Bezançon (3)
Flics Thierry Petit TV Series (4 Episodes)
2012 Superstar Xavier Giannoli
2017 Mes trésors Pascal Bourdiaux

Personal life

Mathieu Blanc-Francard was born into a family of professional musicians and entertainers: he is the son of sound engineer Dominique Blanc-Francard who was a member of the rock group "Les Pingouins" in the 1960s. Mathieu's brother Hubert, known as "Boom Bass", is one of the duo Cassius.

In September 2001 Mathieu Blanc-Francard married the actress Emma de Caunes. They have a daughter, Nina, born in Paris in October 2002.[9] They divorced in 2005 after eleven years together. The singer lived with the novelist Amanda Sthers from 2009 to 2012.[10]

Musical style and influences

Since his teens Sinclair has been particularly influenced by Prince, Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone.[1] · [4] He describes his discovery of the album Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder as "a revelation".[3]

Discography

Albums
  1. Que justice soit faite! (1993)
  2. Au mépris du danger (1995)
  3. La bonne attitude (1997)
  4. Supernova Superstar (2001)
  5. Mon Idole (Musiques Originales Du Film) (2002)
  6. Comme je suis (2004)
  7. Morphologique (2006)
  8. Le Siffleur (Musique Originale) (2009)
  9. Sinclair (2011)

Live albums
  1. Live (1999)
  2. Live 2002 (2002)

Compilations
  1. Comme je suis 1992–2004 (2004)
  2. Best of (2008)

Awards

In 1995 Sinclair received an award in the Victoires de la Musique in the category "Newcomer group of the year".[1] In 2002 his album Supernova Superstar won a Victoires award.[11] The singer received a César Award in 2009 for the soundtrack of the film Le Premier Jour du reste de ta vie ("The First Day of the Rest of Your Life").

Bibliography
  • Sermet, Vincent (2008). Les musiques soul et funk: la France qui groove des années 1960 à nos jours. Logiques sociales (in French) (Éditions L'Harmattan ed.). L'Harmattan. pp. 153–155. ISBN 9782296058545.

References
  1. "Biographie de Sinclair". RFI. June 2011.
  2. Matthias Gurtler (2004). "Biographie de Sinclair". VSD. Archived from the original on 21 March 2015.
  3. Serge Loupien (26 November 1998). "Sinclair est net". Libération.
  4. Vincent Sermet, p. 154
  5. Laurence Romance (3 April 2002). "Sinclair interstellaire". Libération.
  6. "Sinclair : Chanteur français". Evene.fr.
  7. Anne-Lise Carlo (2 March 2007). "La nouvelle morphologie de Sinclair". L'Humanité.
  8. "Sinclair: "J'arrête Nouvelle Star"". Le Parisien. 9 October 2009.
  9. Judith Perrignon (23 August 2003). "Les enfants paisibles". Libération.
  10. Raphaëlle Leyris (23 January 2011). "Amanda Sthers & Sinclair au risque de l'amour". Paris Match.
  11. Vincent Sermet, p. 155
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