Daft Punk Split-Up: End One Of The Era's Dancefloor Acts

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Electronic music stars Daft Punk have split up, their publicist confirmed on Monday, ending one of the era’s defining dancefloor acts.
The French duo released a video titled “Epilogue” excerpted from their 2006 film “Electroma”, in which one of the robot duo is blown up in the desert, followed by a cutaway reading “1993-2021”.

Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement; they also had success in the years following, combining elements of house music with funk, techno, disco, rock and synthpop. They are one of the most influential acts in dance music history. Daft Punk wore ornate helmets and gloves to assume robot personas in most public appearances since 1999 and rarely granted interviews or appeared on television. They were managed from 1996 to 2008 by Pedro Winter (also known as Busy P), the head of Ed Banger Records.

#DaftPunk Epilogue pic.twitter.com/ZDqAOkbQOB
— Daft Punk Unchained (@DaftPunkUnchd) February 22, 2021

Their publicist, Kathryn Frazier, confirmed the news to AFP by email, without giving any reason for the split.

The reclusive pair – real names Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo – shunned publicity and were almost never spotted without their iconic robot helmets.

Early singles “Da Funk” and “Around the World” quickly became club fixtures, and led to massive success for their debut album “Homework” in 1997.

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They followed up with the even more successful “Discovery” in 2001, which spawned the hits “One More Time” and “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”.

Their 2013 single “Get Lucky”, featuring Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers was their biggest hit of all, selling millions of copies around the world and winning them two Grammys, which came with two more for the album “Random Access Memories”.

Their success did not lead to the much hoped-for return to live touring, which they largely stopped after a legendary series of shows through 2006 and 2007.

Their appearance at the Grammy Awards show in 2014 was their last public appearance for three years, before they showed up for the same ceremony in 2017 alongside The Weeknd, after collaborating with him on his most recent album.

There was a very rare insight into the duo’s career in 2015, when they gave approval for a BBC documentary, which recounted their false start as Parisian youngsters in a 1992 rock band Darlin’.