Daft Punk are an electronic music duo consisting of French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (born February 8, 1974) and Thomas Bangalter (born January 3, 1975).[1][2][3] Daft Punk reached significant popularity in the late 1990s house movement in France and met with continued success in the years following, combining elements of house with synthpop.[1][2][4] The duo is also credited with producing songs that are considered essential in the French house scene. They were managed from 1996 to 2008 by Pedro Winter (Busy P), the head of Ed Banger Records.[5]

Early in the group's career, the band members were strongly influenced by groups such as The Beach Boys and The Rolling Stones. Bangalter and de Homem-Christo were originally in a band called Darlin', which disbanded after a short period of time, leaving the two to experiment musically on their own. The duo became Daft Punk, and released their critically acclaimed debut album Homework in 1997. The 2001 release Discovery was even more successful, driven by the club singles "One More Time", "Digital Love" and "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". In March 2005, the duo released the album Human After All to mixed reviews. However, the singles "Robot Rock" and "Technologic" achieved success in the United Kingdom. Daft Punk toured throughout 2006 and 2007 and released the live album Alive 2007, which won a Grammy award for Best Electronic/Dance Album. The duo composed the score of the film Tron: Legacy and in 2010 released the soundtrack album of the film.

Daft Punk is noted for its elaborate live shows, in which visual elements and effects are incorporated with the music. The group is also known for its emphasis on visual and story components associated with their musical productions, as well as for wearing ornate robot costumes in public and while performing.

Daft Punk
Daft Punk performing at Wireless Festival 2007. From left: Thomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo
Background information
Origin	Paris, Île-de-France, France
Genres	House
Years active	1993–present
Labels	Soma, Virgin
Associated acts	Darlin' Phoenix Stardust Together Le Knight Club Crydajam
Website	daftalive.com daftpunk.com
Members
Thomas Bangalter Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo

Early years (1987–1993) :

Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo met in 1987 while attending the Lycée Carnot, a secondary school in Paris.[3][6] The two became good friends and later recorded demo tracks with others from the school. This eventually led to the formation of the guitar-based group called Darlin' with Laurent Brancowitz in 1992.[7] Bangalter and de Homem-Christo played bass and guitar, respectively, while Brancowitz performed on drums.[8] The trio had branded themselves after The Beach Boys song of the same name, which they covered along with an original composition.[9] Stereolab released both tracks on a multi-artist Duophonic Records EP and invited the band to open for stage shows in the United Kingdom.[9][10] Bangalter felt that "The rock n' roll thing we did was pretty average, I think. It was so brief, maybe six months, four songs and two gigs and that was it."[11] A negative review in Melody Maker subsequently dubbed the music "a bunch of daft punk." Instead of dismissing the review, they found it amusing.[6] As de Homem-Christo stated, "We struggled so long to find [the name] Darlin', and this happened so quickly."[12] Darlin' soon disbanded, leaving Brancowitz to pursue other efforts with Phoenix.[7] Bangalter and de Homem-Christo formed Daft Punk and experimented with drum machines and synthesizers.