David Guetta

From his early days playing Chicago house in French discotheques to his long reign atop the pop charts, David Guetta has revolutionised dance music multiple times. Born in Paris in 1967, he began DJing in the late ’80s, when the shimmery sound known as the French touch was taking shape. By the early 2000s, at his F*** Me I’m Famous parties in Ibiza, he had translated that melodic style into a clever merger of pop sass and club swagger. He parlayed that mix into pure platinum with hits like 2002’s “Just a Little More Love”—a sultry bump-and-grind featuring R&B singer Chris Willis—and 2003’s “Just for One Day”, an energy-stoking rework of David Bowie’s “Heroes”. Along with a knack for killer hooks, that versatility would become one of Guetta’s principal calling cards. As EDM exploded across pop culture at the end of the 2000s, his shape-shifting style led the way, yielding ecstatic affirmations (“When Love Takes Over”, featuring Kelly Rowland), feisty come-ons (“Sexy Bitch”, guest-starring Akon) and unstoppable sing-alongs (Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling”, which he produced). Since then, his collaborations with the likes of Nicki Minaj, Rihanna and Justin Bieber have kept listeners guessing even as his choruses—as triumphant as a bottle of bubbly blowing its top—have proven one of pop’s most dependable pleasures. He has always thrived when working with the chandelier-shaking voice of Australian pop star Sia, scoring a long run of hits that includes 2018’s simmering ballad “Flames”. As a highly selective hired gun, meanwhile, his exploits include elevating Céline Dion’s peerless voice to new heights on 2019’s “Lying Down”, a bold co-write with Sia and co-producer Giorgio Tuinfort. And if you think his long-cemented superstar status would keep him from accepting new remix assignments, think again: Guetta continues to dramatically reshape such fellow heavy-hitters as U2, Megan Thee Stallion, Coldplay and BTS.