Bob Sinclar Tells All: The Stories Behind His Hit Records

The French DJ and producer breaks down his catalog, from disco to dancehall.

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Complex Original

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With over 27 albums under his belt, Christophe Le Friant—best known as his alter-ego Bob Sinclar—has been jetting around the globe burning up dancefloors across Europe for more than 20 years. Whether in the studios or in the clubs, Bob Sinclar has proven time and time again why he is the God of French house music, rivaled only by his colleague David Guetta.

A producer, DJ, record label owner, and—now that he's bought and re-opened Miami's Club Amnesia—nightclub impresario, Sinclar works under many names—The Mighty Bop, Africanism, Chris The French Kiss—as well as comprising one third of Yellow Production and one fourth of Reminiscence Quartet. Fourteen years after his break-out record "Gym Tonic," Sinclar’s biggest hit to date has been "Love Generation" featuring former Wailers lead singer, Gary Pine, which was chosen as the theme song for the 2006 World Cup and went to the No. 1 spot in six countries including the U.S. Dance charts.

In 2009, he realized his reggae dreams by producing Made In Jamaica with Sly & Robbie’s Taxi Gang—the same ensemble that legendary French producer Serge Gainsbourg  used on his classic Aux Armes et Cætera. Sinclar's project Made In Jamaica garnered him his second Grammy nomination. Since then he's gone on to collab with dancehall superstar Sean Paul.

Unafraid to funk with various genres in the same musical pot, Sinclar has proven that he's not some one-hit-wonder House DJ masquerading as a producer. So Complex asked him to break down the stories behind some of his biggest hits—in his own, perhaps slightly reckless words. You'll have to pardon his French.

Written by Sherman Escoffery (@JustSherman)

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Bob Sinclar "Gym Tonic" (1998)

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Salomé De Bahia "Outra Lugar" (1999)

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Bob Sinclar f/ Cerrone's Angels "I Feel For You" (2000)

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Bob Sinclar f/ Linda Lee Hopkins "The Beat Goes On" (2002)

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Bob Sinclar f/ Camille Lefort "Kiss My Eyes" (2003)

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Bob Sinclar f/ Gary Pine "Love Generation" (2005)

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Album: Western Dream
Label: Defected/Tommy Boy/Ministry of Sound Australia

Bob Sinclar: “You know I always create my music with samples, with recycling of sounds. So I heard four chords of an acoustic guitar: I’m not going to tell you the record because I didn’t clear it. [Laughs.] The original was very very slow and I created all these harmonies, all the hooks, the dun dun dun, just the bass-line, the whistling, all the little noises, the beats and everything.

"It was the first time I created an acoustic guitar instrumental so I didn’t know what to do with it. It was a problem for me—this track—because it was not disco, and it was uh… [Gestures far left with hands.]

"After that, it was a strong change in my production. Everybody told me when I released the song, when I had finished the song, ‘You cannot release the song because it’s not your style, it’s more Africanism or Afro-something.’


 

That day, Bob Marley was in the studio, I swear to God! No, I swear to God he was there.


 

“So I had this instrumental and then I came to New York to record disco stuff with different singers, but I did during two days some very shit stuff. I was really really depressed after three days of work, then Saturday at 5 pm, the last day after spending already $15,000 just on singers and I had nothing.

"Alain Wisniak knew a girl in New York who knew some singers and at 5pm she said ‘I have a Jamaican singer, maybe he can sing on a disco track.’ I had this track called called ‘Sun is Shining’ remixed by Funkstar Deluxe two years before and I had in mind to do reggae on disco.

“So he [Gary Pine] came in the studio and he started to sing on the disco track and it was not good, because his voice was not high enough. So I said OK, I have this instrumental and because I was obligated to pay him—because when you bring a singer into the studio, you have to pay him—maybe we are going to do a ballad for the other album.

"So I just had the acoustic guitar instrumentals and found two or three words then we work it out together. He wrote during one hour and in the studio he passed behind the microphone and he start to sing the first ‘Why must our children play in the street broken out on fading dreams?’ Then something happened there.

“So we worked together with Alan Wisniak and we found a melody and it has been [was] done in three hours. But that day, Bob Marley was in the studio, I swear to God! No, I swear to God he was there. Because we switched off the lights in the mix cabin and we left the light on top of him when he was singing, and he couldn’t see us.

"So we saw him and he was vibing for three hours and we couldn’t stop him. But we had only words, one verse, some words, and the hook. And that’s it. And then I re-edited everything in my studio in Paris.

“It was a good timing for me to meet this guy Gary Pine. We did two or three songs for the album, but this song was a miracle but at the same time a disaster. For the career of the singer, it’s a miracle and a disaster because it can’t any get bigger."

Bob Sinclar f/ Steve Edwards "World Hold On" (2006)

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Bob Sinclar f/ Farrell Lennon "Tennessee" (2006)

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Bob Sinclar & Cutie B. f/ Dollarman & Big Ali "Rock This Party" (2006)

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Album: Western Dream
Label: Defected/Tommy Boy/Ministry of Sound Australia

Bob Sinclar: “En Fracais we say des exercice de style. It means to take a huge sample to create a new hit. But what I love when I do that—like what I did with Sean Paul on ‘Tik Tok’—is just to bring this sample into another world. So after going to Jamaica, I met a lot of dancehall singers, I met Dollarman, Dollarman isn’t Jamaican, he is Grenadian. I met him in New York but this Jamaica vibes was around this album, Western Dream.


 

Dollarman is a good MC. I love the way he writes. Attitude-wise it’s different. This is what I regret a little bit—like, attitude man, attitude. Ego kills artists.


 

“The little story around it is that I created this rhythm around the hook ['Gonna Make You Sweat'] but I had the rhythm, I had the vocals, I had Dollarman, but I couldn’t find the right energy when the sample was coming. I had a huge energy during the verse but when the chorus was coming I had only the sample but something was missing. I met for the first time this guy call Big Ali in France, he is a MC like Fatman Scoop: he is from Brooklyn actually. And I said ‘Maybe I need him in the studio.’ He came into the studio and he found straight away the right additional hook to give more energy when the sample was coming.

“It became a huge hit. I think with less publishing rights on top of it—because [C&C] took fifty percent of the song compared to ‘Love Generation’ and ‘World Hold On,’ which are an original tracks. I get more money with this track because we did a lot of synchronization. It was a pure dance music track and they play it everywhere at football and basketball arenas, etc. Dollarman is a good MC, I love the way he writes, attitude=wise it’s different. This is what I regret a little bit—like attitude man, attitude. Ego kills artists man; it’s not videos.”

Bob Sinclar f/ Steve Edwards "Together" (2007)

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Bob Sinclar & Cutie B. f/ Gary Pine & Dollarman "Sound of Freedom" (2007)

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Bob Sinclar f/ Sugar Hill Gang "La La Song" (2009)

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Bob Sinclar f/ Shabba Ranks "Love You No More" (2009)

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Album: Born in 69
Label: Yellow Productions

Bob Sinclar: “Sometimes you have beautiful story to tell about a song but sometimes you are just in the studio and you just want to make some hits. The song was all about the Manu Chao ‘Bongo Bong’ sample, je n’etait plus mon amour.


 

Shabba Ranks now, he was a pain. He was a pain because it was the first time a singer in front of me say, ‘You have to pay me, you have to pay me and you have to pay me.” But he is a legend to me and an amazing artist.


 

"[We took] a French hook, plus reggae and add a soca beat. I always try something different; I never do something similar to someone else in my production. That is why I am going always different; It’s just about the vibe of the moment.

"Shabba Ranks now, he was a pain, he was a pain because it was the first time an  singer in front of me say, ‘You have to pay me, you have to pay me and you have to pay me.” But he is a legend to me and an amazing artist.

"He was supposed to come on the music video but he never showed up because he said, ‘If you want me to show up, I need twenty thousand dollars.’ So I don’t want in front of the camera to say what kind of words, my response was, but sorry no we don’t have that money, but maybe in the end I have to pay because that is how it works over here [in the United States].”

Bob Sinclar f/ Sean Paul "Tik Tok" (2010)

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Bob Sinclar f/ Sahara "I Wanna" (2010)

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Bob Sinclar f/ Ben Onono "Rainbow of Love" (2010)

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Bob Sinclar f/ Raffaella Carra "Far L-Amore" (2011)

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Bob Sinclar & Dragonfly f/ Pitbull & Fatman Scoop "Rock the Boat" (2012)

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Bob Sinclar f/ Sophie Ellie-Bexter & Gilbere Forte' "Fuck With You" (2012)

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