Early life, influences, and education Jean-Michel Jarre was born in
Lyon on 24 August 1948, to Francette Pejot, a
French Resistance member and
concentration camp survivor, and composer
Maurice Jarre. When Jarre was five, his parents separated and his father moved to the United States, leaving him with his mother. He did not see his father again until reaching the age of 18. From his vantage point high above the pavement, the young Jarre was able to observe
street performers at work, an experience he later cited as proving influential on his art. Jarre struggled with classical piano studies, although he later changed teachers and worked on his scales. A more general interest in musical instruments was sparked by his discovery at the
Saint-Ouen flea market, where his mother sold antiques, of a
Boris Vian trumpet violin. He often accompanied his mother to Le Chat Qui Pêche (The Fishing Cat), a Paris
jazz club run by one of her friends from her resistance years, where saxophonists
Archie Shepp and
John Coltrane, and trumpet players
Don Cherry and
Chet Baker were regular performers. These early jazz experiences suggested to him that music may be "descriptive, without lyrics". He was also influenced by the work of French artist
Pierre Soulages, whose exhibition at the
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris he attended. Soulages' paintings used multiple textured layers, and Jarre realised that "for the first time in music, you could act as a painter with frequencies and sounds." He was also influenced by classical, modernist music. In a 2004 interview for
The Guardian, he spoke of the effect that a performance of
Stravinsky's
The Rite of Spring had upon him: As a young man Jarre earned money by selling his paintings, exhibiting some of his works at the Lyon Gallery – ''L'Œil écoute'', and by playing in a band called Mystère IV. While he studied at the
Lycée Michelet, his mother arranged for him to take lessons in
harmony,
counterpoint and
fugue with Jeannine Rueff of the
Conservatoire de Paris. In the kitchen of his apartment in Rue de la Trémoille, Jarre set up a small makeshift recording studio. It included his first synthesiser, an
EMS VCS 3, and an
EMS Synthi AKS, each linked to
Revox tape machines. For a 1969 exposition at the Maison de la Culture (Cultural House) in
Reims, Jarre wrote the five-minute experimental instrumental "Happiness Is a Sad Song". That same year he composed and recorded "La Cage/Erosmachine", a mixture of harmony, tape effects and synthesisers, which was released in 1971.
1970s In 1971 Jarre was commissioned by choreographer Norbert Schmucki to perform a ballet called
AOR (in Hebrew, "the light"), at the
Palais Garnier. He also composed background music for ballet, theatre, television programs,
Nestlé and
RTL. The music for airports, and North America libraries was composed with the VCS 3 and a
Farfisa professional organ. From 1972 to 1975, Jean-Michel wrote music and lyrics for artists like
Françoise Hardy,
Gérard Lenorman,
Christophe and
Patrick Juvet. In 1972 he collaborated in an
Olympia show, and wrote music for the International Festival of Magic. In 1972 he also released his first solo album,
Deserted Palace, Jarre's 1976 low-budget solo album
Oxygène, recorded at his home studio, made him famous internationally. The music was made with analog synthesizers like the
EMS VCS 3 and the
EMS Synthi AKS, and recorded with a
Scully 8-track recorder. Jarre initially was turned down by several record companies, until Jean-Michel decided to meet with Francis Dreyfus, the head of the Disques Motors label, to see if he could release the album, to which he accepted. The first pressing of 50,000 copies was promoted through hi-fi shops, clubs and discos, and by April 1977 had sold 70,000 copies in France. When interviewed in
Billboard magazine, Motors's director Stanislas Witold said, "In a sense we're putting most of our bets on Jean-Michel Jarre. He is quite exceptional and we're sure that by 1980 he will be recognised worldwide." Jarre's follow-up album,
Equinoxe, was released in 1978. Though its sales were still healthy, it had less of an impact than
Oxygène. but in 1979 Jarre held a large open-air concert on
Bastille Day, at the
Place de la Concorde. The free outdoor event set a world record for the largest number of spectators ever at an open-air concert, drawing more than 1 million spectators. Although it was not the first time he had performed in concert (Jarre had already played at the
Paris Opera Ballet), the 40 minute-long event, which used projections of light, images and fireworks, served as a blueprint for Jarre's future concerts.
1980s By the time
Les Chants Magnétiques was released on 20 May 1981,
Oxygène and
Equinoxe had achieved global sales of about 6 million units. In its first two months the new album sold 200,000 units in France alone. The album uses sounds from the
Fairlight CMI, a new instrument of which Jarre was a pioneer. Its digital technology allowed him to continue his earlier sonic experimentation in new ways. In that same year, the British Embassy gave Radio Beijing copies of
Oxygène,
Equinoxe, and
Les Chants Magnétiques, which became the first pieces of foreign music to be played on Chinese national radio in decades. The Republic invited Jarre to become the first western musician to play in post-
Mao Zedong China. The performances were scheduled to run from 18 October to 5 November 1981. The first, in Beijing, was initially attended mostly by officials, but before the concert began, technicians realised that not enough power was available to supply the stage and auditorium. Chinese officials solved the problem by temporarily cutting power to the surrounding districts. To boost the audience attendance for the second night, Jarre and his production team purchased some of the concert tickets and gave them to children on the streets. Jarre originally wanted the concerts to be free, but the Chinese authorities decided to charge between £0.20 and £0.50 per ticket. In 1982, recordings of the concerts, which featured one of Jarre's signature electronic instruments, the
laser harp, were released as a double-disc
LP. Between February and May 1983, Jarre recorded a single LP copy of an album entitled
Musique pour Supermarché (
English:
Music for Supermarkets) whose objective was to be the soundtrack of a show called Orrimbe, to later be auctioned with the master tapes and plates destroyed. The album was later broadcast exclusively on
Radio Luxembourg with Jarre encouraging listeners to record the broadcast. In 1984, he released seventh studio album
Zoolook. In this album he expanded the sample-based approach which had been initiated on
Les Chants Magnétiques and continued on
Music for Supermarkets. The album was based around multiple fragments of human voices pronouncing words and speeches in different languages from all over the world, recorded digitally by Jarre and then played back and edited on the
Fairlight CMI. Several months later he performed to an audience of about a million at his home city of
Lyon, Close to the heart of London, the location was chosen in part for its desolate environment, but also because Jarre thought the architecture was ideally suited for his music. Early in 1988 Jarre met with local officials and members of the community, The floating stage on which Jarre and his musicians performed was built on top of four large
barges. Large purpose-built display screens were built, and one of the buildings to be used as a backdrop was painted white. One large mirror ball being transported to the event fell onto the roadside, causing a degree of confusion as some people mistook it for a fallen
satellite.
World War II searchlights were installed, to illuminate the sky and surrounding architecture. He later promoted a concert near the Pyramids of
Teotihuacan in Mexico, to be held during the
solar eclipse of 11 July 1991. However, with only weeks to go, important equipment had not arrived and the sinking in the Atlantic Ocean of a cargo ship containing the purpose-built pyramidal stage and other technical and financial problems made staging the concert impossible. Jarre's disappointment was such that he "could not cope with Mexican food for two years". ,
Brussels Jarre was invited to the inaugural celebrations of the Palace of the Lost City, a hotel located within the Sun City in South Africa. Three concerts were held on 1, 2 and 3 December 1992, in which more than 45,000 people attended.
Chronologie was performed at a series of 16 performances across Europe called
Europe in Concert. These were on a smaller scale than his previous concerts, featuring a miniature skyline, laser imaging and fireworks. Locations included Lausanne, Mont St Michel, London,
Manchester, Barcelona, Seville and the Versailles Palace near Paris. In March 1994, a concert was held in Hong Kong, to mark the opening of the city's new stadium. Jarre performed many of his most well-known hits at the
Concert for Tolerance on Bastille Day in 1995, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. The
Eiffel Tower was specially lit for the occasion, prompting the installation of a
more permanent display. The following December, he created the website "A Space for Tolerance", which featured music from
En Attendant Cousteau, played while the user browsed a variety of "visual worlds". In 1997, Jarre returned to the analogue synthesisers of the 1970s with
Oxygène 7–13, dedicated to his mentor at the
GRM,
Pierre Schaeffer, who had died two years before. In September that year he set his fourth record for the largest-ever outdoor-concert audience with a performance at the
Moscow State University, celebrating the 850th anniversary of Moscow. The event was viewed by an audience of about 3.5 million. On September 18, 1998, during the 15th Paris
Apple Expo's
iMac Night, Jarre,
Apple brand ambassador and friend of
Steve Jobs' created the first 3D concert,
Electronic Odyssee, to mark the 50th anniversary of electronic music and the launch of the Apple
iMac computer. It was enjoyed by 6000 spectators wearing special 3D glasses. Another large-scale concert followed on 31 December 1999, in the Egyptian desert near
Giza.
The Twelve Dreams of the Sun celebrated the new millennium and offered a preview of his next album,
Métamorphoses, released in 2000. The show featured performances from more than 1,000 local artists and musicians, and was based on ancient Egyptian mythology about the journey of the Sun and its effect upon humanity. In 1998, British commercial broadcaster
ITV used a remixed version of "Fourth Rendez-Vous" (called Rendez-Vous 98) for their television coverage of the
1998 FIFA World Cup in France. British group
Apollo 440 were credited alongside Jarre for the remix.
2000s In 2001, he released
Interior Music, an album of 1,000 copies created for use by the Danish audio-visual company
Bang & Olufsen stores. The album consists of two long-form pieces: "Bonjour Hello", is a 25-minute audio
collage of sounds with voices saying short sentences in French, English and Danish. The second piece, "Whispers of Life", is an instrumental version of the first, with the voices removed. In 2001 he composed, with Francis Rimbert arrangements, the music for the short-lived French channel Match TV. On 7 September 2002, Jarre held a very wet and muddy concert at the near the city of Aalborg in Denmark, with 40,000 spectators (including 5,000 VIPs). Danish band
Safri Duo featured on the track "Aero", which in fact was Bourges 2 from the performance earlier that year, and Rendez-Vous 4. The concert was broadcast live on various TV stations around the world and a shortened one-hour version was made available for rebroadcast. By no fault of Jarre, due to 22 millimeters of rain and lack of proper preparation for and execution of the event, it took several hours for all people to be able to leave the area, and many cars were stuck until the next day. The problems became a big issue in Danish media, since, had there been an accident, it would be extremely difficult for help to get to the location. Two years previously, nine people were killed at
Roskilde Festival, which had brought focus on security at large concerts. Preparations for AERO were later proven to have been lacking, and the police investigation concluded, in part, that permission for the concert should not have been granted. Reactions from spectators were mixed, some claiming it was unsafe, and others saying it was a case of overreacting. The physical
CD was a long time out of print, but in 2018 remastered reissue was released on CD again. The album cover is a pixelated and turned counter-clockwise photo of Jarre's girlfriend at the time,
Isabelle Adjani. In October 2004 he returned to China to open its "Year of France" cultural exchange. Jarre gave two performances, the first at the
Meridian Gate of the
Forbidden City, and the second in
Tiananmen Square. More than 15,000 spectators watched the concert at the Meridian Gate, and each concert was transmitted nationwide on live television. Jarre collaborated with musician Chen Lin. Accompanying his traditional musical repertoire, 600 projectors shone coloured light and images across various screens and objects. In September 2004, Jarre released both a DVD and a CD in one package
AERO. A compilation album made in 5.1
surround sound, it contains re-recorded versions of some of his most famous tracks, including tracks from
Oxygène and
Equinoxe. Accompanying the audio, the DVD features a visual image of
Anne Parillaud's eyes, recorded in real time as she listened to the album. Jarre used the minimalist imagery to reinforce the audio content of the DVD. , 2009 In his role of UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Jarre performed a concert named
Water for Life in Morocco, on 16 December 2006, to celebrate the United Nations Year of Desertification in the world. The performance was in front of the Erg Chebbi Dunes of
Merzouga, in the
Sahara. A free event, it was attended by about 25,000 people. Images of water and the environment were projected onto nine vertical screens, held in place by sand which was watered to keep it hard. Several permanent drinking fountains were built on the site, along with a permanent electricity installation. Jarre was accompanied by over 60 Moroccan artists. Jarre released
Téo & Téa in 2007, a studio album that described the different stages of a loving relationship. In that same year released on
EMI label a new recording of his 1976 album named
Oxygène: New Master Recording. Jarre performed 10 concerts (
Oxygène Live) in December 2007, held in the
Théâtre Marigny, located in the
Champs-Élysées, Paris. Later in 2008 Jarre performed several concerts to celebrate the 30th anniversary of
Oxygène, in theaters in Europe. Following one such performance at the
Royal Albert Hall Jarre met
Queen guitarist
Brian May, who proposed he create a concert in
Tenerife for the
International Year of Astronomy, but a lack of sponsorship meant that the concert did not take place. In 2009 he was selected as the artistic director of the World Sky Race, and also accepted a role as Goodwill Ambassador for the International Year of Astronomy. In 2009 he started an indoor tour in arenas throughout Europe.
2010s ,
Galicia, Spain, July 2010 On 1 March 2010, Jean-Michel Jarre started the second leg of his 2009–2010 Indoors tour; on 10 June, he was presented with a
Lifetime Achievement Award by
Mojo magazine. On 1 July 2011, Jarre performed a large-scale concert in
Monaco to celebrate the marriage of
Prince Albert and his bride
Charlene. A later concert was held at
Carthage during the city's 12 August 2013 musical festival. In June 2013, Jarre was elected as president of the (CISAC). In Spring 2015, Jarre released the first music from a new studio album, released in October 2015, following around four years of work. The album,
Electronica 1: The Time Machine (working title:
E-Project), comprises a number of collaborations with other artists. The first of these to be released was the collaboration with
Gesaffelstein entitled
Conquistador, followed by
Glory, with
M83. The track was also featured as part of the soundtrack of a short film entitled
EMIC. Other collaborations on the album include
Tangerine Dream for
Zero Gravity;
Armin van Buuren for "
Stardust",
John Carpenter for
"A Question of Blood",
Little Boots for
If..! and
Pete Townshend for
Travelator, Pt. 2. The album became Jarre's first album in over 25 years to make the UK Top 10 at No. 8. In December 2016, the album was nominated for the Grammys 2017 Awards in the "Best Dance/Electronic Album" category. In June 2015, in collaboration with Jean-Michel Jarre, the transmedia project
Soundhunters was released on the platform of the Franco-German channel
ARTE. The transmedia conceptualized by the Blies brothers (Stéphane Hueber-Blies and Nicolas Blies), François Le Gall and Marion Guth of the Luxembourg production company a_BAHN, is openly inspired by the album
Zoolook to which it pays tribute. On 5 October 2016,
Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 announced that Jarre would be a member of its advisory panel. The transmedia is composed of a web documentary using
Zoolooks creative process involving 4 international artists (
Simonne Jones, Mikael Seifu,
Daedelus and
Luke Vibert); a 52' documentary film directed by broadcast in September 2015 on ARTE (with the participation of Chassol,
Matthew Herbert,
Blixa Bargeld, Jean-Michel Jarre,
Matmos, Kiz,
Joseph Bertolozzi); and finally a participatory tribute music album whose tracks were chosen by Jean-Michel Jarre, entitled
Zoolook Revisited.
Soundhunters won the Fipa d'Or 2015 in Biarritz.
Soundhunters was also presented in conference at
SXSW and Convergence
NYFF 2016. In 2016,
Electronica 2: The Heart of Noise was released with 15 more collaborators, including
Pet Shop Boys,
Hans Zimmer,
Yello and
Gary Numan. One track (8 "Exit") includes speech by
Edward Snowden.
Electronica 2 has been nominated in the
Album de musiques électroniques ou dance category for the Grammy 2017 in USA & Victoires de la Musique 2017 awards in France. On 11 April 2016, it was revealed that Jarre worked in collaboration with British virtual band
Gorillaz on their fifth studio album
Humanz. He also composed during 2016 the soundtrack for the French news network
France Info. This soundtrack was released as
Radiophonie Vol. 9 on 13 January 2017. In 2017, he performed a concert near the fortress of
Masada, for the purpose of saving the
Dead Sea and to highlight "the anti-environmental policies of
Donald Trump." He also performed a special concert for the opening of the
Año Jubilar (Jubilee year) at the Monasterio de
Santo Toribio de Liébana, in Spain. Both concerts were heavily based in the Electronica Tour concept. During May 2017, Jarre toured in Canada and USA for the first time in his career, and in July 2017 another leg of the tour was held in Europe. In March 2018, Jarre performed in South America for the first time as part of his Electronica Tour in
Buenos Aires and
Santiago de Chile. These concerts were originally scheduled for November 2017, but problems with the production company caused the rescheduling. The 2018 leg of the tour continued in Canada and the United States during April, including the presentation of the Electronica show with a reduced track list in the
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, ending with a one-off concert at
Riyadh to celebrate the 88th Saudi National Day (23 September). This concert was called "The Green Concert", and involved laser projections on the skyscrapers of the financial center of Riyadh. In September 2018, a studio compilation album entitled
Planet Jarre – 50 Years of Music, consisting of forty-one songs in "four quite different styles of composition", was released. On 26 November 2018, Jarre and Scott Kirkland of
The Crystal Method announced that they would be collaborating on a track on Jarre's next
Electronica album. In January 2019,
HSBC revealed their new musical identity, composed by Jarre. On 3 October 2019, French editor
Robert Laffont published Melancolique Rodeo, Jarre's autobiography. Jarre started a promotional tour for his book. On 7 November 2019, Jarre announced the release of an
application for the
iOS operating system named EōN. This application contains morphing graphics created by an
algorithm developed by Alexis André of Sony Computer Science Laboratories, and music generated from 7 hours of recorded material by Jarre. This music is always different on every device. The
AI algorithm which composes on the fly based on the rules set by Jarre was developed by BLEASS. A limited deluxe box set was later released with excerpts from the application.
Since 2020 On 31 December 2020, Jarre held a virtual New Year's Eve concert online. He performed from a studio in Paris, but it appeared virtually from a
Notre Dame setting. The show has had over 75 million viewers as of 5 January 2021. The show was done in support of his new album
Welcome to the other side, which features 12 tracks from his previously released music. The recording of the concert was released on CD, LP and
Blu-ray in September 2021. VR Concert created by VRROOM received 2 Webby Award Honoree, Crystal Owl Award for the Best Live Entertainment, and Social Music Award. On 21 June 2021, Jarre was awarded Commander to the Legion of Honour by French president
Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée presidential palace in Paris. After the ceremony he performed at the same venue as part of the
Fête de la Musique. In March 2022 Jarre presented a live project,
Oxymore, at
Radio France's Hyper Weekend Festival located at
Paris. His twenty-second studio album
Oxymore was released on 21 October 2022 by
Sony Music and
Menart Records as a tribute to
Pierre Henry. Some songs were accompanied by a remix created by different artists such as
Brian Eno,
Nina Kraviz,
Armin van Buuren, the first single from the album, "Brutalism", was released along with a remix made by
Depeche Mode member
Martin Gore. OXYMORE was created as multiformat concert in VR by VRROOM Team and received Webby People's Voice Award in 2023 and Webby Nomination and Honoree in 2022, Crystal Owl Award for Best Production Design, Raindance Immersive Honourable Jury Mentioning, as well as nomination for the Producers Guild of America's Innovation Award. In July 2022, his music publishing catalog was acquired by
BMG Rights Management. ,
Hungary, June 2025 On 25 December 2023, Jarre held a concert in the
Hall of Mirrors of
Versailles to celebrate the 400 years of the palace. This was released in October 2024 as a limited edition "phydigital" (hybrid physical and digital release) in either vinyl or CD (with a limited edition of 2000 for each format, the vinyl being numbered on the sleeve), which as well as the physical medium which provided the owner with "a truly unique digital experience," accessible by phone through a custom NFC sticker embedded inside the CD or vinyl sleeve. The digital content featured a special greeting from Jarre's avatar, exclusive behind-the-scenes photos of the event's visuals created by Jarre and his team, custom AI animations of the Hall of Mirrors, and an in-depth interview with Jarre discussing the event and its unique setup. It also included a lossless audio streaming version with an electro rendition of
JB Lully's "Walk to the Turcs Ceremony," the recent single "Epica Oxygene," and fresh versions of existing tracks. On 8 September 2024, Jarre performed at the
closing ceremony of the
2024 Summer Paralympics. ==Flying AirCar mission==