David Guetta: I’m not a star

Guetta's album sales run in the millions worldwide and he has worked with the biggest names in rap and R&B.

PARIS:

His album sales run in the millions worldwide and he has worked with the biggest names in rap and R&B, but French DJ and dance music producer David Guetta does not feel like a star.

“I don’t see myself like that,” said the 43-year-old Frenchman in an interview as his new double-album was released this week. “One day my son asked me, ‘Dad, are you a star?’ I told him, ‘You know, it’s complicated because sometimes you have shooting stars: they shine, then they fade out’,” he said.

He is nonetheless grateful for his meteoric rise. “It’s nice because success has allowed me to have a blast on stage, to be in the studio with amazing people, but I find it all a bit bizarre,” said Guetta.

In ground-breaking partnerships with major artists like The Black Eyed Peas and Kelly Rowland, the award-winning Guetta has sold over three million albums and millions of singles that include “When Loves Takes Over” and “I Gotta Feeling”, not to mention developing a major digital fan base.

The US magazine Billboard, the bible of the music industry, once wrote that he was responsible for “changing the sound of radio”. “I found this greatly exaggerated at the time, but in fact they were right because American radio never played electro music,” he said, referring to the electronic dance music sound that emerged in the 1980s.  “After all these years when I fought for the art of mixing, for electro to be recognised in the same way as hip-hop, rock and pop, I’m pleased my efforts have paid off.”

His double disc album Nothing But The Beat was released this week by the EMI label. The first disc follows the formula that made Guetta’s name — thumping urban electronic mixes tailored for clubs and performed by a host of big name US stars like Will.i.am, Snoop Dogg, Usher, Ludacris, Nicki Minaj, Flo Rida and others. The second disc, on the other hand, is instrumental, what Guetta calls a return to his roots and the ‘community’ that helped set him on his musical path.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th,  2011.