Thomas Bangalter owns a music label called Roulé. Outside of music production, his credits include film director and cinematographer. Bangalter resides in Beverly Hills, California, with his wife, French actress Élodie Bouchez, and his son, Tara-Jay.
Thomas Bangalter began playing the piano at the ages of five and six.Bangalter stated in a video interview that his parents were strict in keeping up his practice, for which he later thanked them. His father, Daniel Vangarde was a famous songwriter and producer for such performers as the Gibson Brothers, Ottawan, and Sheila B. Devotion. As expressed by Bangalter, "I never had any intention to do what my father was doing."
Bangalter met Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo while attending school in 1987. It was there that they discovered their mutual fascination of films and music of the 1960s and 70s, "very basic cult teenager things, from Easy Rider to the Velvet Underground." They and Laurent Brancowitz eventually joined to form an indie rock trio called Darlin', in which Bangalter performed bass guitar. Bangalter felt that "It was still maybe more a teenage thing at that time. It's like, you know, everybody wants to be in a band." A negative review referred to the act as "a bunch of daft punk", which inspired Bangalter and de Homem-Christo's new name.
Shortly before reaching the age of 18, Daft Punk grew interested in electronic music, which led Brancowitz to leave the group in pursuit of efforts with fellow Parisian band Phoenix.[6][7] In 1993 Bangalter presented a demo of Daft Punk material to Stuart Macmillan of Slam that led to their first single "The New Wave". Daniel Vangarde provided valuable advice for the duo. "He helped us by presenting to us what the situation was with the record industry and how it worked. Knowing that, we made certain choices in order to achieve what we wanted."
Vangarde was thanked for his efforts in the liner notes of Homework. The title of the album is partially attributed to the fact that Homework was recorded in Bangalter's bedroom. As he remarked, "I had to move the bed into another room to make space for the gear." In the years following the 1997 release, Bangalter focused on his own record label, Roulé. The label released singles by Romanthony, Roy Davis Jr., and Bangalter's own solo material, among others. Bangalter collaborated with Alan Braxe and Benjamin Diamond and in 1998 released the club hit "Music Sounds Better with You". Just as for Homework, the single was recorded in Bangalter's home studio.
At around the same time of "Music Sounds Better with You", Bangalter
co-produced Bob Sinclar's second single titled "Gym Tonic". The song
used samples from a Jane Fonda workout tape. Fonda later refused permission
for clearance of the sample. A band named Spacedust released a single titled
"Gym and Tonic" that recreated elements of "Gym Tonic" and
"Music Sounds Better with You". Their song became a number one single
in the United Kingdom.
Bangalter as one half of Daft Punk
During 1998, Bangalter and de Homem-Christo collaborated with Romanthony in what would become the first of the Discovery sessions. One of tracks produced, "One More Time" became Daft Punk's most successful single in 2000. Bangalter also performed on a Yamaha Cs-60 synthesizer in Phoenix's debut album United, which was released the same year. He also teamed up with DJ Falcon under the name Together to release their eponymous 2000 single. In 2002, Bangalter fathered a son, Tara-Jay with actress Élodie Bouchez.
Together released the single "So Much Love to Give" in 2003. The Eric Prydz track "Call on Me" was initially thought to be a follow-up to the Together release due to the similarity between the two songs and DJ Falcon's use of "Call on Me" in DJ sets.
Between September 13 and November 9 of 2004, Daft Punk produced and mixed tracks for their album Human After All. Shortly afterward, Bangalter moved from his home to Los Angeles, California. The move is attributable to Bouchez's career in Hollywood and Bangalter's own interests in filmmaking.