Cerrone

Along with his fellow ‘70s visionaries Giorgio Moroder and Patrick Cowley, Marc Cerrone charted out dance music’s future by merging disco’s symphonic grandeur with the sleek propulsion and sci-fi sheen provided by the latest technology. Born in 1952 in Vitry-sur-Seine, France, Cerrone had a variety of roles in the music business before having his first international smash as a writer, musician, and producer with 1976’s “Love in C Minor.” He then perfected his signature fusion of strings, electronics, and sultriness with his 1977 album Supernature and its pulsating 10-minute title track. Over the following decades of producing for himself and others, Cerrone’s ambitions extended to rock operas and Broadway shows. Meanwhile, his synth-powered disco innovations would be sampled by The Avalanches and the Beastie Boys and become a building block for the French Touch sound in the late ‘90s, thanks to Cerrone devotees like Daft Punk and Bob Sinclar.