Sinclair

French funk auteur Sinclair spearheaded the blue-eyed R&B revival that first gripped his homeland during the mid-'90s. Born Dominique Blanc-Francard, Jr., in 1971, he was the son of the renowned sound engineer Dominique Blanc-Francard, Sr., as well as the brother of Hubert "Boom Bass" Blanc-Francard, a respected DJ and producer. Something of a child prodigy, Sinclair (an alias chosen to distance himself from the family name) was a teen studio whiz accomplished on both guitar and keyboards, drawing much of his influence from American legends like Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, and Prince. He played all the instruments (sans drums) on his 1993 debut LP, Que Justice Soit Faite, which launched the hit single "Votre Image." Sinclair also earned acclaim for his ambitious and energetic live sets. Backed by a nine-piece funk ensemble dubbed Système Sinclair, he made his Paris debut in May 1993, followed by an international tour that stretched as far as Canada. After claiming Best Newcomer honors at the 1995 Victoires de la Musique awards, Sinclair began work on his sophomore effort, Au Mépris du Danger, which pared his sound to its bare essentials. A 250-date tour followed, and in 1997 he resurfaced with La Bonne Attitude, which turned away from the American influences so dominant on previous releases in favor of a more authentically fresh yet still funky approach. Sinclair spent virtually all of 1998 on tour, issuing the concert LP Live a year later. His relationship with longtime label Virgin soon began to disintegrate, however, and in 2001 he jumped ship to EMI to release Supernova Superstar. He spent much of the next several years touring and composing for film, stopping long enough to assemble Comme Je Suis 1992-2002, a collection of hits and unreleased material. Finally, in 2006 Sinclair issued a new single, "Morphologique." ~ Jason Ankeny