Jean-Michel Jarre

Jean-Michel Jarre (sometimes written Jean Michel Jarre, b.24 August 1948) is a French musician and composer best known for his work in the field of electronic music. He first achieved mainstream success with his debut album Oxygène, originally released in France in 1976, and the follow-up Equinoxe, released in 1978. Both albums were performed live in Paris in front of a crowd of one million people on Bastille Day 1979.

He his the first Western artist to perform in the People's Republic of China, as documented by the live double album Les Concerts en Chine (1982).

Jarre continued to record and perform live to record audiences during the 1980s and 1990s. On 05 April 1986 he performed live in front o 1.5 million in Houston, Texas and to an audience of 3.5 million in Moscow on 06 September 1997, celebrating the 850th birthday of the city. Among his most successful albums of the period are Les Chants Magnetiques (1981), Zoolook (1984), En Attendant Cousteau (1990) and Chronologie (1993).

The final track on his 1986 release Rendez-Vous was originally scheduled to include a saxophone part recorded by astronaut Ron McNair on the Space Shuttle Challenger, which would have made it the first piece of music to be recorded in space. Tragically, on 28 January 1986, the shuttle disintegrated just 73 seconds after lift-off and the entire Challenger crew was killed.

In 1997 Jarre released Oxygène 7-13, the sequel to his debut album and Oxygène 3 in 2016. The sequel to his sophomore album entitled Equinoxe Infinity was released in 2018.

Although most of his recordings have been issued as solo work, he has also recorded a serious of collaborative tracks under the ambitious Electronica project, spread over two double albums released in 2015 and 2016. Among the varied artists chosen by Jarre to write and record with are Vince Clarke, Moby, Lang Lang, Air, Edgar Froese, Pet Shop Boys, Primal Scream, The Orb and Cyndi Lauper.

Significant dates
UK only
 * 23 August 1977: Oxygene Part IV, the single taken from Oxygène, enters the UK Top 40 at no.22. It would move up to no.12 the following week and peak no.4 position the week after where it remained for four weeks.
 * 25 August 1977: Oxygene Part IV features on TOTP for the first time as 'run-out' music over the closing credits. Two weeks later (08 September) the track is set to a dance routine for Legs & Co, and another fortnight later features as the opening track during the chart countdown.
 * 28 August 1977 (week beginning): after 3 weeks on the UK album charts, Oxygène reaches a peak position of no.2, held off the top spot by Connie Francis' 20 All Time Greats. With the arrival of Elvis Presley's 40 Greatest at no.1, the album slips down a place the week after, but returns to the no.2 spot for a further four weeks, held off the top by Diana Ross & The Supremes' 20 Golden Greats.