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Julian Casablancas
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Julian Casablancas is an American singer and songwriter, born in 1978 in Manhattan. He is the singer and main writer of The Strokes, the band he founded in New York in 1998 with Nick Valensi, Fab Moretti, Albert Hammond Jr. and his childhood friend Nikolai Fraiture. His father was John Casablancas, the founder of the modelling agency Elite; his mother was the Danish model Jeanette Christiansen. The group rehearsed a set of fourteen songs, including Last Nite, The Modern Age and Someday. A demo at the British label Rough Trade led to the first release, via the website of the magazine NME.
Music and breakthrough
The debut album Is This It was received very favourably by the press. It was seen as a record that had to save rock in the new millennium, and the Strokes are regarded as one of the most influential garage rock bands of the early 2000s. Room on Fire (2003) and First Impressions of Earth (2006) followed. After a six-year break came Angles (2011), followed by Comedown Machine (2013). Casablancas wrote the early songs almost entirely alone. Later the work became more of a collaboration by the whole group.
Influence
In 2009 he made the solo album Phrazes for the Young and founded the label Cult Records. Since 2014 he has been the singer of the experimental rock band The Voidz, with whom he makes less commercial music. His role in rock history lies mainly with the Strokes, where his singing and songwriting were decisive for the sound.