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Phoenix is a French rock band from Versailles, formed in 1995. Their line-up, which has remained unchanged since their formation, comprises Thomas Mars (lead vocals, drums, percussion), Deck d'Arcy (bass, keyboards, backing vocals), Christian Mazzalai (guitar, backing vocals) and Laurent Brancowitz (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals). Thomas Hedlund has been the band's session and live drummer since 2005.

The band's sound has been primarily described as indie pop, synth-pop, pop rock, and new wave. They have released seven studio albums, to date, with their fourth album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, becoming a major breakthrough success in 2009. Featuring the singles "1901" and "Lisztomania", the album won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album. With the release of the band's fifth album, Bankrupt! (2013), the band headlined Coachella and Primavera Sound. The album was a commercial success, debuting at number 3 on the French Albums Chart and number 4 on the Billboard 200.

The band's Italo disco-influenced sixth studio album, Ti Amo, was released in 2017 and featured songs that celebrated the band's "European, Latin roots". The band's seventh studio album, Alpha Zulu (2022), was recorded within the Louvre Palace during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was inspired by the death of the band's longtime producer, friend and mentor Philippe Zdar.

The band performed at the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony held at the Stade de France in Paris, France. They performed the 2010 track "Nightcall" in collaboration with French electronic pop artist Kavinsky and Belgian singer Angèle as well as "Tonight" with Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig. Phoenix formed the supergroup UFOs with Braxe + Falcon, which released their debut single "UFO" in 2025.

History

Formation and early years

Phoenix was conceived in the 1990s when vocalist Thomas Mars, bassist Deck d'Arcy, and guitarist Chris Mazzalai, who were all friends in school, started playing together as a "garage band" based out of Mars's house in Versailles. In 1995, Laurent Brancowitz, Mazzalai's older brother, permanently joined the band on guitar after the end of Darlin', a short-lived band that Brancowitz had formed with Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, who would later form electronic duo Daft Punk. Two years later the band took on the name Phoenix and pressed 500 copies of a single on their own label, Ghettoblaster. Shortly after, they were signed to the Paris-based Source Records. Phoenix quickly became well acquainted with labelmates Air when they acted as their backing band on several UK TV appearances.