Philippe Zdar was a French musician and producer, but it's his role as one half of dance act Cassius that he's best known for.
Zdar was born Philippe Cerboneschi in Savoie, France, in 1967.
In 1988 Zdar met Hubert Blanc-Francard, AKA Boom Bass, while working as an engineer in a recording studio. The pair began producing albums for French hip-hop artist MC Solaar before releasing two EPs as La Funk Mob in 1994. Zdar also joined Super Discount's Etienne De Crecy to put out the album 'Pansoul' as Motorbass.
It was later in the decade, however, that Zdar and Boom Bass would really make their mark. In 1998 they formed Cassius, an electronic act that brought together the acid-disco influences of Zdar with the hip-hop sound of Boom Bass. Cassius became known as part of the 'French Touch' electronic movement alongside artists such as Daft Punk and I:Cube.
The duo released their debut album '1999' the following year. The album peaked at number 28 in the UK Albums Chart and produced several top 10 singles in the UK and US.
The pair returned in 2002 with the album 'Au Rêve', which included collaborations with Jocelyn Brown, Steve Edwards, Ghostface Killah and Leroy Burgess. In 2006 they put out their third album '15 Again' before going on a decade-long hiatus.
In the latter part of his career Zdar was still in demand as a DJ but increasingly became known for his work as a producer on other artists' work. 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix' by Phoenix, which Zdar produced, picked up a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 2010 and following that his Paris studio Motorbass began attracting the likes of Kanye West and Pharrell Williams.
In 2016 Cassius reunited for the single 'Action' and the concept album 'Ibifornia', an album created to be a lighter response to the period's trend towards dark electronica.
On June 19th 2019 Zdar died following a fall from a 19th storey building in Paris. He was 52 years old. Cassius's final album, 'Dreems', was released a couple of days later on June 21st.
