About Chromeo
Chromeo is a Canadian electro-funk duo from Montreal, formed in 2002 by musicians David "Dave 1" Macklovitch and Patrick "P-Thugg" Gemayel. Their sound draws from soul music, dance music, rock, synth-pop, disco and funk.
As of 2024, the band has released six studio albums, with three of them hitting the Billboard 200 charts. In 2018, Chromeo received their first Grammy Award nomination for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for their album Head over Heels.
The duo met in the mid-1990s at Collège Stanislas in Montreal. Speaking on their different ethnic backgrounds, the two jokingly describe themselves as "the only successful Arab/Jewish partnership since the dawn of human culture."
Around the time when they were both 15, Macklovitch joined Gemayel's band. During this time, Macklovitch's younger brother A-Trak started winning the Disco Mix Club Championships, becoming World Champion in 1997. After the band, Dave 1 and P-Thugg started to produce hip hop music together. Also at this time, Tiga was working with Dave 1 at a record store and asked Dave 1 to work on a project for his label, Turbo. Dave 1 and P-Thugg signed as Chromeo and started creating music together.
Reviews of their 2004 debut album, She's in Control, were mostly favorable. Critics compared the sound to 1980s groups Hall & Oates, Zapp, Prince, Klymaxx and Sylvester. "Needy Girl" became a worldwide club hit. According to Dave 1, "She's in Control didn't blow up. But we had "Needy Girl", and "Needy Girl" was like a musical passport. That song went all around the world and DJs played it everywhere". The song "You're So Gangsta" was featured as the theme tune for the PC game Space Colony.
In 2005, Chromeo released a mix CD of funky dance tracks on Eskimo Belgium records entitled Un Joli Mix Pour Toi . In 2006, the group was featured in DJ Mehdi's song "I Am Somebody". During early 2007, Chromeo supported indie rock group Bloc Party on their British tour.
After a three-year break, they released a second album, Fancy Footwork, which also received positive reviews. In 2008, Chromeo performed with Daryl Hall as a part of his online series Live from Daryl's House. They also performed with Hall at the 2010 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, TN. On a 2009 episode of Yo Gabba Gabba!, Chromeo appeared performing original song "Nice 'N Clean".
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