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Daft Punk breaks up after 28 years
Grammy-winning electronic music pioneers Daft Punk have announced that they are breaking up after 28 years.
The helmet-wearing French duo shared the news Monday in an eight-minute video called “Epilogue.” Kathryn Frazier, the band’s longtime publicist, confirmed the breakup.
Daft Punk, composed of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de HomemChristo, have had major success over the years, winning six Grammy Awards and launching international hits with “One More Time,” “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” and “Get Lucky.”
Bangalter and de Homem-Christo met at a Paris school in 1987. Prior to Daft Punk, they formed an indie rock band named Darling.
They officially formed Daft Punk in 1993, and the helmeted, mute and mysterious musicians released their debut album, “Homework,” in 1997. They first found success with the international hit “Da Funk,” which topped the Billboard dance charts and earned them their first Grammy nomination. A second No. 1 hit and Grammy nomination followed with “Around the World.”
Daft Punk spent time touring around the world and reached greater heights with their sophomore album, 2001’s “Discovery.” But it was the 2014 Grammys where Daft Punk really took the spotlight, winning album of the year for “Random Access Memories” and making history as the first electronic act to win the highest honor at the Grammys.
“Random Access Memories” was regarded as a genre-bending album highlighted by its mix of live instrumentation, disco sounds, funk, rock, R&B and more. Rolling Stone ranked it No. 295 on their list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” last year.
Kunis lands lucky role: If she wasn’t already, Mila Kunis is now the “Luckiest Girl Alive,” signing on to star in the film adaptation of the best-selling novel for Netflix.
Kunis stars as Ani FaNell in the upcoming film, based on Jessica Knoll’s 2015 New York Times best-selling thriller about a New York magazine editor whose “meticulously crafted life” is upended when a crime documentary forces her to relive the shocking truths of a devastating incident from her teenage years. The “Bad Moms” star will also produce the project under her Orchard Farm Productions banner.
Knoll is adapting the screenplay and will serve as an executive producer on the film, directed by Mike Barker.
‘Birth of Cool’ dramedy in works: BET Plus has ordered the original series “Birth of Cool” in its firstever partnership with “Gentefied” producers Macro Television Studios and Emmy-Award winning screenwriter and actor Lena Waithe’s production house Hillman Grad Productions.
The 10-episode halfhour dramedy marks Waithe’s third original production with the brand— her other two series with BET are “Twenties” and “Boomerang.”
“Birth of Cool” follows the adventures and misadventures of both students and teachers at Crispus Attucks High, a predominantly black high school in Compton, as they try to make it through the weird, hilarious, stressful, often sobering and sometimes surreal academic year while hopefully growing a bit in the process on- and off-campus.
The show was created by writer-director Juel Taylor and writer Tony Rettenmaier.
Feb. 23 birthdays: Steel guitarist Rusty Young is 75. Actor Patricia Richardson is 70. Actor Kristin Davis is 56. Actor Niecy Nash is 51. Songwriter Robert Lopez is 46. Actor Kelly Macdonald is 45. Rapper Residente is 43. Actor
Josh Gad is 40. Actor Aziz Ansari is 38. Actor Emily Blunt is 38. Actor Dakota Fanning is 27.