Influential house producer, New Jersey native, and the voice behind one of the biggest dance tracks of the modern era, Romanthony, has reportedly passed away this month at 45 years of age at his home in Austin, Texas.
Romanthony, real name Anthony Moore, was best known for his performance on Daft Punk’s 2000 mega-hit ‘One More Time’, died of complications of kidney disease earlier this month, as his family confirmed.
The news first arrived via Chicago’s 5 Magazine with a post from the artist’s sister, Mellony Moore confirming his passing on May 9th through a Facebook post, writing “Thank u [sic] for your calls and prayers my brother was a musical genius.”
Friends and collaborators Boys Noize and Mike Q took to twitter to express their condolences.
Romanthony is most widely recognised for his Auto-Tuned performance on Daft Punk’s ‘One More Time’, the opening track and enormously successful lead single from the Parisian duo’s 2001 album Discovery. His vocals bookend the album, also featuring on the closing track ‘Too Long’, listed as a co-writer on both songs along with Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo.
“We met him at the 1996 Winter Music Conference and became friends,” de Homem-Christo said of Romanthony in a 2001 interview, as Billboard points out. “What’s odd is that Romanthony and Todd Edwards [who features on Discovery track ‘Face To Face’] are not big in the United States at all.” “Romanthony’s voice, the emotion and soul — is part of how we sound today.” – Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Daft Punk
“Their music had a big effect on us. The sound of their productions — the compression, the sound of the kick drum and Romanthony’s voice, the emotion and soul — is part of how we sound today. Because they mean something to us, it was much more important for us to work with them than with other big stars.”
Romanthony’s production career first began in New Jersey, where he developed his unique “Jersey Garage” style in the late 80s and early 90s, with notable singles including ‘Make This Love Right’ and ‘Let Me Show You Love’, and the Now You Want Me EP, all released through his own label, Black Male Records.
Azuli Records brought him international fame with 1997’s debut album Romanworld, an ambitious two-disc compilation of Black Male Records productions and singles Romanthony had collated over the years. In 1999, he released Instinctual, a collaborative album with DJ Predator, released through Glasgow Underground.
Following his success with Daft Punk, Romanthony’s recording output slowed down, though experience a revival towards the tail-end of the 00s, including a partnership with Laidback Luke and Tom Stephan on 2008’s Show, and single ‘Curious’. A string of one-offs and guest spots followed, starting with Kraak & Smaak’s 2011 ‘Let’s Go Back’ and another with the pair for 2012’s for ‘Hold Back Love / Let’s Go Back’. Earlier this year he appeared on Teengirl Fantasy’s Tracer and was working with Boys Noize and MikeQ on new material, with the latter tweeting:
