Stuart Price
A multi-alias producer who bridged French house influences with global pop and rock.
Stuart David Price is an English electronic musician, DJ, songwriter, and record producer born on 9 September 1977. While often associated with major acts like Madonna, The Killers, and Dua Lipa, his career began with simultaneous projects Zoot Woman (with Adam Blake and Johnny Blake) and Les Rythmes Digitales under the pseudonym Jacques Lu Cont. Though he grew up in Reading, England, Price was born in Paris. He is a versatile figure known for acts including Thin White Duke, Paper Faces, and Man with Guitar, conducting interviews as a French artist despite his British roots.
- Role
- Producer / Musician
- Affiliation
- Madonna, The Killers, Pet Shop Boys, Kylie Minogue, Dua Lipa
- Key Era
- 1995 to Present
- Instrumentation
- Synthesizers, Keyboards, DJ Equipment
- Status
- Active in Industry
- Notable Contribution
- Confessions on a Dance Floor, Day & Age, Electric, Future Nostalgia
Verified Timeline
Lore & Background
Price launched his career on London's Wall of Sound label in the mid-1990s. In 1995, Zoot Woman released their debut 12-inch, Sweet to the Wind EP. Simultaneously, under the name Jacques Lu Cont, he cultivated Les Rythmes Digitales, adopting a French persona complete with interpreter-conducted interviews to match the UK's demand for French house. He claimed in early interviews that he listened exclusively to classical music until discovering The Human League's album Dare. This second album was later named one of Vice magazine's 99 Greatest Dance Albums of All Time.
In Their Own Story
In 2005, Price became best known for his work with Madonna on Confessions on a Dance Floor, having previously served as musical director for her 2001 Drowned World Tour and 2004 Re-Invention World Tour. He remixed singles like "Hung Up" and "Sorry" (as Man with Guitar) and co-wrote "X-Static Process." His remix of "Hollywood" was performed at the MTV Video Music Awards alongside Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Missy Elliott. Years later, in 2023, Madonna invited him back as musical director for her first retrospective tour. By 2024, they were working on a sequel to Confessions on a Dance Floor titled Confessions II, which was released on July 3, 2026.
Reader's Guide
Price's production style favors keeping original vocal arrangements while re-contextualizing non-lyrical content with club-led beats, arpeggios, and filtered riffs for climactic effects. He has produced or co-written for artists including Kylie Minogue (executive producer on Aphrodite), The Killers (producing Day & Age and remaking "Mr. Brightside" as Thin White Duke), and Pet Shop Boys (musical director for Pandemonium, producing Electric, Super, and Hotspot). His work with The Killers extended to Brandon Flowers' solo album Flamingo and the band's albums Battle Born and Direct Hits. Other notable credits include Seal's System, Keane's Perfect Symmetry, Scissor Sisters' Night Work and Magic Hour, Take That's Progress (the biggest selling album of 2010), and Everything Everything's Get to Heaven. In 2020, he co-produced "Hallucinate," "Levitating," and "Love Again" on Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia.
Did You Know?
- Stuart Price was born in Paris but grew up in Reading, England.
- He conducted interviews with British journalists in French via an interpreter to maintain his Les Rythmes Digitales persona.
- Price created a modular theme song for the London 2012 Olympic Games that could layer into fast-paced versions for the velodrome or slow versions for TV backgrounds.
- His remix of The Killers' 'Mr. Brightside' was released under the alias Thin White Duke, originally created by David Bowie.
- The album Confessions II, a sequel to Madonna's 2005 record, was released on July 3, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Stuart Price?
Stuart David Price is an English musician and producer born in Paris who later moved to Reading. He is well known for blending electronic house rhythms with mainstream pop and rock arrangements.
What role did he play for Coldplay?
He served as a key producer and keyboardist during the band's transition into more orchestral and electronic territories. His influence helped shape the sonic landscape of their mid-2000s albums significantly.
Which albums did Stuart Price work on with the band?
Price co-produced several tracks on X&Y and contributed heavily to the production of Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. He also worked extensively with artists like Madonna and The Killers during this same period.
Did he use aliases before his mainstream career?
Early in his career, he performed under pseudonyms such as Jacques Lu Cont for his project Les Rythmes Digitales. He also operated under the name Thin White Duke while exploring different musical styles before gaining mainstream fame.
Why is Stuart Price important to the band's history?
His ability to merge French house influences with global pop made him essential for Coldplay's evolution beyond their early acoustic style. Fans often credit him with helping modernize their sound for a wider international audience.
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