Singer
Julian Casablancas > O

Julian Fernando Casablancas (born August 23, 1978) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist of the rock band The Strokes. In addition to his work with the Strokes, Casablancas has led a solo career during the band's hiatus, releasing the album Phrazes for the Young on November 3, 2009. Casablancas was born in New York City, to Spanish American business mogul John Casablancas, the founder of Elite Model Management, ... and Jeanette Christiansen, a Danish former model and onetime Miss Denmark in 1965. His paternal grandfather, Fernando Casablancas, was a well-known textile businessman. His parents divorced and his mother subsequently married painter Sam Adoquei. Adoquei helped shape Casablancas' early musical taste by exposing him to music such as The Doors, which was markedly different from the mostly Phil Collins-influenced music he listened to as a child. In 2005, Julian married Juliet Joslin, who was the assistant manager of The Strokes at the time. In January 2010, they had a son, Cal Casablancas. His father, John Casablancas, died of cancer in July 2013. Casablancas met the first member of The Strokes, Nikolai Fraiture, while both were attending Lycée Français de New York (Fraiture graduated in 1997, Casablancas in 1996). When he was 14, Casablancas' father sent him to Institut Le Rosey, an elite boarding school in Switzerland. There, he met future Strokes member Albert Hammond, Jr. Casablancas attended The Dwight School with two other future Strokes, Nick Valensi and Fabrizio Moretti. Casablancas never finished school, but continued to take music classes, where he says he first enjoyed himself in class. See more [+]