Julian Fernando Casablancas (born August 23, 1978) is an American 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.

In 2013, he formed the alternative rock project Julian Casablancas + The Voidz. They released their first album, Tyranny, in 2014. His own label, Cult Records, distributed the album, which earned the 50th place in NME's Top 50 Albums Of 2014 list. Over the years, Casablancas has also collaborated with several other artists on their work, examples being The Lonely Island's 2009 album Incredibad and Daft Punk's 2013 album Random Access Memories.

Early life, education, and personal life

Casablancas was born in New York City, to business mogul John Casablancas, the founder of Elite Model Management, and Jeanette Christiansen, a Danish former model and onetime Miss Denmark in 1965. When Casablancas was eight, his parents divorced. He once stated that he wanted to be closer to his father, and this, "translated into teenage rebelliousness." His paternal grandfather, Fernando Casablancas, was a well-known textile businessman in Sabadell, Spain. After his parents divorced, 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. Julian's father died of cancer in July 2013.

Julian Casablancas and the Voidz (stylised as Julian Casablancas+The Voidz and occasionally JCVZ), or simply The Voidz or Voidz, are an American rock band formed 2013 as a project of Julian Casablancas of The Strokes. The band consists of Casablancas (lead vocals) as well as Jeramy "Beardo" Gritter (guitar), Amir Yaghmai (guitar), Jacob "Jake" Bercovici (bass guitar, synthesizers), Alex Carapetis (drums, percussion), Jeff Kite (keys) and Shawn Everett (production).

Formation and history

Jeff Kite, Alex Carapetis and Jake Bercovici had all worked with Casablancas previously. Kite and Carapetis appeared as part of the Sick Six live band (which also featured Danielle Haim), that backed Casablancas when touring his first solo album, Phrazes for the Young. Kite and Carapetis, along with Bercovici, also worked on "I Like the Night", a song Casablancas recorded as part of an advertising campaign he fronted for the French fashion label, Azzaro. Casablancas enjoyed working with the band, and chose to collaborate with other musicians, in a similar format to the Sick Six, when recording his next album. Casablancas, Carapetis, Bercovici and Kite, along with mutual friends Jeramy Gritter and Amir Yaghmai formed the Voidz and began writing music together.