Julian Fernando Casablancas (born August 23, 1978) is an American singer, producer, and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist of the rock bands The Strokes and The Voidz. In addition to his work with The Strokes, Casablancas 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 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.
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 Miss Denmark (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 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.