Tiersen Yann ( 1970 - till now)
Yann Tiersen was born in Brest June 23rd 1970, in the Finistère Department in Brittany, northwestern France. His parents were of Belgian and Norwegian origin.

Regular school appeared to be quite difficult for Yann Tiersen, but music did interest him already as being a young child. He started learning to play the piano at the age of four and violin at the age of six. Tiersen followed a classical training at the musical academies of Rennes, Nantes and Boulogne and he also studied conducting.

As being a teenager he was influenced by rock & roll and the punk sub-culture. When he broke his violin, he bought himself an electrical guitar and formed his own band. At that time he lived in Rennes, the home place of the three-day music festival Rencontres Trans Musicales, held each year in December. This gave him the opportunity to make contakt with different kinds of music and acts.
After his band broke up, Tiersen bought himself a mixing desk and started recording music solo, with a synthesizer, a sampler and a drum machine. He also started to write music for a number of plays and short films. He wrote his music using an electrical guitar, a violin and his accordeon. In 1995 his first album was released: "La valse des monstres", this was a collection of the works he wrote for film and theater. This first album was limited to 1000 copies only.
One year later, in 1996, the album "Rue des Cascades" was released. The title track of that album was used in the movie "La vie revée des anges." But it was only after the recording of the album "Monochrome", composed by Dominique A., that Tiersen got more publicity. From now on he was heard on the radio, which gave him the opportunity to re-release his previous works. Yet he remained relatively unknown outside France, until, in 2001 his score for the acclaimed film "Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain" was released. It was only by coincidence that the French film director Jean-Pierre Jeunet had heard Tiersen's music. But he found it superb and bought all Tiersen's albums. Thereafter he asked Yann Tiersen to compose the music for the film. In two weeks Tiersen wrote 19 numbers.
After the music for Amélie, Tiersen also wrote the music for the German film "Good bye, Lenin". Tiersen often is mistaken for a composer of soundtracks, but his real focus is on touring and studio albums which just happen to be suitable for films.
Sources: 
http://www.deezer.com/artist/762
http://www.last.fm/music/Yann+Tiersen
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yann_Tiersen
               Works

La valse d'Amélie, accordeon
La noyée, accordeon
Le matin, accordeon
Le banquet, accordeon
Comptine d'un autre été, accordeon
Valse des monstres, accordeon
J'y suis jamais allée, accordeon
La veillée, accordeon
Rue des Cascades, accordeon

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