Thomas Mars is popular in France and all over Europe as a member of the indie-pop band, Phoenix. However, in America, he is more popular as the husband of the Oscar-winning filmmaker and actress, Sofia Coppola. The two have been together for many years having met in the late 1990s. However, it wasn’t until the 2000s that they started dating and after two children, they finally got married in 2011.
Just as his marriage has been successful thus far, Mars has also enjoyed a successful musical career, that has spanned decades, as a member of Phoenix with which he won a Grammy in 2010.
Who Is Thomas Mars?
It was as Thomas Pablo Croquet that the singer was born in 1976 in his home country of France. As a child growing up, he fell in love with music pretty much early in life, leading him to start his band when he was just 10.
This was not surprising since it is something that has been a part of his whole life as his father was involved in the music business, just as he also had a large collection of classics that he has listened to. This and Thomas’ exposure to people like Sigue Sputnik further encouraged him to continue with music.
5 Things You Didn’t Know About Sofia Coppola’s Husband
1. He Only Spent 4 Days In College
At first, Thomas Mars pursued the normal path of going to college where he started studying economics. However, he dropped out only after 4 days, opting to concentrate on music full time, something he was already obsessed with and as such, no other career path appealed to him.
2. His Band (Phoenix)
Thomas Mars founded Phoenix in the early 1990s with Deck D’Arcy and Chris Mazzalai who are the band’s bassist and guitarist respectively.
When the band first started with Mars, D’Arcy, and Mazzalai, it performed as a garage band before Brancowitz, the older brother of Mazzalai joined after he left his former band, Darlin’. It was after this point that the band began to take shape.
In 2000, the band released its first album, United which was followed by several more albums including Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix which earned it a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 2010.
3. How Thomas Mars met his wife
In 1999, Coppola got married to the American filmmaker and actor, Spike Jonze. Coincidentally, it was around the same time that she met Mars with whom she worked on the soundtrack of her 1999 film, The Virgin Suicides. At the time, they were not romantically involved.
By 2003, the marriage with Sofia came to an end. After that, she was said to have dated Quentin Tarantino briefly from 2003 to 2004, and then in 2005, she started her relationship with the French singer.
The couple had their first child, Romy in 2006 followed by Cosima in 2010. After being together for many years, Mars and Coppola got married in 2011 in Italy, in the garden of a historic palazzo, Bernalda.
The ceremony which took place in the town where the great-grandfather of Sofia was born was attended by close friends and family members of the couple.
4. Thomas Mars Is Younger Than His Wife
As the cliché goes, age is only a number; love is all that matters. Thomas Mars is 6 years younger than his wife, although this has not been a variable for them. More than that, while the actress was once married, Sofia is the first person that Mars is married to.
At the time of their wedding, Coppola was 40 while her husband was 34.
5. The Soundtrack Of His Life
Mars came in contact with many songs that have been significant for him. One of the first songs he listened to was Alan Souchon’s Jamais Content. However, the song that brought him to the new age was Sigue Sputnik’s Love Missile F1-11.
A song that was taught in his school in Versailles, which was a very strict and conservative institution, was the Beatles’ Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da; while the song that helped his band to bond is No More Sorry by My Bloody Valentine.
Other songs that were of equal significance to the French star are Nirvana’s 1993 hit, Heart-Shaped Box while the Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack album by Philip Glass is the album that helps him to unwind.
