Not One More Time: Dance Music Duo Daft Punk Split

French electronic music band Daft Punk have announced they are splitting up. (Reuters)
French electronic music band Daft Punk have announced they are splitting up. (Reuters)
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Not One More Time: Dance Music Duo Daft Punk Split

French electronic music band Daft Punk have announced they are splitting up. (Reuters)
French electronic music band Daft Punk have announced they are splitting up. (Reuters)

French electronic music band Daft Punk have announced they are splitting up, industry title Variety quoted their publicist as saying on Monday, ending a 28-year collaboration that spawned dance hits including “Around the World” and “One More Time.”

The group, known for performing while dressed as robots in metallic helmets, posted a video on YouTube entitled "Epilogue," with an image that flashed on screen bearing the dates 1993-2021.

Variety quoted their publicist, Kathryn Frazier, as saying they had split, but without providing details. Frazier’s firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Daft Punk were a duo of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo from France who met at school in Paris.

They emerged as a major mainstream international act when their song “Harder Better Faster Stronger” was nominated for a best dance recording Grammy award in 2008.

Their biggest success was with the album “Random Access Memories”. It was named album of the year at the 2013 Grammy awards and the hit single from the album, “Get Lucky,” featuring US performer Pharrell Williams, won the Grammy for record of the year.



Doctor to Plead Guilty to Supplying Ketamine to ‘Friends’ Star Matthew Perry 

Matthew Perry appears at the GQ Men of the Year Party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2022. (AP) 
Matthew Perry appears at the GQ Men of the Year Party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2022. (AP) 
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Doctor to Plead Guilty to Supplying Ketamine to ‘Friends’ Star Matthew Perry 

Matthew Perry appears at the GQ Men of the Year Party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2022. (AP) 
Matthew Perry appears at the GQ Men of the Year Party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2022. (AP) 

A California doctor charged in the overdose death of "Friends" star Matthew Perry has agreed to plead guilty to four counts of illegal distribution of the drug ketamine, according to a court filing on Monday.

Salvador Plasencia, who operated an urgent care clinic in Malibu, faces up to 40 years in prison, according to a statement from prosecutors. He is expected to enter the guilty plea in the coming weeks.

Plasencia was one of five people charged in the death of Perry at age 54. An autopsy found the actor died from acute effects of ketamine and other factors that caused him to lose consciousness and drown in his hot tub in October 2023.

Ketamine is a short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties. It is sometimes prescribed to treat depression and anxiety but also abused by recreational users.

In the plea agreement, Plasencia admitted to injecting Perry with ketamine at the actor's home and in a Santa Monica parking lot in the weeks before his death, in exchange for thousands of dollars, and that it was "not for legitimate medical purposes."

Plasencia obtained the ketamine from another doctor, Mark Chavez of San Diego. According to earlier court filings, Plasencia texted Chavez about Perry, saying: "I wonder how much this moron will pay."

Chavez and two other defendants already have pleaded guilty in the case. None has yet been sentenced.

A fifth defendant, Jasveen Sangha, whom authorities said was a drug dealer known to customers as the "ketamine queen," has been charged with supplying the dose that killed Perry. She has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go on trial in August.

Perry had publicly acknowledged decades of substance abuse, including during the years he starred as Chandler Bing on the hit 1990s television sitcom "Friends."