In 1984, Garnier started working as a waiter for the French Embassy in London. He started to play with DJ Nelson a.k.a. DJ Stan in French club. Then, he stayed there for a year and a half before moving to Manchester in 1986. Living in England he discovered the booming UK house scene and started DJing.

In 1987, he discovered The Haçienda in Manchester, and met Mike Pickering the resident DJ. Chicago house and Detroit techno became popular, and Garnier started mixing there under the name of DJ Pedro.

In 1988, he went back to France to fulfill his military obligations. He also spent some time in New York City where he met Frankie Knuckles. Garnier shifted his attention back to France in the early 1990s, running the Wake Up parties at the Rex Club in Paris for three years, and in Dijon from 1990 to 1994 at L’An-Fer while in 1992 he played a three-night long Weekender set at the Cork venue, Sir Henry’s. He also mixed in clubs such as le Palace or le Boy, DJing in rave parties and gradually moving into recording as well. For the FNAC label, Garnier released “French Connection” and the A Bout de Souffle EP. After that label went out of business, he formed the F Communications label with Eric Morand (a friend who had also worked for Fnac).

His first album, Shot in the Dark, was released in 1995. His second, 30, appeared in 1997 and included one of Garnier’s best selling singles, “Crispy Bacon”. 30 was followed by the retrospective Early Works. After appearing worldwide with DJ appearances during the late 1990s, Garnier returned to production with Unreasonable Behaviour, released in early 2000, which featured one of his best known songs, “The Man with the Red Face”.