Kendji Girac

Kendji Girac (real name Kendji Jason Maillé) was born in Périgueux, Dordogne, on July 3, 1996. A member of the Traveller community, he attracted attention when one of his songs was posted on his video-sharing channel. A few months later, the eighteen-year-old singer joined the cast of the third season of The Voice, la plus belle voix, winning on May 10, 2014. Launched into the professional world, he asserts his gypsy and Catalan origins and meets with success with the song "Color Gitano", taken from a first EP comprising four covers. Three months later, Kendji releases his debut album, which remains at number one in the charts for twelve weeks, buoyed by the other chart-topping singles "Andalouse" (No. 3), "Elle m'a aimé" (No. 22) and "Conmigo " (No. 7). The album finally reaches the million-selling mark, and Kendji Girac is twice honored at the 2014 MTV Music Awards. After a French-English duet with Ariana Grande on "One Last Time (Attends moi)", he tours and then receives another award at the 2015 MTV Music Awards for the track "Conmigo". The second album, entitled Ensemble, was released in autumn 2015. Beaten by the title track "Me Quemo" (No. 7), it again reaches the top of the sales charts and provides further success with "Les Yeux de la mama" (No. 5) and the Hispanic duet "No Me Mires Mas" with rapper Soprano (No. 7). The following year, Kendji Girac embarked on a Zenith tour and was accepted into the Les Enfoirés troupe. Back in the spring of 2018 with the track "Maria Maria" (No. 8), the "gypsy pop" performer added urban sounds to his third album Amigo (August 2018), featuring the tracks "Pour oublier" (No. 15) and "Tiago", as well as a duet with Claudio Capéo on "Que Dieu me pardonne". The following album Mi Vida (2020), featuring the tracks "Habibi" and "Dernier métro", with Gims, also includes contributions from Dadju and Soolking. After an absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the popular singer returned with his 5th album L'École de la Vie (2022), which reached number one and included duets with Vianney, Naps, Soprano, Florent Pagny and Soolking once again. On April 21, 2024, his life was turned upside down when, under the influence of drugs, he shot himself in the chest after a domestic dispute. The affair caused quite a stir before the October release of the album Vivre..., which achieved more modest success, reaching #4 in the charts. An edition with five new acoustic piano/vocal versions, Vivre... Noël Acoustique, follows at the end of the year.