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Artists, groups, and people: French-language popular music: chanson, variete, French pop, and yeye

132 articles

Abd al Malik (musician)

Abd al Malik, born Régis Fayette-Mikano in Paris in 1975, is a French rapper, slam poet, and author who founded the Strasbourg group New African Poets and broke through with Gibraltar in 2006.

Alain Chamfort

Alain Chamfort, born Alain Le Govic in Paris in 1949, is a French singer-songwriter known for the Serge Gainsbourg songs "Manureva" (1979) and "Bambou", and for the album L'Impermanence (2024).

Alain Souchon

Alain Souchon is a French singer-songwriter born in 1944 whose debut hit 'J'ai dix ans' launched a career of more than 10 million albums sold and ten Victoires de la musique.

Aliocha Schneider

Aliocha Schneider is a Quebec actor and singer-songwriter born in Paris in 1993 and raised in Montreal, who broke through in French pop with his 2023 album and the duet "Ensemble" with Charlotte Cardin.

Amir (musician)

Amir Haddad is a French-Israeli singer-songwriter, born in Paris in 1984, a finalist on The Voice in 2014 whose Eurovision 2016 song "J'ai cherché" placed sixth with 257 points.

André Claveau

André Claveau (1911–2003) was a French singer and actor, the soft-voiced postwar chanteur de charme who gave France its first Eurovision win with "Dors, mon amour" in 1958.

Anisha

Anisha, also known as Anisha Jo, is a French singer born in Madagascar who won the tenth season of Star Academy in 2022 and released her debut album Lumière in 2023.

Annie Philippe

Annie Philippe is a French yé-yé singer, born in Paris in 1946, whose recording career ran from 1965 to about 1971 and whose hit "Ticket de quai" sold over a million copies.

Areski Belkacem

Areski Belkacem, known as Areski (1940–2026), was a French avant-garde chanson multi-instrumentalist of Kabyle origin who composed for his partner Brigitte Fontaine for over five decades and released only three solo albums.

Arno

Arno (Arnold Hintjens, 1949–2022) was a Belgian singer, frontman of TC Matic, known for a husky voice and lyrics mixing English, French, and Ostend dialect.

Astéréotypie

Astéréotypie is a French post-punk collective formed in 2010 at a medico-educational institute in Bourg-la-Reine, whose young autistic singers perform their own lyrics with professional musicians, several from Moriarty.

Barbara

Barbara, born Monique Serf (1930–1997), was a French singer-songwriter of the rive gauche chanson tradition, counted with Brel and Brassens among the "three Bs", best known for "L'Aigle noir" (1970).

Beau Dommage

Beau Dommage is a Quebec folk-rock band formed around 1972 around singer Michel Rivard, whose 1974 debut sold 300,000 copies and produced standards like 'Le blues d'la métropole'.

Ben l'Oncle Soul

Ben l'Oncle Soul is the stage name of Benjamin Duterde, a French soul singer born in 1984 in Tours, who broke through with his 2010 album and hit "Soulman".

Bernard Lavilliers

Bernard Lavilliers, born Bernard Oulion in 1946 in Saint-Étienne, is a French singer-songwriter known since 1975 for fusing poetic chanson with rock, reggae, and salsa.

Biga*Ranx

Biga*Ranx, also written Biga Ranx, is the stage name of Gabriel Piotrowski, born 1988, a French reggae and dancehall artist from Tours credited as a leading figure of vapor dub.

Bigflo & Oli

Bigflo & Oli are a French rap duo formed by brothers Florian and Olivio Ordonez from Toulouse, with a diamond-certified album and more than 3.5 billion streams.

Bilal Hassani

Bilal Hassani (بلال حسني), born 1999 in Orsay, France, is a singer and former YouTuber who won Destination Eurovision 2019 and represented France at Eurovision in Tel Aviv with "Roi".

Black M (musician)

Black M, also known as Black Mesrimes, is a French rapper-singer born Alpha Diallo in Paris in 1984, known for Sexion d'Assaut and his solo debut Les yeux plus gros que le monde.

Bourvil

Bourvil, stage name of André Robert Raimbourg (1917–1970), was a French singer and comic actor from Normandy who recorded around 300 songs and starred in 62 films.

Charles Trenet

Charles Trenet (1913–2001) was a French singer-songwriter and defining figure of chanson, known as the "fou chantant" and for "La Mer", one of the most recorded songs in history.

Chimène Badi

Chimène Badi is a French singer, born in 1982, discovered on the TV show Popstars in 2002; her debut single "Entre nous" topped the French chart in 2003.

Christophe

Christophe, born Daniel Bevilacqua in 1945, was a French singer-songwriter whose 1965 hit "Aline" made him a yé-yé idol; he died in 2020 at 74.

Claude Barzotti

Claude Barzotti, born Francesco Barzotti (1953–2023), was a Belgian singer of Italian origin whose ballad 'Le Rital' topped the French chart for seven weeks in 1983.

Corinne Marchand

Corinne Marchand, stage name of Denise Marchand, is a French singer and actress best known as Cléo in Agnès Varda's Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962).

Corridor

Corridor is a Montreal-based francophone indie rock band with interlocking guitars and pop hooks sung in French, the first Francophone act signed to Sub Pop, in 2019.

Daniel Lavoie

Daniel Lavoie, born in 1949 in Dunrea, Manitoba, is a Canadian francophone singer-songwriter known for "Ils s'aiment" and for originating Frollo in Notre-Dame de Paris.

David Hallyday

David Hallyday, born David Smet in 1966, is a French singer-songwriter, son of Johnny Hallyday and Sylvie Vartan, known for "High" (1988) and for composing his father's album Sang pour sang.

Deluxe

Deluxe is a six-member French band formed in 2007 in Aix-en-Provence, playing music with funk and hip-hop accents and known for its moustache symbol and logo.

Desireless

Desireless (Claudie Fritsch-Mentrop), born 1952 in Paris, is a French pop singer whose 1986 synth-pop hit "Voyage, voyage" topped charts across Europe and sold over 500,000 copies in France.