Amaury Vassili Chotard (born 8 June 1989) is a French opera singer and professional

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

. His debut album ''Vincerò'' from 2009 went

double platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

in France, and he has had international success with releases in

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South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

Biography

Amaury Vassili Chotard was born in Rouen,

Upper Normandy Upper Normandy (french: Haute-Normandie, ; nrf, Ĥâote-Normaundie) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, Upper and Lower Normandy merged becoming one region called Normandy. History It was created in 1956 from two d ...

, and began singing around the age of 9 years, enrolled by his mother at a musical school in Rouen, created by Albert and Elizabeth Amsallem. At 14, Vassili competed in his first singing contest, where he won in singing "

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

" by Jacques Brel (an idol of Vassili). In Vassili's second contest, in front of a full house, he sang " Les Lacs du Connemara" by

Michel Sardou Michel Charles Sardou (; born 26 January 1947) is a French singer and occasional actor. He is known not only for his love songs ("La maladie d'amour", "Je vais t'aimer"), but also for songs dealing with various social and political issues, su ...

; however he did not qualify for the final, despite receiving a standing ovation from the crowd. During the contest, his mother realised how much he enjoyed being on the stage and especially the impact he had on the public, saying "C'est son truc !" ("it's his thing!"). In 2004, Vassili took first place in the Coupe de France de la chanson française. He became famous with his debut album ''Vincerò'' from 2009, which went

(over 250,000 copies) after a worldwide release. His second album ''Canterò'' was released in November 2010. Vassili describes his music style as "lyrical pop". France at ESC 2011

Eurovision Song Contest 2011

On 27 January 2011, it was announced by the French broadcaster

France Télévisions France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (form ...

, that Vassili would be the French entry at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2011 The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following the country's victory at the with the song "Satellite" by Lena. Organised by the European Broadcasting Uni ...

to be held in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

, Germany. The song was revealed as " Sognu", and was performed in Corsican. It marks the second French Eurovision entry to be performed in the language after

Patrick Fiori Patrick Fiori (; born Patrick Jean-François Chouchayan, 23 September 1969) is a French singer of Armenian descent. Biography Beginnings Fiori was born to a Armenians in France, French-Armenian father (Jacques Chouchayan) and a Corsican people, ...

received fourth place with "

Mama Corsica Mama(s) or Mamma or Momma may refer to: Roles *Mother, a female parent *Mama-san, in Japan and East Asia, a woman in a position of authority *Mamas, a name for female associates of the Hells Angels Places *Mama, Russia, an urban-type settlement ...

" in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

. Vassili eventually placed 15th with 82 points.

After Eurovision-present

Vassili was the spokesperson for France during the

Eurovision Song Contest 2012 The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following the country's victory at the with the song " Running Scared" by the duo Ell & Nikki. It was the first time Azerb ...

and presented the country's voting results. Due to an unknown reason as yet, Georgia did not reveal their votes, leaving only 41 countries voting in total. He participated on the French version of Mask Singer as Turtle and became the first male contestant to win the show

Discography

Albums

Singles

Other songs

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vassili, Amaury 1989 births Living people Musicians from Rouen Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2011 Eurovision Song Contest entrants for France French operatic tenors Opera crossover singers Warner Music France artists 21st-century French singers 21st-century French male singers