Matthieu Chedid (born 21 December 1971), better known by his stage name -M-, is a French rock singer-songwriter and guitar player. Since 2018, he has been the most awarded artist at the

Victoires de la Musique Victoires de la Musique (; en, Victories of Music) is an annual French award ceremony where the Victoire accolade is delivered by the French Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The classical and jazz ...

Awards with 13 awards, tied with

Alain Bashung Alain Bashung (, born Alain Claude Baschung; 1 December 1947 – 14 March 2009) was a French singer, songwriter and actor. Credited with reviving the French chanson in "a time of French musical turmoil", he is often regarded in his home country a ...

Biography

Matthieu Chedid was born in

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious commune in the Parisian area, located from its centre. It is a subprefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and t ...

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a département in the Île-de-France region, Northern France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, the son of French singer Louis Chedid, and the grandson of the Egyptian-born French writer and poet of Lebanese descent

Andrée Chedid Andrée Chedid ( ar, أندريه شديد) (20 March 1920 – 6 February 2011), born Andrée Saab Khoury, was an Egyptian-French poet and novelist of Syrian/Lebanese descent. She is the recipient of numerous litera ...

who has written lyrics for him. His sisters are the music video and concert director Émilie Chedid (born in 1970) and French singer Anna Chedid (born in 1987), also known by her stage name of Nach. His brother Joseph Chedid (born in 1986), also known by his stage name of Selim, is also a French singer and a guitar and drums player. Chedid took an interest in music early on. In 1978, at the age of six, Chedid lent his voice to the chorus of his father's hit song ''T'as beau pas être beau'' alongside older sister, Émilie. During his teenage years and early twenties, Chedid formed a few short-lasting groups such as ''Tam Tam'' , ''Les Bébés fous'' (the crazy babies) and ''Les Poissons Rouges'' (the goldfishes) with Mathieu Boogaerts and with the sons of

Laurent Voulzy Lucien Voulzy (, born 18 December 1948), better known as Laurent Voulzy (), is a French singer-songwriter, composer and musician. Life and career Voulzy was born in Paris, France. He originally led the English-pop-influenced Le Temple de Vénus ...

and Alain Souchon, Julien Voulzy and Pierre Souchon. He has collaborated with a number of artists, both on stage and in the recording studio. Early into his solo career, Chedid was the opening act for

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

concerts. He has recorded with NTM,

Sinclair Sinclair may refer to: Places * Lake Sinclair, near Milledgeville, Georgia * Sinclair, Iowa * Sinclair, West Virginia * Sinclair, Wyoming * Sinclair Mills, British Columbia * Sinclair Township, Minnesota * Sinclair, Manitoba People * Sin ...

, Billy Ze Kick,

Brigitte Fontaine Brigitte Fontaine, (born 24 June 1939) is a singer of avant-garde music. She has employed numerous unusual musical styles, melding rock and roll, folk, jazz, electronica, spoken word poetry, and world. She has collaborated with Stereolab, Mic ...

Sean Lennon is an American–British musician, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and half-brother to Julian Lennon. Over the course of his career, he has been a member of the bands Cibo Matto, The ...

Vanessa Paradis Vanessa Chantal Paradis (; born 22 December 1972) is a French singer, model, and actress. Paradis became a child star at the age of 14 with the international success of her single "Joe le taxi" (1987). At age 18, she was awarded France's hig ...

, and Johnny Hallyday. Until 2008, Chedid was in a relationship with French actress

Audrey Tautou Audrey Justine Tautou (; born 9 August 1976) is a French actress. She made her acting debut at the age of 18 on television and her feature film debut in '' Venus Beauty Institute'' (1999), for which she received critical acclaim and won the Cés ...

-M-

Chedid performs and records under the stage name ''-M-''. Chedid created ''-M-'' as means of overcoming his shyness on stage and also as a way of distancing his work from that of his father and grandmother. The pseudonym comes from Chedid's first initial but also refers to the similar-sounding French word

aime Aime (; frp, Éma) is a former commune in the Savoie ''département'' in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Aime-la-Plagne.Le Baptême''. During this time; he played mainly solo or with the cellist

Vincent Ségal Vincent Ségal (born 1967 in Reims, France) is a French cellist and bassist. He studied at the National Music Academy of Lyon and the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. He is mainly known for the variety of his collaborations and unusual projec ...

. The album received overall positive critical reception, but public recognition only came a few months later, with the release of the single "Machistador".

''Je dis aime''

In 1999, -M- published his second album, '' Je dis aime'' a title that puns 'aime' (like/love) with 'M'. A few months later, the album was 11th on the French Charts, with more than 500,000 albums sold, thanks to a number of successful songs ("Je dis aime", "Onde Sensuelle", "Monde Virtuel", "Le complexe du corn-flakes", "Mama Sam"). Live, -M- played with Cyril Atef,

Vincent Segal Vincent ( la, Vincentius) is a male given name derived from the Roman name Vincentius, which is derived from the Latin word (''to conquer''). People with the given name Artists *Vincent Apap (1909–2003), Maltese sculptor *Vincent van Gogh ...

and DJ Shalom for the samples on some songs. He still works with his sister Emilie Chedid for the realisation of the clips. His live performance largely contributed to his success, playing on his character of -M- to transform every concert into a show. He won his first

Victoire de la Musique Victoires de la Musique (; en, Victories of Music) is an annual French award ceremony where the Victoire accolade is delivered by the French Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The classical and jazz ...

awards for Male Artist of the Year and Concert of the Year.

"Belleville Rendez-vous" and ''Qui de nous deux''

-M- gained international exposure through his recording of the song "

Belleville Rendez-vous ''The Triplets of Belleville'' (french: Les Triplettes de Belleville) is a 2003 animated comedy film written and directed by Sylvain Chomet. It was released as ''Belleville Rendez-vous'' in the United Kingdom. The film is Chomet's first feature ...

" for the soundtrack of the 2003 Sylvain Chomet animated film '' The Triplets of Belleville'' in both French and English. The song, with lyrics by Chomet and music by Benoit Charest, was nominated for a 2003

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

. The music video for "Belleville Rendez-vous" uses both a live-action depiction of ''-M-'' and an animated depiction incorporated into footage from the film. In autumn 2003, he released his 3rd album '' Qui de nous deux'' (Which one of us two) with the singles "Qui de nous deux", "La bonne étoile", "Mon ego". Softer, this album saw the birth of his first daughter, Billie, for whom an all-pink guitar was built by instrument-maker Cyril Guérin. A pink guitar can be seen in the video for "Qui de nous deux". In 2007, he worked once again with

on her album '' Divinidylle'', released in September 2007.

''Mister Mystère''

Rumors circulated before the release of his 2009 studio album, ''

Mister Mystère ''Mister Mystère'', released in 2009, is the fourth studio album by French singer-songwriter Matthieu Chedid in his persona as -M- (or fifth if including the instrumental album, ''Labo M''). It was his first studio album after a six-year hiatus d ...

'', that Chedid had decided to drop the character ''-M-'' to record and perform under his given name. The album, however, was released under the name ''-M-'' but included photographs of the singer without the wild costumes and hair associated with the ''-M-'' character. The music video for the first single, "Le Roi des ombres", showed Chedid burning a tiny effigy of his alterego.

''Îl'', ''Lamomali'', and ''Lettre infinie''

In autumn 2012, he released the album, ''Îl'', played with Lawrence Clais and Brad Thomas Ackley. He worked with Toumani Diabaté and

Sidiki Diabaté Sidiki Diabaté is a Malian kora player, musician and music producer born in 1992 in Bamako, Mali. He is the son of renowned kora player Toumani Diabaté and grandson of Sidiki Diabaté. Diabaté belongs to the 77th generation of musicians in a ...

on a collective album, ''Lamomali'', released in March 2017 The album also features Philippe Jaroussky as well as

Oxmo Puccino Abdoulaye Diarra (; born 3 August 1974), better known by his stage name Oxmo Puccino (, ), is a French-Malian rapper. Career A longtime hip hop fan, at age 21 Diarra began his collaboration with the fledgling rap collective Time Bomb, honing ...

lending a mesmeric world music flavour to it that celebrates cultural diversity and world peace. In 2019, he released the studio album, ''Lettre infinie'', featuring collaborations from

Thomas Bangalter Thomas Bangalter (; born 3 January 1975) is a French musician, record producer, singer, songwriter, DJ and composer. Son of French music composer and artist Daniel Vangarde. He is best known as one half of the former French house music duo Daft ...

and

Phillipe Zdar Cassius was a French musical duo consisting of producers Philippe Cerboneschi and Hubert Blanc-Francard, better known as Zdar and Boombass (or sometimes Philippe Zdar and Hubert Boombass). Under its different incarnations the duo is likened to ...

. He announced new album, ''R Ê V A L I T É'', to be released in June of 2022.

Awards

Matthieu Chedid holds the gold place in number of

awards, with 13 awards

Discography

Albums

Studio albums Collaborations Live albums Soundtracks Rereleases

Singles

As main artist

Collaborations

Other hits

Charity

*2016: "Vole" (with

Nolwenn Leroy Nolwenn Le Magueresse (; born 28 September 1982), known by her stage name Nolwenn Leroy (), is a French singer-songwriter, musician and actress. Originally classically trained (violin and opera singing), she rose to fame after winning the second ...

, Alain Souchon,

...)

Bibliography

* ''Les Âmes de Mogador'' (2003), with Patrice Renson : tribute to

Essaouira Essaouira ( ; ar, الصويرة, aṣ-Ṣawīra; shi, ⵜⴰⵚⵚⵓⵔⵜ, Taṣṣort, formerly ''Amegdul''), known until the 1960s as Mogador, is a port city in the western Moroccan region of Marakesh-Safi, on the Atlantic coast. It ha ...

( Maroc). A CD of ten unreleased tracks is included. * ''-M-, qui de nous deux'' (2004), with Claude Gassian : book produced during the recording of the album ''Qui de nous deux'' * ''-M- de A à Z'' (2005), by Mathias Goudeau * ''Le monde de -M-'' (2005), with Marianne Chedid, Sonia Rachline and Sophie Laurent : insight on his career, with a lot of pictures * ''-M- le mot dit : esthétique d'un funkistador'' by Marc Borbon: analysis of M's world through a fan's own experience * ''Le Livre Extraordinaire de -M-'' by Lisa Roze: package of an archival photographs, unpublished shootings, a book, postcards, a pop-up, a new song (Si Si No No), etc.

References

External links

Official website (flash)
(French)
Myspace site, including links and concert dates
(French)
RFI Biography
(English)
Interview with ‑M-
(French)
-M- Chedid Online
(Spanish)

(English)
Reference website (2yeuxet1plume / Autour de Matthieu Chedid)
(French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Chedid, Mathieu 1971 births Living people People from Boulogne-Billancourt French singer-songwriters French people of Lebanese descent French rock guitarists French male guitarists 21st-century French singers 21st-century guitarists 21st-century French male singers French male singer-songwriters