Benoît "Ben" Poher (born 27 June 1979) is a French singer, songwriter and lyricist. He is the lead singer of French rock band
Kyo and was the lead singer in the
supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to:
* Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields
* Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry
* Supergroup ...
Empyr.
Early life
Poher was born in
Mantes-la-Jolie
Mantes-la-Jolie (, often informally called Mantes) is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region of north-central France. It is located to the west of Paris, from the centre of the capital. Mantes-la-Jolie is a subpre ...
, Yvelines, in the western suburbs of Paris to musician parents. He pursued a musical life while at Ensemble scolaire Notre-Dame "Les Oiseaux" (a French junior high school).
In Kyo
While studying at Notre-Dame "Les Oiseaux" in 1994, Poher met the brothers Fabien and Florian Dubois, and Nicolas Chassagne. They formed a rock band later known as Kyo in 1997. Originally Benoît was a bass player in the band before taking over as lead vocals because of his powerful voice. The band continued practicing and performing and in 2000 released an independent self-titled album ''Kyo''. But it was with their follow-up album ''
le chemin'' in 2003 that made it to number 2 on the French Albums Chart. The third album ''
300 Lésions'' made it to the top of the French Albums Chart in 2004, before the band announced they were discontinuing.
Fight Aids collective
Benoît Poher was heavily involved with his bandmates in the HIV/AIDS campaign, forming Fight Aids, a French collective that released the charity song "
L'Or de nos vies
"L'Or de nos vies" is a 2006 charity single written by French rock band Kyo and its lead singer Benoît Poher and produced by Kyo and François Delabrière. The song was interpreted by a French music collective called Fight Aids.
Charity
The reve ...
". The song was written by Poher with his band Kyo. Artists taking part were:
Anggun
Anggun Cipta Sasmi (; born 29 April 1974), better known as Anggun C. Sasmi or more often mononymously as Anggun, is an Indonesian-born French singer-songwriter and television personality. Born in Jakarta, she began performing at the age of sev ...
,
Bénabar
Bruno Nicolini (born 16 June 1969), better known by his stage name Bénabar, is a French songwriter and singer, who could be compared to Vincent Delerm and other singers from his generation. As many of them he was influenced by Georges Brassens, ...
,
Amel Bent
Amel Bent Bachir ( ar, آمال بنت بشير; born 21 June 1985) is a French R&B and pop singer who gained fame after reaching the semi-finals of season 2 of French TV singing competition ''Nouvelle Star''. She is best-selling artist to come ...
,
Patrick Bruel
Patrick Benguigui (; born 14 May 1959), better known by his stage name Patrick Bruel (), is a French singer-songwriter, actor and professional poker player.
Biography
Early life
Patrick is the son of Pierre Benguigui and Augusta Kammoun, d ...
,
Corneille
Pierre Corneille (; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine.
As a young man, he earned the valuable patronag ...
,
Emma Daumas
Manuelle "Emma" Daumas (born 23 November 1983, in Avignon) is a French singer-songwriter and performer, particularly well known for her participation in '' Star Academy''.
Career
Daumas grew up in a family of music lovers. Her passion for musi ...
,
Jenifer
Jennifer or Jenifer may refer to:
People
*Jennifer (given name)
* Jenifer (singer), French pop singer
* Jennifer Warnes, American singer who formerly used the stage name Jennifer
* Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer
* Daniel Jenifer
Film and televis ...
, Kyo,
Leslie,
Emmanuel Moire
Emmanuel Moire (born 16 June 1979 in Le Mans) is a French singer-songwriter, best known for portraying the role of Louis XIV in the French stage musical ''Le Roi Soleil''.
Moire has released four albums ''(Là) où je pars'' (2006), '' L'Équi ...
,
M. Pokora
Matthieu Tota (; born 26 September 1985), artistically known as Matt Pokora and later M. Pokora (), is a French pop and R&B singer. In 2016, he became a coach for ''The Voice Kids France'' and '' The Voice: la plus belle voix''.
Early life ...
,
Roch Voisine
Joseph Armand Roch Voisine, (born 26 March 1963) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, actor, and radio and television host who lives in Montreal and Paris. He writes and performs material in both English and French. He won the Juno Award for Male V ...
,
Stéphanie de Monaco,
Tété
Tété is a French musician, born in Dakar, Senegal on 25 July 1975. His mother is from Martinique and his father is from Senegal.
Tété is described as the French version of Jeff Buckley. Tété's music can be described as an intimate, solo ...
. The revenues from the sale of the single and downloads was donated to F.A.M. (Fight Aids Monaco) charity,
in support of building a house called "maison de vie" (house of life) near
Avignon
Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the commune ha ...
which offers both psychological and material aid to persons living with either HIV and AIDS and their families.
The song released on 28 July 2006 received wide media coverage and reached number 5 in
SNEP, the French singles chart.
NRJ 12 also broadcast on 15 August 2006, a 24-minute documentary about "making of" of the music video and interviews with participating artists.
In Empyr
After the disbandment of Kyo, in 2007, Poher with another Kyo colleague Florian Dubous joined a French English-language rock band called
Empyr, a supergroup that besides Poher (lead vocalist of the band) and Dubous from Kyo on guitars,
[Que sont devenus les membres du groupe Kyo?]
it included Frédéric Duquesne of Watcha on guitar, Benoît Julliard of band
Pleymo on bass and Jocelyn Moze of
Vegastar on drums. The debut album in 2008 called ''The Peaceful Riot'' charted in France reaching number 17 in France and number 20 in Belgian French charts, also charting in Switzerland. Their first single "New Day" has gained great recognition and radio play. The band released an EP ''Your Skin My Skin'' in 2009 and a second album ''Unicorn'' in 2011.
Songwriting / Composing
Besides writing materials for Kyo and Empyr, Poher has written lyrics and composed songs for a number of well-known artists. He wrote the lyrics for two singles for
Sita
Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, '' Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi ...
(full name Sita Vermeulen) that were included in her album ''L'envers du Décor'' in 2004, namely the title track "L'envers du Décor" and a second hit "Rien à perdre".
In 2005, he also composed the song "Ma religion" for famous French rock musician
Johnny Hallyday
Jean-Philippe Léo Smet (; 15 June 1943 – 5 December 2017), better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and pop singer and actor, credited for having brought rock and roll to France.
During a career spanning 57 ...
. The song was included in Hallyday's album ''Ma vérité''. In 2005, he composed the theme music for ''Allo Quiche'', a French television series broadcast on the French
Canal+
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow unde ...
network. In 2005, he composed for
Jenifer
Jennifer or Jenifer may refer to:
People
*Jennifer (given name)
* Jenifer (singer), French pop singer
* Jennifer Warnes, American singer who formerly used the stage name Jennifer
* Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer
* Daniel Jenifer
Film and televis ...
the single "Le souvenir de ce jour" and in 2006 the single "Regarde-nous" for
Emma Daumas
Manuelle "Emma" Daumas (born 23 November 1983, in Avignon) is a French singer-songwriter and performer, particularly well known for her participation in '' Star Academy''.
Career
Daumas grew up in a family of music lovers. Her passion for musi ...
and in 2007, "Le Sourire" for
Emmanuel Moire
Emmanuel Moire (born 16 June 1979 in Le Mans) is a French singer-songwriter, best known for portraying the role of Louis XIV in the French stage musical ''Le Roi Soleil''.
Moire has released four albums ''(Là) où je pars'' (2006), '' L'Équi ...
. In 2011, he wrote "Je reste" for
Amel Bent
Amel Bent Bachir ( ar, آمال بنت بشير; born 21 June 1985) is a French R&B and pop singer who gained fame after reaching the semi-finals of season 2 of French TV singing competition ''Nouvelle Star''. She is best-selling artist to come ...
. He also wrote for the French singer
Cocovan.
[
Poher has written for a number of famous stage acts. He wrote "Mon essentiel" for the French musical comedy '' Le Roi Soleil'', and co-wrote the song "Une autre vie" of the French stage production ''Cléopâtre'',][ as well as "Le Ciel et l'Enfer" for the French musical production ''Dracula, l'amour plus fort que la mort''.
]
In Kyo comeback (2013)
In July 2013, Poher announced he was joining his old bandmates in Kyo for a comebackPure People: Kyo – Le retour du groupe de Benoît Poher, c'est pour 'bientôt'
and launched the band's new album ''L'équilibre'' in 2014 with two single releases, the title track "L'équilibre" and the single "Le Graal", both with accompanying music videos.
Personal life
On 25 August 2007, Benoît married Laetitia after a long relationship stretching to their adolescence. The couple have a son, Joshua, born in 2010.
His reputation was marred by his vocal support of the controversial French 2006 law DADVSI
Loi DADVSI (generally pronounced as ''dadsi'') is the abbreviation of the French ''Loi relative au droit d’auteur et aux droits voisins dans la société de l’information'' (in English: "law on authors' rights and related rights in the inform ...
(the abbreviation of the French ''Loi sur le Droit d’Auteur et les Droits Voisins dans la Société de l’Information'' (in English: "law on authors' rights and related rights in the information society)), particularly after he cited a similar law in China that had led to the arrests of several offenders. However he disassociated himself of any further support in an interview in 2011.
Discography
''For discography with Kyo, see discography
Discography is the study and cataloging of published sound recordings, often by specified artists or within identified music genres. The exact information included varies depending on the type and scope of the discography, but a discography entry ...
''
''For discography with Empyr, see discography
Discography is the study and cataloging of published sound recordings, often by specified artists or within identified music genres. The exact information included varies depending on the type and scope of the discography, but a discography entry ...
''
References
External links
Facebook
Discogs
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poher, Benoit
1979 births
French male songwriters
French songwriters
Male songwriters
Living people
People from Mantes-la-Jolie
21st-century French singers
21st-century French male singers