Christophe Martichon (; born 16 October 1975), better known by his stage name Christophe Maé (), is a

French pop French pop music is pop music sung in the French language. It is usually performed by singers from France, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, or any of the other francophone areas of the world. The target audience is the francophone market (primari ...

singer.

Career

Maé learned to play the violin at age five, and later began playing the guitar and

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

at age 16 after he was immobilised from chronic polyarthritis. He has stated that this was the time when he discovered

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

's music which inspired him to take up playing the harmonica. He also discovered

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive voca ...

's music to whom, years later, he dedicates a song: "Mon père spirituel". It is at the same period that he started playing the

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

. In 2005 he rose to fame by playing the role of Monsieur, brother of King

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

in the musical " Le Roi Soleil", for which he won the

NRJ Music Award An NRJ Music Award (commonly abbreviated as an NMA) is an award presented by the French radio station NRJ to honor the best in the French and worldwide music industry. The awards ceremony, created in 2000 by NRJ in partnership with the televisio ...

for revelation of the year 2006.

Releases

Maé's first album was entitled ''Sa Danse Donne'', and released in 2002–2003. This album is not considered his first studio album. He released his first studio album, '' Mon paradis'' (My Paradise) on 19 March 2007, with the singles "On s'attache", "Parce qu'on sait jamais" and "Ça fait mal". His fourth single is "Belle Demoiselle". ''Mon Paradis'' was France's second best-selling album of 2007 after ''

Life in Cartoon Motion ''Life in Cartoon Motion'' is the debut album released by British singer-songwriter Mika. The album was produced by Greg Wells, mixed by Wells, with co-production on two songs by Jodi Marr and John Merchant. The album was released via Casabl ...

'' by Mika, selling more than 1 600 000 albums to date. In 2010, Maé's second studio album, ''On trace la route'', was released. It has sold more than 600,000 units to date. In 2013, Maé's third studio album "Je veux du bonheur ", was released. It ranked number one of the top French album during its first week of release with 103,680 copies to date. The album was sold more than 500,000 units to date in July 2014. In 2016, Maé's fourth studio album "L'attrape-rêves ", was released. It ranked number one of the top French album for 5 weeks. Until the end of 2016, it has sold 300,000 units to date.

Musical style

Maé's music is largely acoustic. He has cited

Ben Harper Benjamin Charles Harper (born October 28, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae, and rock music, and he is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, liv ...

Tracy Chapman Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter, widely known for her hit singles " Fast Car" (1988) and " Give Me One Reason" (1995). She was signed to Elektra Records by Bob Krasnow in 1987. The following year she rel ...

, and Jack Johnson as well as French singer-songwriters

Francis Cabrel Francis Christian Cabrel (; born 23 November 1953) is a French singer-songwriter, composer and guitarist. Considered one of the most influential French musical artists of all time, he has released a number of albums falling mostly within the real ...

and

Gérald De Palmas Gérald Gardrinier (; born 14 October 1967 in Saint-Denis, Réunion), better known by his stage name Gérald de Palmas, is a French singer-songwriter. Biography Early life Gérald de Palmas was born in France. His father was a land surveyor ...

as musical influences. As a counter-tenor His voice has a range from A2 to F6 and one fun fact is that he can do whistle notes without even singing them... he's one of the only male French vocalists who actually does this. He allegedly began to learn harmonica as a tribute to

, who is commonly cited as his biggest influence musically.

Personal life

Christophe Maé has two sons, Jules (born March 2008) and Marcel (born August 2013), with his then-longtime girlfriend Nadège Sarron. Sarron operates a dance school which she founded in

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...

, where she lives with her sons. Maé works half the week in Paris, and reunited with his family the rest of the time in the South. He finally proposed to Nadège in 2016 through his song "Ballerine", and the couple married in

Porto-Vecchio Porto-Vecchio (, ; or ; , , or (South)) is a commune in the French department of Corse-du-Sud, on the island of Corsica. Porto-Vecchio is a medium-sized port city placed on a good harbor, the southernmost of the marshy and alluvial east ...

on 29 June 2017.

Philanthropy

Maé has been a member of the Les Enfoirés charity ensemble since 2008."Christophe Maé"
(in French). ''Enfoires.com''. Retrieved 23 February 2017.

Discography

Studio albums

Live album

Singles

Awards

** 2007: French revelation of the year ** 2008: French male artist of the year ** 2008: French song of the year for " On s'attache" ** 2009: French male artist of the year ** 2009: French song of the year for "Belle demoiselle" ** 2013: NRJ Award of Honor ** 2016: Video of the year for "Il est où le bonheur" * Victoires de la musique ** 2008: Public revelation of the year *

World Music Awards The World Music Awards was an international award show founded in 1989 under the patronage of Albert II, Prince of Monaco and co-founder/executive producer John Martinotti. The event was based in Monte Carlo. Awards were presented to the worl ...

** 2008: French artist of the year *Others ** 2008: Winner of song of the year on

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is part ...

** 2014: Winner of song of the year on

References

External links

Official Website

Official Myspace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mae, Christophe 1975 births Living people People from Carpentras French-language singers French pop singers World Music Awards winners Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 21st-century French singers 21st-century French male singers