Joyce Jonathan (born 3 November 1989) is a French singer and songwriter. Her first album ''Sur mes gardes'' went gold in May 2010 only five months after its release, and was certified platinum less than a year later. On 23 January 2011 she received the

NRJ Music Awards 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 televisi ...

for Francophone Breakthrough of the Year.

Early life

Joyce was born in

Levallois-Perret Levallois-Perret () is a Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department and Île-de-France Regions of France, region of north-central France. It lies on the right bank of the Seine, some from the Kilometre z ...

, the youngest of a family of three girls. Her mother is the director of a travel agency and her father is an architect. She was educated at the

École alsacienne The École alsacienne is a co-educational private school located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. The school was founded by a group of French Alsatians after the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. It then became a model for reforming th ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and studied psychology at the university level. At the age of seven, she learned to play the piano and began composing her first songs secretly. She pursued her musical interests with voice and piano lessons, being influenced by artists such as Teri Moses and

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 ...

. At the age of 16, Joyce Jonathan posted three of her compositions on the site

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

, promoting them to Michael Goldman, co-founder of the new label ''My Major Company ''. In December 2007, at the age of 18, Joyce Jonathan was launched on the website of the label ''My Major Company''. On 13 May 2008, 486 internet backers provided the 70,000 euros needed to start production of her album. Six months after its release, the web-producers of Joyce Jonathan had already recouped their investment

Career

With internet backing, Jonathan began recording her first album in 2008, with the help of

Louis Bertignac Louis Laurent Bertignac (; born 23 February 1954) is a French guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. An ex Shakin' Street member and a founding member in 1976 of the rock band Téléphone, he formed Bertignac et les Visiteurs after Téléphone sp ...

(guitarist of the band ''

Téléphone Téléphone () was a French rock band formed in 1976. Their first, self-titled album was released in 1977; by the end of the decade they were one of the biggest French rock bands in the world, opening shows for The Rolling Stones in Paris, Queb ...

''). Reputedly impressed by the talent and voice of the young artist, he agreed to assist her on the arrangement of her songs, working together with her in his studio for a year. Joyce also recorded a duet with

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, sol ...

, ''Sur mes gardes''. Her two singles, "Je ne sais pas" and "Pas besoin de toi", were included in her first album "Sur mes gardes," released in January 2010, and certified gold after only five months. In August, the album ranked first in sales of albums for download. In 2011, she won the category ''Francophone Breakthrough of the year'' of the NRJ Music Awards 2011. She has just recorded a song "Mystères" with Pétula Clark. Her second album, ''Caractère'', was released in June 2013, including the single ''

Ça ira Ça Ira (; French: "It'll be fine") is an emblematic song of the French Revolution, first heard in May 1790. It underwent several changes in wording, all of which used the title words as part of the refrain. Original version The original word ...

''. She was nominated at the ''NRJ Music Awards'' for best female singer and best song. Joyce Jonathan released her song "Le Bonheur" in September 2015. It is the first single of her 3rd album, ''Une place pour moi'', which was released on 5 February 2016. On 4 May 2018, Joyce Jonathan released her single "On", which is also a track on her album of the same name, which was released in October 2018. In May 2021, Jonathan began releasing singles in anticipation of her sixth studio album, ''Les p'tites jolies choses''. The complete album was released on 25 March 2022 and has two parts. The first, part "A" has 12 songs with a more pop style and includes the titular song and others such as "À la vie comme à la mort" with

Jason Mraz Jason Thomas Mraz ( ; born June 23, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He rose to prominence with the release of his debut studio album, ''Waiting for My Rocket to Come'' (2002), which spawned the single "The Remedy (I Won't Wo ...

. Part "B," also titled ''Toi et moi'', has six songs with more jazz influence and was co-written and co-produced with

Ibrahim Maalouf Maalouf (, ; born 5 November 1980) is a French-Lebanese trumpeter, producer, arranger, and composer. In 2022, he became the first Lebanese instrumentalist nominated at the Grammy Awards for his album ''Queen of Sheba'' in collaboration with Ang� ...

. In 2024, she participated in season 5 of the Chinese variety show Sisters Who Make Waves
Ride the wind 2024
featuring 36 female celebrities aging from 29 to 54, from different sectors of the entertainment industry, including singers, actors, dancers, etc. Jonathan was one of the 7 foreign participants. And she is only foreign player in a team with 12 members.

Personal life

Jonathan gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Ghjulia, on 2 November 2020. She has not, however, revealed the full identity of the father, who is originally from

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

. When they were both attending the

, she had a relationship with politician and former

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Gabriel Attal Gabriel Nissim Attal de Couriss (; born 16 March 1989) is a French politician who was the prime minister of France from January to September 2024. He was the youngest and the first openly Gay man, gay prime minister in French history. A member ...

, but Jonathan said that the relationship was merely "a joke between us" and "a playtime crush". In 2024, she was invited to participate in Mango TV’s self-produced music competition variety show——"Chengfeng 2024".

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

*Did not appear on the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather on the Ultratip chart.

References

External links

*
Joyce Jonathan page on My Major Company website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jonathan, Joyce 1989 births Living people People from Levallois-Perret French women guitarists Participants in French reality television series 21st-century French singers 21st-century French women singers 21st-century French guitarists 21st-century French women guitarists Polydor Records artists Universal Music France artists Warner Music France artists