David Grammont (12 October 1967 – 16 February 2021), better known under his stage name Tonton David was a French

Reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

singer born in

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 ...

. He was renowned for his

ragga Raggamuffin music (or simply ragga) is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music with heavy use of sampling. Wayne Smith's " Under Mi Sleng Teng", produced by King Jammy in 1985 on a ...

muffin performances, but used influences of

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps ...

, gro kâ (from the French West Indies), the Zairian

rumba The term rumba may refer to a variety of unrelated music styles. Originally, "rumba" was used as a synonym for "party" in northern Cuba, and by the late 19th century it was used to denote the complex of secular music styles known as Cuban rumba ...

Biography

Tonton David had a turbulent childhood in a suburb of Paris. He left his family aged 14 and had a successful career in music with songs featuring powerful and political lyrics. In 1990, Tonton David had his big break when he was featured in a TV report about " Black Paris". Following that performance, Tonton David was signed by the Virgin record label. Shortly after, he recorded "Peuples du monde", which was featured in French rap compilation ''Rapattitudes''. ''Le blues de la racaille'' released on 2 December 1991, was his debut album in which he explored social issues such as unemployment, poverty and racism, becoming a figurehead for a whole generation of disenchanted French youth. In 1991, he performed in front of an audience of 12,000 music fans at the Fête des Kafs in Saint Denis, La Réunion and in 1992 at Reggae Sunsplash festival in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

. In 1993, he released his second album ''Allez leur dire'' recorded in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

. "Sûr et certain" taken from the same album was released as a single. 1995 saw his biggest success to date with the release of the song "Chacun sa route", which was used in the soundtrack of the film ''

Un indien dans la ville ''Un indien dans la ville'' (''An Indian in the city'') is a 1994 French film directed by Hervé Palud. The film had a limited English language release under the title ''Little Indian, Big City''. The film was a box office success, grossing $70. ...

''. His third album ''Récidiviste'' in 1995 included the single "Pour tout le monde pareil" and featured a collaboration with rai star

Cheb Mami Mohamed Khelifati (; born 11 July 1966), better known by his stage name Cheb Mami (), is an Algerians, Algerian musician and singer-songwriter. He sings and speaks in Algerian Arabic and sometimes in Mashriqi Arabic, Eastern Arabic dialects or ...

in "Fugitifs". His fourth album ''Faut qu'ça arrête'' was more heavily influenced by Haitian music, after he collaborated with Haitian musician Papa Jube. Victim of a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

in Metz, France, his death was announced 2 days later in hospital of Nancy, on 16 February 2021.

Discography

Albums

*1991: ''Le blues de la racaille'' *1994: ''Allez leur dire'' *1995: ''Récidiviste'' *1999: ''Faut qu'ça arrête'' *2002: ''Best Of'' (compilation album) *2005: ''Babelou, la gagne'' *2006: ''Livret de famille'' *2006: ''Il marche seul'' *2009: ''Ma gouille''

Singles

*1990: "Peuple du monde" (FR #32) *1994: "Chacun sa route" (with K.O.D.) *1994: "Sûr et certain" (FR #9) *1994: "Ma Number One" (FR #17) *1994: "Il marche seul" (FR #29) *1995: "Fugitif" (with

(FR #30) ;Featured in *2005: "La gagne" ( Intouchable feat. Tonton David) (FR #40)

References

1967 births 2021 deaths French reggae musicians French reggae singers Musicians from Réunion {{france-musician-stub Singers from Réunion