Benjamin Biolay

Benjamin Biolay, frequently likened to the iconic Serge Gainsbourg, prefers handling vocals himself rather than recruiting figures such as Brigitte Bardot or Françoise Hardy, even though Gainsbourg regularly paired with his discoveries, above all Jane Birkin for the notorious worldwide success “Je T’aime…Moi Non Plus.” The striking, mellifluous Biolay has nevertheless joined forces with select female singers now and then, among them his sister Coralie Clément, herself occasionally likened to Hardy and Birkin. He composed and orchestrated the bulk of tracks for her debut album Salle des Pas Perdus, issued in 2001 and reaching American listeners the following year.

A versatile figure in French chanson, Biolay has extended the genre through original songwriting on the 2007 album Trash Yéyé, honored earlier masters on 2015’s Trenet and on 2018’s Songbook with Melvil Poupaud, and recast tango alongside Latin American cumbia as contemporary French pop on the hit release Palmero Hollywood. The onetime provocateur of French music matured into a respected, prize-winning producer who never diluted his approach. In that role he has highlighted the gifts of established voices including Coralie Clément and Keren Ann while opening fresh sonic avenues for artists such as Vanessa Paradis. His energetic reinterpretation of modern chanson surfaced on the 2020 European chart-topper Grand Prix and continued with the 2022 number-one album Saint-Clair. In 2023 he issued the concert recording À l’auditorium.

Born in Villefranche-sur-Saône in 1973, Biolay grew up with a father who played clarinet in the regional orchestra. As a youth he studied violin at the Lyons Conservatoire; over time his listening expanded to encompass classical composers like Mozart and Beethoven, American rock and pop from Chuck Berry and the Beatles, and traditional French repertoire by Trenet. He later took up tuba, trombone, guitar, and piano. At thirteen he encountered Gainsbourg’s Histoire de Melody Nelson, an album that would shape his own 2001 concept recording Rose Kennedy. During his late teens and early twenties he performed in several bands, among them Wind? and Mateo Gallion, the latter releasing an unsuccessful CD in 1994. Signed to EMI as a solo artist in 1996, his first singles failed to register. In 1999 he met Keren Ann Zeidel, with whom he co-wrote the 2000 French success “Jardin D’hiver” for Henri Salvador’s comeback set Chambre Avec Vue. Further joint projects with Keren Ann followed on Biographie de Luka Philipsen (2000) and La Disparition (2002). He has also collaborated in varying capacities with Hubert Mounier (Cleet Boris), Isabelle Boulay, Françoise Hardy, and Jane Birkin.

Biolay’s first full-length, the 2001 concept album Rose Kennedy, presented hushed vocals, rich string arrangements, and reflective lyrics centered on the Kennedy family and Marilyn Monroe, largely from matriarch Rose’s perspective, incorporating spoken excerpts that recalled the era when JFK occupied the White House, Robert served as attorney general, and Monroe appeared on screen. Apart from English samples drawn from Some Like It Hot and Monroe’s “River of No Return,” the record remained in French and never appeared in the United States. That same year he issued the Remix EP containing seven reworked Rose Kennedy tracks; the album surpassed 75,000 copies and earned gold certification.

In 2002 Biolay entered a Franco-Italian acting lineage by marrying Chiara Mastroianni, daughter of Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni. The following year he released Négatif, which included appearances by both Chiara and Coralie. He also supplied songs and production for Valérie Lagrange’s Fleuve Congo, arranged and co-produced Julien Clerc’s Où S’en Vont les Avions?, contributed substantially to Juliette Gréco’s Aimez-Vous les uns les Autres ou Bien Disparaissez, and added string arrangements to Carla Bruni’s Comme Si de Rien N’Était. In 2004 he composed the score for the film Clara et Moi, blending his own songs performed with friends and select classical excerpts. His next studio album, 2005’s L’Origine, mixed indie pop, chamber strings, and, for the first time, electronic rhythms and loops; it featured duets with Hardy and Michel Becquet and received widespread international praise. A lengthy New York Times profile titled “Pop Star” appeared around this time. Immediately afterward he produced and arranged projects for Hubert Mounier, Daphné, and Marie-Amélie Seigner.

Over the ensuing two years Biolay wrote, produced, arranged, and collaborated on numerous recordings by an eclectic roster ranging from Hardy to Élodie Frégé, whose album Le Jeu des 7 Erreurs sold 100,000 copies in France, earned Étoiles de la Musique’s “Révélation Française de L’Année,” and won best song for “La Ceinture,” penned by Biolay. Simultaneously he composed fifty-six songs for his final Virgin/EMI release, Trash Yéyé, ultimately selecting twelve; although sales were modest, critical response opened the door for his 2010 double album La Superbe on Naïve. That record surveyed sensual aspects of French life through styles spanning jazzy chanson, indie rock, trip-hop, EDM, and cabaret, achieved double-platinum status with more than 240,000 copies sold, and secured two French Grammy awards for Best Male Artist and Best Album.

True to his unpredictable nature, Biolay bypassed touring after this success and instead issued Pourquoi Tu Pleures? (Musiques Inspirées Du Film) in 2011, music from the motion picture in which he starred. The album presented distinctive pairings with actress Sarah Adler, African duo Amadou & Mariam, and Luis Mariano. In 2012 he acted and performed in Pop’pea, a rock adaptation of Claudio Monteverdi’s Baroque opera The Coronation of Poppea staged by the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. He also produced a posthumous collection for Henri Salvador and albums for Daphné, Julia Stone, and Elisa Jo, released a televised concert from Casino Paris, and contributed a song to Petula Clark’s self-titled comeback album. Most notably, 2012 brought his own album Vengeance, whose fourteen tracks yielded two charting singles—“Aime Mon Amour” and the Vanessa Paradis duet “Profite”—and attained gold status.

Biolay reciprocated in 2013 by producing, arranging, and singing on Paradis’s comeback Love Songs and joining her touring band. In the following years he remained busy in the studio, producing recordings for Charlélie Couture and Karen Brunon among others. Late in 2014 he signed with Barclay and, a year later, delivered Trenet, a spare, respectful set of covers paying tribute to the celebrated French songwriter, recorded with guitarist/bassist Nicolas Fiszman and drummer Denis Benarrosh. Sales and reviews proved average, yet Biolay pressed on, spending the next year in a storied Buenos Aires district writing and recording. Spring 2016 saw the release of Palermo Hollywood, titled after a neighborhood in the Argentine capital. He characterized the album as “the impression of two cities and two hemispheres.” Its sixteen songs, tracked in Argentina and France, drew, in his words, from Ennio Morricone soundtracks, French chanson, electro cumbia, chamamé, modern big-band jazz, pop/rock, loops and beats, tango, and his passion for futbol. The title-track single reached the French Top Five and appeared in various global Top Tens. Still immersed in his Argentine sojourn, he followed with the fifteen-track Volver less than a year later, fusing neo-cumbia, electro, rock & roll, and classic nouveau chanson; in interviews he declared the latter form “dead.” Guest contributors included ex-wife Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Illya Kuryaki & the Valderramas, Sofia Wilhelmi, and Ambrosia. Lead single “Roma (amoR),” a retro-disco ballad, topped the French pop charts, as did the album itself.

In 2018 Biolay joined fellow countryman, actor, musician, and director Melvil Poupaud—brother of FFF guitarist Yarol Poupaud—for a touring revue called Songbook. The longtime friends merged their shared enthusiasm for cinema and historic chanson with humor and theatricality, later documenting the show in a studio recording of covers spanning Gainsbourg, Georges Brassens, Julien Clerc, Quincy Jones, and Antonio Carlos Jobim, alongside selections from Biolay’s own catalog; the album appeared in November.

Since the age of nine Biolay had been captivated by Jean Graton’s Michel Vaillant comic series, which chronicles the solitary existence and exploits of a Formula 1 driver who functions as both existential archetype and hero. He had likewise long admired actor and racer Steve McQueen. Formula 1 racing, known locally as Grand Prix, ranks as a national pastime in France and, after futbol, throughout Europe. Biolay honored this world on the 2020 album Grand Prix, a return to “French rock.” He wrote twelve songs and co-composed “Virtual Safety Car” with guitarist/bassist Pierre Jaconelli, while also producing, singing, playing bass, programming synthesizers, and arranging. The April lead single and Marta Bevacqua-directed video “Comme Est Ta Peine?” offered a metaphorical reflection on isolation and separation caused by COVID-19 quarantine measures. The album ascended to the summit of the French charts.

In 2022 Biolay supplied the score for director André Bonzel’s Et j’aime à la fureur (Flickering Ghosts of Loves Gone By), in which the filmmaker, after inheriting a relative’s trove of home movies, examined his own life and relationships while probing family secrets embedded in the footage. He simultaneously released Saint-Clair, another vigorous exercise in nouveau chanson that remained at number one in France for eighteen weeks, reached number seven in Switzerland, and charted widely across Europe. The deluxe edition appended a bonus disc containing three additional originals, a cover of Daniel Lanois’s “Jolie Louise,” and live renditions of “Jingle Bells” and George Michael’s “Last Christmas.” The following year he issued À l’Auditorium, his debut live album, performed with the Danish Symphony Orchestra under conductor Dirk Brossé. Among its sixteen selections stood notable interpretations of Ervin Drake’s “It Was a Very Good Year,” long associated with Frank Sinatra, and Cole Porter’s “It’s De-Lovely,” presented as “C’est Magnifique.”