Cali

Cali rose to prominence among the leading new voices in French pop after listeners embraced his debut single from 2003, “C’est Quand le Bonheur?,” as a rallying cry for post-adolescent disillusionment. Born Bruno Calicuri in Perpignan, France, during June 1968, he first aspired to play professional rugby until a U2 concert in 1984 redirected his focus toward music. A guitarist who learned entirely on his own, he quickly became a fixture on the regional club circuit, and following several short-lived group involvements he entered the band Indy in 1994. After releasing two albums and completing more than 200 concerts with them, Calicuri moved to Tom Scarlett, which put out a self-financed record that attracted little notice in 1998. Once that project ended he shortened his professional name to Cali and, working with Tom Scarlett guitarist Hugues Baretge, began an extended series of shows at the Perpignan venue Le Mediator. Support slots for major acts such as Bénabar and Brigitte Fontaine drew notice from both crowds and reviewers, and a standout appearance at La Rochelle’s Francofolies festival in July 2002 marked the decisive breakthrough that secured a contract with the Labels label. His first full-length release, L’Amour Parfait, reached stores in mid-2003 and promptly drew parallels to fellow singer/songwriter Miossec, the central figure of the “chanson réaliste” wave. “C’est Quand le Bonheur?” resonated deeply with listeners from Cali’s post-revolt generation and brought a Best Newcomer nomination at the Victoires de la Musique. In late 2004 he issued the live DVD Plein de Vie, recorded at his May 26 concert at Paris’s Le Bataclan, and the following January he headlined the Olympia. His second studio album, the long-awaited Menteur, arrived that autumn. During the summer of 2006 he appeared as a co-star in the screen musical Magique! In 2008 he put out his third studio album, L’Espoir, whose singles were “Resistance” and “1000 Coeurs Debout.”