Mano Solo

French singer and songwriter Mano Solo, whose mother Isabelle Monin worked as an ecological activist while his father Cabu produced left-wing cartoons, also carved out an independent path as a creator by wresting authority from major labels and personally directing every stage of his recordings and their packaging. He joined the punk band Les Chihuahuas at seventeen, yet after his teenage years he first regarded painting as his main pursuit, working under the name Boredom in tribute to an early Buzzcocks song. Music reclaimed his attention during his late twenties, and at thirty he delivered his debut album, La Marmaille Nue, in 1993. A 1996 reunion of Les Chihuahuas briefly halted his solo work until the next year, when he reappeared with the live set Je Sais Pas Trop. By then he had begun handling the complete presentation himself, designing covers and managing production. He soon established his own publishing house and brought out poetry collections plus the novel Joseph Sous la Pluie. In 2006 he declared his exit from the Warner Bros. label and launched an independent company; the following project drew partial backing from supporters through a subscription plan that supplied exclusive music and videos, with those subscribers receiving the album In the Garden upon its 2007 release.