Patxi

Drawing from a range of inspirations that includes Alain Souchon, Serge Gainsbourg, and Coldplay, Patxi delivers warm yet distinctly husky vocals as a singer and songwriter rooted in the Basque region of southwest France. A semifinalist on the television program Star Academy, he reached the French and Swiss charts with his first album, the 2006 release S'Embrasser. He reentered the French album ranking with 2010's Amour Carabine before extending his work to compositions for other performers, among them tracks taken up by Roch Voisine and Louane. His fourth solo effort, Le Monde Est Beau, surfaced in 2024; its title song carried a subtle nod to the smoky manner of Leonard Cohen.

Patxi Garat entered the world in Saint-Jean-de-Luz in 1981 and grew up with Basque as his first language. National attention arrived when he joined the third season of the popular music contest Star Academy in 2003. Performances of material by Alain Souchon and Renaud carried him to the semifinals, securing both a place on the show's 2004 tour and a debut single, "À l'Anglaise," that peaked just outside the French Top 20.

He joined the independent label Atmosphériques for the August 2006 arrival of S'Embrasser. The album remained on France's chart for six weeks, peaking at number 54, while also registering one week at number 100 in Switzerland. His second album, Amour Carabine, followed on the same label in December 2010 and reached number 125 on France's Top 150. Recording took place with Sébastien Lafargue of Autour de Lucie, who contributed several instrumental parts and co-authored three songs.

More than a decade passed before another solo album appeared, though Patxi continued issuing occasional singles, joining duet projects, releasing the 2011 EP Quitter la France, taking acting parts, and maintaining a steady output of songs for fellow artists. Those recipients included Roch Voisine, Louane, and Jean-Baptiste Maunier, with multiple tracks supplied to Louane's 2015 chart-topping debut, Chambre 12.

His next solo album, En Basque, consisted of Basque-language covers of French songs originally associated with Souchon, Serge Gainsbourg, Christophe, and Nino Ferrer among others; it was issued by Hegal/Wagram/Elkar in May 2021. Fresh original material followed in the form of the 2024 singles "Qu'est-ce Que Je Suis pour Toi?" and "Le Monde Est Beau," leading to the September release of the French pop album Le Monde Est Beau.