Stanislas

Stanislas, the French singer/songwriter who fuses pop sensibilities with classical influences, reached a broad audience through his first solo outing L'Équilibre Instable in 2007, driven in large part by the breakout single "Le Manège". Born Louis Stanislas Renoult on May 29, 1972, in Fontainebleau, Seine-et-Marne, France, he initially recorded as one half of Pure Orchestra, an English-language electro-pop duo completed by Gioacchino Maurici, brother of Calogero. The pair secured a modest chart entry in 2001 with "U & I", yet their full-length Singin' Dog from 2002 and its follow-up single "49" attracted scant commercial attention despite a major-label push from Universal Music. Stanislas later contributed to his brother Thibaud's debut solo album Les Pas Perdus, issued in 2006 on Reshape Music, before launching his own solo path. Working again with Universal Music, he delivered L'Équilibre Instable in late 2007. Its lead track "Le Manège" climbed to number two on the French singles chart, and the Top 20 showing of "La Belle de Mai" together with the duet "La Débâcle des Sentiments" featuring Calogero sustained momentum, carrying the album into the Top Ten on both French and Belgian album charts and prompting several deluxe reissues toward the close of 2008. In 2009 he returned with Les Carnets de la Vigie, tempering the pop emphasis of his debut while still releasing the buoyant single "Tu Verras en France". Continued refinement of his classical crossover approach produced Top Hat in 2011, an album that failed to register on French charts.