Michel Armengot (born 16 September 1961), more commonly known as Art Mengo, is a French singer and songwriter. Though born in the

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language Occitan (; o ...

city of

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, he is of Spanish descent as his parents had fled from the

Francoist State Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

Biography

The beginnings

It is worth noting that Mengo was born with greatly diminished hearing. In fact, it was estimated by doctors that 70% of his hearing ability was missing. Despite this handicap, his mother gave him a keyboard as a plaything. It is now clear that this had an impact upon his future career. During his teenage years, corrective surgery for his ears helped him to regain his hearing ability. Music, however, was not Mengo's first career plan. Upon completing the baccalauréat, Mengo pursued chemistry and physics at university.

Music

Music initially was a hobby to Mengo as his studies came first. During his university years, Mengo would play piano at a local bar during the evenings. Mengo had purchased an 8 Track recorder, and this would play heavily into his move into the music industry. With Mengo writing the music, and his brother-in-law producing lyrics a considerable inventory of music was created. It was good enough for Mengo to get his first record contract in 1988, shortly thereafter he released his first single, " Les Parfums de sa vie (Je l'ai tant aimée)", which was a hit on the French

Top 50 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "conte ...

. His music quickly became popular, and by 1992 he was asked to write a song for French superstar

Johnny Hallyday Jean-Philippe Léo Smet (; 15 June 1943 – 5 December 2017), better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and pop singer and actor, credited for having brought rock and roll to France. During a career spanning 57 ...

, " Ça ne change pas un homme". In 1993, he wrote an entire album for German singer

Ute Lemper Ute Gertrud Lemper (; born 4 July 1963) is a German singer and actress. Her roles in musicals include playing Sally Bowles in the original Paris production of ''Cabaret'', for which she won the 1987 Molière Award for Best Newcomer, and Velma ...

. He performed the song "Parler d'amour" with Ute on this album. Despite his successes, he remains relatively unknown.

Discography

Studio albums

* Un 15 Août En Février (1990, CBS) * Guerre D'Amour (1992, Columbia) * La Mer N'Existe Pas (1995, Columbia) * Croire Qu'Un Jour (1998, Columbia) * La Vie De Château (2003, Polydor) * Entre Mes Guillemets (2006, Polydor) * Ce Petit Chemin (2012, L'autre Distribution 9311861)

Live album

* Live Au Mandala (1998, Columbia)

Compilation

* Les Parfums De Sa Vie: Le Meilleur (2001, Columbia) 1990–1998

External links

*
Official websiteRFI's Art Mengo page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mengo, Art 1961 births Living people French male singers French singer-songwriters French people of Spanish descent French male singer-songwriters