Bruno Nicolini (born 16 June 1969), better known by his stage name Bénabar, is a French songwriter and singer, who could be compared to

Vincent Delerm Vincent Delerm (born 31 August 1976) is a French singer-songwriter, pianist and composer. He is the son of the writer Philippe Delerm and illustrator Martine Delerm. His first album was released in 2002, the second, ''Kensington Square'', in ...

and other singers from his generation. As many of them he was influenced by

Georges Brassens Georges Charles Brassens (; 22 October 1921 – 29 October 1981) was a French singer-songwriter and poet. As an iconic figure in France, he achieved fame through his elegant songs with their harmonically complex music for voice and guitar and a ...

Renaud Renaud Pierre Manuel Séchan (), known as Renaud (), born 11 May 1952, is a French singer, songwriter and actor. His characteristically 'broken' voice makes for a very distinctive vocal style. Several of his songs are popular classics in F ...

Jacques Higelin Jacques Joseph Victor Higelin (; 18 October 1940 – 6 April 2018) was a French pop singer who rose to prominence in the early 1970s. Early life Higelin was born on 18 October 1940. His father, Paul, a railway worker and musician of Alsatian de ...

and also

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

. His songs describe day-to-day life events with humour and a tender cynicism. His songs are influenced by French

chanson A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic s ...

and a heavy influence is placed on the piano or the accordion and on typical French ''fanfare'' (brass band) for the most upbeat of them. This genre of music is very typically French and differs from most in that emphasis is placed on appreciation of the lyrics and that it is linked to a specific culture of modern "'' guinche''" (slang for "''guinguette''") appreciated a lot by Bobos among others.

Biography

Bénabar began his career in the cinema, working as an assistant on ''Le Brasier'' (1991) before directing three short subjects: ''Nada Lezard'' (1991), ''José Jeannette'' (1992) and ''Sursum corda'' (1994). He then turned to music, working for some time with his friend Patchol who gave him his nickname (Bénabar being the "

verlan () is a type of argot in the French language, featuring inversion of syllables in a word, and is common in slang and youth language. It rests on a long French tradition of transposing syllables of individual words to create slang words. The wor ...

" of Barnabé, the name he was using on stage). With "Les associés" he sang for several years in small places in France, Belgium, and Switzerland before the release of ''Bénabar'' (2001), which raised his profile sufficiently to make him the opening act for

Henri Salvador Henri Salvador (18 July 1917 – 13 February 2008) was a French Caribbean comedian, singer and cabaret artist. Biography Salvador was born in Cayenne, French Guiana. His father, Clovis, and his mother, Antonine Paterne, daughter of a native C ...

. He was nominated as a Revelation for the "Victoires de la musique 2003" but did not win it. In 2004, after the successful release of ''Les risques du métier'', he won the award for "album "chanson/variété" of the year". His next album ''Reprise des négociations'' sold better than the previous ones: according to ''Le Figaro'', Bénabar reached number 4 for CD sales in France, with 2.18 million euros sales in 2006. In 2007 he won the awards for "Male group or artist of the year" and "original song of the year" (for ''Le dîner'').

Personal life

He has two brothers named Patrick and Sébastien. He has a son born in 2004 named Manolo and a daughter born in 2009.

Philanthropy

Bénabar has been a member of the

Les Enfoirés Les Enfoirés (, 'The Tossers' or 'The Bastards') is the name given to the singers and performers in the yearly charity concert for the Restaurants du Cœur The Restaurants du Cœur (literally ''Restaurants of the Heart'' but meaning ''Restau ...

charity ensemble since 2007."Bénabar"
(in French). ''Enfoires.com''. Retrieved 23 February 2017.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilations

Singles

^A Chart peak for

Ultratip Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organization of ...

. Other singles

Filmography

* 2009 : ''

Incognito Incognito is an English adjective meaning "in disguise", "having taken steps to conceal one's identity". Incognito may also refer to: Film and television * ''Incognito'' (1937 film), a Danish film * ''Incognito'' (1997 film), an American crime ...

'' * 2015 : '' The Night Watchman'' * 2019 : ''

Beaux-parents ''Beaux-parents'' () is a 2019 French comedy directed by Héctor Cabello Reyes. Cast * Josiane Balasko as Coline Rossi * Didier Bourdon as André Rossi * Bénabar as Harold Becker * Charlie Bruneau as Garance Rossi * Bruno Salomone as Hervé Fl ...

References

External links

*
Official French site

Biography of Bénabar on the RFI musique Website (in English)
1969 births Living people French male singers French songwriters Male songwriters French people of Corsican descent French people of Italian descent {{France-singer-stub People from Thiais