Chimène Badi (; born 30 October 1982), also known by her

mononym A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. A mononym may be the person's only name, given to them at birth. This was routine in most ancient societies, and remains ...

Chimène, is a French singer of Algerian descent.

Early life

Badi was born in

Melun Melun () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region, north-central France. It is located on the southeastern outskirts of Paris, about from the centre of the capital. Melun is the prefecture of Seine-et-Marne, ...

in the Paris suburbs to a family of Algerian origin. She spent her entire childhood in the south-west of France. She grew up in

Villeneuve-sur-Lot Villeneuve-sur-Lot (; in the Languedocien dialect of Occitan language: ''Vilanuèva d'Òlt'' ) is a town and Communes of France, commune in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Lot-et-Garonne. The commune was formerly name ...

with her parents, Chérifa and Mohammed, her sister, Déborah, and her brother, Karim. Her sister Déborah encouraged her to persevere with her singing and Chimène went on to hone her vocal style still further, performing at family parties and regional song contests from the age of six. Badi also made her mark at her school's end-of-year shows, wowing the audience with her confident vocal performance. Teachers barely recognised her since, when she was off stage, Badi was a notoriously shy pupil, given to daydreaming and complexes about her appearance. Meanwhile, she plugged away at her studies, going on to obtain a "BEP" in agribusiness.

Career

Badi did not win the French

reality TV Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 199 ...

show, ''

Popstars ''Popstars'' is an international reality television franchise aimed to find new singing talent. Serving as a precursor to the ''Idol'' franchise, '' Popstars'' first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the girl gr ...

'', but she released her first single "Entre Nous" in 2003, which reached number 1 in the French charts. An album of the same name reached number 4 in domestic charts, and became the fifth best selling French album of 2003. Badi's follow-up albums and singles enjoyed moderate success in

Francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

Europe, including

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

and Switzerland. She also provided the French language theme song to the film ''

The Day After Tomorrow ''The Day After Tomorrow'' is a 2004 American science fiction disaster film conceived, co-written, co-produced, and directed by Roland Emmerich, based on the 1999 book '' The Coming Global Superstorm'' by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber, and ...

'' – "Le Jour d'après" (The Day After). She worked with producer Guy Roche (Tout Contre Toi) and songwriter

Diane Warren Diane Eve Warren (born September 7, 1956) is an American songwriter. She has won an Academy Honorary Award, Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards and three consecutive ''Billboard'' Music Awards for Songwriter of the Year from 19 ...

(Tellement Beau). In 2011, Badi covered the soul classic "

Ain't No Mountain High Enough "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" is a song written by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson in 1966 for the Tamla label, a division of Motown. The composition was first successful as a 1967 hit single recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and ...

" with American singer

Billy Paul Paul Williams (December 1, 1934 – April 24, 2016), known professionally as Billy Paul, was an American soul music, soul singer, known for his 1972 Record chart, No. 1 single "Me and Mrs. Jones". His 1973 album and single ''War of the Gods (alb ...

. She participated in the 2019 edition of Destination Eurovision to attempt to represent France at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2019 The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following the country's victory at the with the song "Toy" by Netta. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union ...

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, with the song "Là-haut". She placed third overall in the final.

Discography

Albums

¹ French Digital Charts

Singles

¹ French Digital Charts

Musical

References

External links

Official site
at Universal Music France (in French)
Biography
at

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the State media, state-owned international radio news network of France. With 59.5 million listeners in 2022, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world ...

(in English) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Badi, Chimene 1982 births Living people People from Melun French feminists Feminist musicians French people of Algerian descent 21st-century French singers 21st-century French women singers