Cyril Kamar ( ar, سيريل قمر; born January 31, 1980, in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

), known by his stage name K.Maro (; sometimes stylized as K-Maro or K'Maro) is a Canadian pop singer-songwriter, producer and businessman of Lebanese origin. He sings in French and English. He is also the founder, the owner, and the CEO of East 47th Music, a record label, and Rock&Cherries Agency, a Paris-based Talents management agency. Both East 47th Music and Rock&Cherries Agency are part of KEG company (Kamar Entertainment Group).

Biography

Cyril Kamar is a

francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

and

anglophone Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest language ...

singer, producer and businessman living between Paris, France and New York City. Cyril Kamar was born in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

on January 31, 1980. After the end of the war, he moved with his family to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Quebec, in 1991.

Music career

K.Maro first broke through to the

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabul ...

with his group LMDS, an abbreviation for "Les Messagers du Son". This was a French language hip hop duo in

, Quebec, Canada formed in 1993 and made up of Cyril Kamar, called Lyrik, and Adil Takhssait, called Mélo in the duo. The band achieved great success in Quebec and launched two successful albums, ''Les Messagers du Son'' in 1997 and ''Il Faudrait Leur Dire'' in 1999. LMDS broke up in 2001. Both artists continued their musical careers, Cyril Kamar (Lyrik) as K.Maro and Adil Takhssait (Mélo) as

Vaï Adil Takhssait, better known by his stage names Vaï, also Mélo or Mélopsy, is a Canadian rap and hip hop musician of Moroccan origin. Adil Takhssait was born 24 April 1979 in Paris, France, in a Moroccan family and immigrated to Canada in 1 ...

Solo career

After the breakup of LMDS, Cyril Kamar became successful as a solo artist, taking the name K.Maro (alternatives K'Maro and K-Maro). As a hip hop and R&B singer-songwriter and producer, he became an instant international success particularly with his first major hit, "

Femme Like U "Femme Like U (Donne-moi ton corps)" more commonly known as "Femme Like U" is a 2004 song recorded by Canadian artist Cyril Kamar, better known under the name of K.Maro. The song was released as the first single from his album '' La Good Life'', ...

" in 2004, from the album ''La Good Life. "''Femme Like U" was number-one single in 17 countries and Platinum certified, more than two million copies of the song were sold and more than a million copies of ''La Good Life'' album were sold. In 2005, K.Maro released his third album ''Million Dollar Boy''. Subject to commercial success, the album became certified Platinum. To celebrate his decade-long music career, K.Maro released in 2006, ''Platinum Remixes'' album. K.Maro released his four album in 2008, ''Perfect Stranger'', his first all-English album. His songs are frequently a mix of French and English lyrics, and sometimes Arabic.

Business career

In 2003, Cyril Kamar also established K.Pone Inc Music Group entertainment company, the K.Pone Inc. record label, and the Balbec line of clothing. In 2010, Cyril Kamar joined Warner Music France as CEO of Ambitious Boys Club label record. In 2013, he developed other ventures, including East 47th Music label record with Pascal Nègre and

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

Collaborations

In addition to his solo career, K.Maro has collaborated with a number of artists, including: *Many collaborations with DJ Shortcut, notably in ''Fresh'', which also featured Moshine. Another collaboration with DJ Shortcut and Moshine was in ''On est là''. *He was featured in ''Chance'' of

The 411 The 411 are an English girl group comprising Carolyn Owlett, Tisha Martin and Tanya Boniface. Originally a four-piece with Suzie Furlonger, the group was formed in late 2002 after Martin and Boniface sang backing vocals on Lemar's version of A ...

, version exclusively available on the French edition of '' Between the Sheets''. *He was featured in ''Le clan chill'' of

Corneille Pierre Corneille (; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronag ...

. *He was also featured in ''Nos couleurs'' of

Cheb Mami Mohamed Khelifati ( ar, محمد خليفاتي, ), better known by his stage name Cheb Mami ( ar, شاب مامي, link=no, , born 11 July 1966), is an Algerian musician and singer-songwriter. He sings and speaks in Algerian Arabic and sometim ...

. *He featured

Shy'm Tamara Marthe (born 28 November 1985), better known as Shy'm , is a French singer. She released her first album, ''Mes fantaisies'', in 2006 and has since released six more albums. She had three Platinum albums, including her number-one 2012 al ...

in his own single '' Histoires de Luv''. *Has written a lot of material for

's debut album ''

Mes Fantaisies ''Mes fantaisies'' is the first album by French singer Shy'm. It was released in November 2006 and achieved much success in France, where it reached number six and was certified double Platinum. It provided five singles, three of which were release ...

'', and was featured in ''À l'abri'' in the second album of Shy'm, ''

Reflets ''Reflets'' is the second album by the French singer Shy'm, following 2006 ''Mes fantaisies''. A more mature album than Shy'm's début, ''Reflets'' experimented more with electronic music. The album was released in September 2008 and débuted at # ...

''. *He collaborated with

Belly Belly may refer to: Anatomy * The abdomen, the part of the body between the pelvis and the thorax; or the stomach ** A beer belly, an overhang of fat above the waist, presumed to be caused by regular beer drinking ** Belly dance * The fleshy, cen ...

and Rad in ''Change The Game''. *His song "Love It or Leave It" features

Imposs Stanley Rimsky Salgado, known by his stage name Imposs, is a Haitian-Canadian rapper based in Quebec. Before becoming a solo artist, he was part of Muzion, one of the well-known hip hop bands of Quebec. He has collaborated on many occasions with ...

. *His song "Out in the Streets Remix" features

Jim Jones James Warren Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was an American preacher, political activist and mass murderer. He led the Peoples Temple, a new religious movement, between 1955 and 1978. In what he called "revolutionary suicide", ...

. *His song "Never Walk Away" features Odessa Thornhill. *His song "Take You Away (Part 2)" features the Canadian rock singer

Jonas Tomalty Jonas Richard Tomalty is a Canadian rock, soul and pop singer. First known as Jonas in 2004 as a solo singer, he was the lead singer of the Canadian rock band Jonas & The Massive Attraction from 2010 to 2017. In 2022, he released his fourth so ...

. *He produced the 2013 version of Indonesian singer

Anggun Anggun Cipta Sasmi (; born 29 April 1974), better known as Anggun C. Sasmi or more often mononymously as Anggun, is an Indonesian-born French singer-songwriter and television personality. Born in Jakarta, she began performing at the age of sev ...

's hit "

Snow on the Sahara ''Snow on the Sahara'' (English version) / ''Au nom de la lune'' (French version) is the fifth studio album and first international release by Indonesian singer Anggun. The French version was first released in France on 24 June 1997 by Columbia R ...

" for her album, ''Best-Of: Design of a Decade 2003–2013''.

Personal life

Since July 2016, Cyril Kamar is married to the French brand and creative consultant Anne-Sophie Mignaux, former Jewelry, Watch and Arts editor in chief at ''CR Fashion Book'' (

Carine Roitfeld Carine Roitfeld (; born 19 September 1954) is a French fashion editor, former fashion model, and writer. She is the former editor-in-chief of ''Vogue Paris'', a position she held from 2001 to 2011. In 2012, she became founder and editor-in-chief ...

's magazine) and ''Citizen K Magazine''.

K.Pone.Inc

K.Maro also runs the K.Pone.Inc. Music Group, an entertainment group that goes into music production, promotion and distribution. K-Pone Inc.'s label, K.Pone Inc., has signed many artists, including: *

(Tamara Marthe) *

(S. Rimsky Salgado) *

Ale Dee Alexandre Duhaime, better known by his stage name Ale Dee, is a Canadian rapper. He had his beginnings in Mauricie region of Quebec with the musical group Chosen One (with Doris D and DJ Flavor). After Sir Pathétik joined in 2000, the name of ...

(Alexandre Duhaime) *

(Adil Takhssait)

Balbec

Balbec is K.Maro's upmarket clothing line. It is named after his hometown

Baalbek Baalbek (; ar, بَعْلَبَكّ, Baʿlabakk, Syriac-Aramaic: ܒܥܠܒܟ) is a city located east of the Litani River in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, about northeast of Beirut. It is the capital of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. In Greek and Roman ...

in Lebanon.

Discography

Albums

Chart positions:K.Maro chart positions
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Singles / Videos

Chart positions: ;Non-charting singles / videos * 2006: "Gangsta Party" * 2006: "Let's go" * 2008: "Out in the Streets" * 2008: "Take You Away" * 2009: "Out In The Streets" (remix) (feat.

) * 2009: "Elektric" * 2009: "Music"

Awards

*In November 2006, K-Maro won The International Achievement Award at the 17th Gala of the

Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 135,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collects ...

. *In 2008, K-Maro won the International Achievement Award at the Francophone

SOCAN The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 135,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collects ...

Awards in Montreal.

References

External links

K.Maro Official site

K.Maro Official Myspace site

K.Maro TV Official site

Balbec K.Maro's fashion clothing line

K.Pone Inc label site

K.Pone Inc YouTube site
{{Authority control 1980 births Living people Canadian male rappers 20th-century Canadian rappers Canadian rhythm and blues musicians Lebanese emigrants to Canada Musicians from Beirut 21st-century Canadian rappers 20th-century Canadian male musicians 21st-century Canadian male musicians