Kendji "Girac" Jason Maillié (; born July 3, 1996), also known mononymously as Kendji, is a French singer-songwriter. He is the winner of

season 3 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pola ...

of the music competition '' The Voice: la plus belle voix'' as part of Team

Mika Mika is a given name, a nickname and a surname. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People known just as Mika * Mika (singer) (born 1983), Lebanese-born British singer-songwriter Michael Penniman, Jr. * Mika (footbal ...

. He has released three studio albums, '' Kendji,'' ''

Ensemble Ensemble may refer to: Art * Architectural ensemble * ''Ensemble'' (album), Kendji Girac 2015 album * Ensemble (band), a project of Olivier Alary * Ensemble cast (drama, comedy) * Ensemble (musical theatre), also known as the chorus * ''En ...

'' and ''

Amigo Amigo(s) (Portuguese and Spanish for ''male friend'') may refer to: People * Carlos Amigo Vallejo (born 1934), Spanish Roman Catholic archbishop emeritus of Seville Places Facilities * Amigos School, a bilingual primary school in Cambridge, Mas ...

'' as well as a string of hit singles.

Biography

Beginnings

The youngest of a

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

Gitano family, Kendji grew up in Saint-Astier and was taught to play the guitar and sing by his grandfather. He left school at 16 to follow the family business as an

arborist An arborist, tree surgeon, or (less commonly) arboriculturist, is a professional in the practice of arboriculture, which is the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants in dendrolo ...

. He speaks Catalan with his parents. He gained some fame through publishing materials online. His Romanes version of "Bella" by

Maître Gims Gandhi Bilel Djuna (; born 6 May 1986), better known by his stage name Maître Gims () and more recently just Gims (, ; sometimes stylized as GIMS), is a Congolese-French rapper, singer and songwriter. He grew up in France and currently lives i ...

filmed by a friend went viral. His video garnered 5.8 million views. Another popular song he uploaded was "Si j'étais président" a cover of

Gérard Lenorman Gérard Lenorman (born 9 February 1945) is a French singer-songwriter. Lenorman was born at the Château de Bénouville, Calvados (Normandy) when it was a maternity hospital. He is the son of Madeleine Lenormand and an unknown German soldier. ...

''The Voice''

For

of '' The Voice: la plus belle voix'', he auditioned with the song "Bella" by

in the second episode of season 3 broadcast on January 18, with only judge

turning his chair, whereas the three others,

Florent Pagny Florent Pagny (born 6 November 1961) is a French singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He records his work in French, as well as in Italian, Spanish and English. His greatest hits include " N'importe quoi", " Savoir aimer" and " Ma Liberté de ...

, Jenifer and Garou refrained. In the Musical Battles Round broadcast on 8 March 2014, Mika put him against Youness both singing "

Tous les mêmes "Tous les mêmes" () is a song by Belgian singer Stromae, released on 23 September 2013. The song has peaked at number one on music charts in both Belgium and France. Music video The music video, directed by Henry Scholfield, was released on YouT ...

" by

Stromae Paul van Haver (; born 12 March 1985), better known by his stage name Stromae (), is a Belgian singer, rapper, songwriter and producer. He is mostly known for his music blending hip hop and electronic music. Stromae came to wide public attenti ...

. Kendji moved to "L'épreuve ultime" round where he performed "

Hotel California "Hotel California" is the title track from the Eagles' album of the same name and was released as a single in February 1977. Writing credits for the song are shared by Don Felder (music), Don Henley, and Glenn Frey (lyrics). Joe Walsh came up ...

The Eagles The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles and six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s ...

in the 29 March 2014 emission. In the live rounds he performed "Ma philosophie" by

Amel Bent Amel Bent Bachir ( ar, آمال بنت بشير; born 21 June 1985) is a French R&B and pop singer who gained fame after reaching the semi-finals of season 2 of French TV singing competition ''Nouvelle Star''. She is best-selling artist to com ...

(5 April 2014), "

Mad World "Mad World" is a 1982 song by British band Tears for Fears. Written by Roland Orzabal and sung by bassist Curt Smith, it was the band's third single release and first chart hit, reaching number three on the UK Singles Chart in November 1982. Bo ...

" from

Tears for Fears Tears for Fears are an English pop rock band formed in Bath, England, in 1981 by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, Tears for Fears were associated with the new wav ...

(19 April 2014) and "Allumer le feu" by

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 ...

(19 April 2014). In the semi-final on 3 May 2014 he sang "Belle" by Garou and

Daniel Lavoie Daniel Lavoie (; born Joseph-Hubert-Gérald Lavoie on March 17, 1949) is a Canadian singer–songwriter, actor, producer, poet, and radio host, known for his song " Ils s'aiment" and the role of Frollo in musical ''Notre-Dame de Paris''. He rele ...

qualifying for the finals as Team Mika's finalist. In the final broadcast on Final, on 10 May 2014, he sang "Amor de mis amores" / " Volare" by

Gipsy Kings Gipsy Kings are a group of flamenco, salsa, and pop musicians from Arles and Montpellier in southern France, who perform mostly in Catalan but also mix in Spanish with southern French dialects. Although the group members were born in France, t ...

, "Temps à nouveau" by

Jean-Louis Aubert Jean-Louis Aubert (, born 12 April 1955) is a French singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer and producer. He went on a solo career after the split of the rock band Téléphone that he co-founded. Early life Born in Nantua, Ain, France in 1955 ...

and " L'Aigle noir" by Barbara. He won ''The Voice'' title for season 3 with 51% of the public vote against 21% for runner up Maximilien Philippe, with

Amir Haddad Laurent Amir Khlifa Khedider Haddad ( he, לורן עמיר חליפה חדידר חדד, born 20 June 1984), better known as Amir Haddad ( he, עמיר חדד), or simply as Amir, is a French-Israeli singer and songwriter. He took part in 2006 ...

finishing third with 18% and Wesley with only 10% fourth.

Career

His first official single the bilingual French/Spanish "

Color Gitano "Color Gitano" (; ) is the debut single by French singer Kendji Girac, the winner of French season 3 of the French music competition series '' The Voice: la plus belle voix'' broadcast from January 11 to May 10, 2014 as part of Team Mika. "Colo ...

", which was released in June 2014 from his eponymous EP, followed by his official album release in September. In December 2014, he won two

NRJ Music Award An NRJ Music Award (commonly abbreviated as an NMA) is an award presented by the French radio station NRJ to honor the best in the French and worldwide music industry. The awards ceremony, created in 2000 by NRJ in partnership with the televisi ...

s for Francophone Breakthrough of the Year and "Color Gitano" as Francophone Song of the Year. His album ''Kendji'' sold 600,000 copies by January 2015, and over 1 million copies by October 2015, certifying

Diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...

and becoming France's second highest selling album of 2014 after ''

Racine carrée Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditio ...

'' by

. He is currently the biggest selling ''

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

'' alumnus worldwide. His follow-up single " Andalouse" proved even more successful commercially. Other notable singles included " Conmigo" from the repackaged version of ''Kendji'' released on 4 May 2015. A second album titled ''

'' was released on 30 October 2015. Notable singles from his second album include "

Me Quemo "Me Quemo" is a song by Kendji Girac from the album ''Ensemble''. It is the debut single of his album ''Ensemble Ensemble may refer to: Art * Architectural ensemble * ''Ensemble'' (album), Kendji Girac 2015 album * Ensemble (band), a projec ...

", "

Les yeux de la mama "Les yeux de la mama" is a song by Kendji Girac from the album ''Ensemble Ensemble may refer to: Art * Architectural ensemble * Ensemble (album), ''Ensemble'' (album), Kendji Girac 2015 album * Ensemble (band), a project of Olivier Alary * Ens ...

" and " No Me Mirès Màs" (jointly with

Soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

). On 31 August 2018 his third album, titled ''

'' was released. It started at number one on the French sales chart with 48,408 sales. On 22 August 2020 he joined the cast of The Voice Kids France, becoming the first French former contestant to integrate the jury of the French franchise of the show, alongside Jenifer,

Patrick Fiori Patrick Fiori (; born Patrick Jean-François Chouchayan, 23 September 1969) is a French singer of Armenian descent. Biography Beginnings Fiori was born to a French-Armenian father (Jacques Chouchayan) and a Corsican mother (Marie Antoinette Fi ...

and

Charity work

In 2017, Kendji joined the Enfoirés, a team of high-grossing artists involved in the hugely popular charity mission

Restos du Coeur ''Restos'' is a 2012 film directed by Alfonso Pineda Ulloa, written by Alfonso Pineda Ulloa, Blas Valdez and Ernesto Walker and starring Leonardo Sbaraglia, Ilse Salas and Manolo Cardona. Cast * Leonardo Sbaraglia as Daniel * Ilse Salas as Ele ...

, which hosts yearly concerts to raise money for one of France's most respected soup kitchen networks.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Other album releases

EPs

Singles

As lead artist

*Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts.

As featured artist

Other charted songs

*Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts.

Awards

Filmography

* 2017: ''

Chacun sa vie et son intime conviction ''Everyone's Life'' (''Chacun sa vie et son intime conviction'') is a 2017 French comedy film written and directed by Claude Lelouch. Synopsis Twelve tales about intimate convictions leading to a thirteenth. Casting The film reunites severa ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Girac, Kendji People from Périgueux 1995 births Living people MTV Europe Music Award winners The Voice (franchise) winners Spanish-language singers of France French people of Romani descent French Romani people French folk-pop singers 21st-century French singers 21st-century French male singers