Laïka Fatien is a French singer aka Laika.

Personal life

She was born in Paris in 1968. Her mother is Moroccan, and her father is from

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

. She studied at ARIAL

Île-de-France , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 = +01:00 , timezone1_DST = CEST , utc_offset1_DST = +02:00 , blank_name_sec1 = Gross regional product , blank_info_sec1 = Ranked 1st , bla ...

, CIM and IACP (jazz music schools).

Music career

Laïka is the first French artist to be signed by

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 ...

. Here she recorded ''"Nebula"'' produced by Meshell Ndegeocello, and ''"Come a Little Closer"'' featuring

Roy Hargrove Roy Anthony Hargrove (October 16, 1969 – November 2, 2018) was an American jazz musician and composer whose principal instruments were the trumpet and flugelhorn. He achieved worldwide acclaim after winning two Grammy Awards for differing styles ...

Ambrose Akinmusire Ambrose Akinmusire ( born May 1, 1982) is an American avant-garde jazz composer and trumpeter. Biography Born and raised in Oakland, California, Akinmusire was a member of the Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble, where he caught the attention of ...

, Graham Haynes &

Rufus Reid Rufus Reid (born February 10, 1944, in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American jazz bassist, educator, and composer. Biography Reid was raised in Sacramento, California, where he played the trumpet through junior high and high school. Upon graduation ...

, produced by

Jay Newland Jay Newland is an American music producer, engineer and mixer, perhaps best known for his work with Norah Jones on her 2002 debut album ''Come Away with Me'', one of the best-selling albums of all time, with 27 million units sold worldwide to da ...

& Jean-Philippe Allard and arranged by

Gil Goldstein Gil Goldstein (born November 6, 1950 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American jazz pianist and accordionist. He has won 5 Grammy Awards and he was nominated 8 time Biography He began studying accordion at age 5 after noticing it in The Lawrence We ...

. The album artwork for "Come a Little Closer" was created by Sylvia Plachy the photographer. With her talent deeply rooted in Paris, Laika was often called on to accompany various artists such as: Vanessa Paradis and

Rockin' Squat Rockin' Squat or Mathias Cassel, whose real name is Mathias Crochon () (born September 7, 1970), is a French rapper, producer and director. He is the founder of Assassin, and co-founder of the Franco-Brazilian film festival Planeta Ginga. During ...

and was featured on pianist Ran Blake's recording of ''"Cocktails at Dusk"''. In 2016, Laika featured on Disney's homage recording entitled ''"Jazz Loves Disney"'' alongside Gregory Porter, Melody Gardot and Jamie Cullum. Issey Miyake, the Japanese designer selected Laïka as his ''"European Muse"'' for the Tokyo Universal Exhibition in Japan She performed at the Luminato Festival in the 70th Birthday Concert for

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...

at Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada In 2016, she created with her husband, Christopher Thomas, the band Laïka & The Unit.

Acting

After a workshop with

Jack Garfein Jakob Garfein (July 2, 1930 – December 30, 2019) was an American film and theatre director, writer, teacher, producer, and key figure of the Actors Studio. Growing up in Bardejov, Czechoslovakia during the rise of Nazism, Garfein was deported ...

(Actors Studio) in 1998, her interest in theater started to grow. She has worked on and performed in a variety of television and theater productions such as: ''The Six Companions and The Black Princess'' as The Black Princess (TV series, TF1, France) ''A Drum is a Woman'' as Madame Zajj, directed by

Jérôme Savary Jérôme Savary (27 June 1942 – 4 March 2013) was an Argentinian-French theater director and actor. His work has democratized and widened the appeal of musical theater in France, drawing together and blending such genres as opera, operetta, and m ...

with music by

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

(National Theater of Chaillot, France) ''Los Sobrinos del Capitan Grant'' as Princess Maori, directed by Paco Mir

Tricicle Tricicle is a humorous gestural theater company of three actors, Joan Gràcia, Paco Mir, and Carles Sans. They founded the company in 1979 to perform brief sketches in the street and at alternative venues. At that time, the three members of Tr ...

(La Zarzuela Theater, Madrid, Spain) ''Celestina Del Sol'', title role in a play by José Rivera with Opera-Jazz Directed by François Rancillac. This was performed at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris and the Anger-Nantes Opéra.

Sources

* Philippe Carles, André Clergeat,

Jean-Louis Comolli Jean-Louis Comolli (30 July 1941 – 19 May 2022) was a French writer, editor, and film director. Career Comolli was editor in chief of ''Cahiers du cinéma'' from 1966 to 1978, during which period he wrote the influential essays "Machines of t ...

: ''Le nouveau dictionnaire du jazz''. R. Laffont: Paris 2011

References

External links

Biography

FBReview of Look at Me Now, ''Jazz Times'', December 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fatien, Laika 1968 births Living people Black French musicians French people of Ivorian descent French women singers French people of Italian descent