Mina Agossi (6 January 1972,

Besançon Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerl ...

) is a French singer-songwriter.

Biography

Agossi, whose mother is from France and whose father is from

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

, began her career as the protégé of

Archie Shepp Archie Shepp (born May 24, 1937) is an American jazz saxophonist, educator and playwright who since the 1960s has played a central part in the development of avant-garde jazz. Biography Early life Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but ...

. In her youth, she lived with her mother, a mathematics professor, in

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesMorocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

and the

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 began her career as a theater actress; in 1993 she sang in a swing and New Orleans jazz band, with whom she toured in France and Ireland. She later shifted to

modern jazz Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...

and henceforth sang under her own name. Since then, she has worked in a trio composed of vocals, bass and drums and linked her jazz with different musical elements, such as

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

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

. Aside from their own compositions, they also covered

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", "B ...

's "

Well You Needn't This is a list of compositions by jazz musician Thelonious Monk. 0-9 52nd Street Theme A contrafact based loosely on rhythm changes in C, and was copyrighted by Monk under the title "Nameless" in April 1944. The tune was also called "Bip Bop" b ...

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

's "Voodoo Child",

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

's "Money" and

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

's "

And I Love Her "And I Love Her" is a song recorded by English rock band the Beatles, written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. It is the fifth track of their third UK album '' A Hard Day's Night'' and was released ...

". After years in Spain she returned to France and then moved to Great Britain in 1993, where she worked with

Vincent Guérin Vincent Guérin (born 22 November 1965) is a French former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. Career Guérin was born in Boulogne-Billancourt. In a career stretching from 1984 to 2002, he played for Stade Brestois 29, Ma ...

. After the album ''Voice & Bass'', she became increasingly famous in the French jazz scene and also appeared in the United States. Her album ''EZ Pass to Brooklyn'' was recorded with Alexander Hiele (bass) and Bertrand Perrin (drums) in New York in 2001, which was influenced by the

11 September 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

. This album was a stylistic blend of hip-hop and R&B. Since her album ''Well You Needn't'' (2005), she performed for

Candid Candid may refer to: * Candid (app), a mobile app for anonymous discussions * Candid (organization), providing information on US nonprofit companies * Candid Records, a record label * Ilyushin Il-76, NATO reporting name ''Candid'', a Soviet aircraf ...

and was accompanied by Ichiro Onoe (drums) and

Eric Jacot The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...

(bass). She performed at the

Festival International de Jazz de Montréal The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal ( en, Montreal International Jazz Festival) is an annual jazz festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Jazz Fest holds the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world's largest jazz fest ...

in 2007 and in the

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical co ...

in New York. In 2010 she worked on ''Just Like a Lady'' with guitarist and composer

Phil Reptil Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as a root ter ...

. She co-produced the music documentary ''Mina Agossi, une voix nomade'' (2007) with

Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plus ...

, which shows her on two international tours with

Jean-Henri Meunier Jean-Henri is a French masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: * Jean-Henri d'Anglebert (1629–1691), French composer and harpsichordist * Jean-Henri Dunant (1828–1910), Henry Dunant, a Swiss businessman * Jean Henri Fabre ...

, where they also visited their fathers in their homeland.Portrait at''Rfi musique''

Awards

Agossi was nominated for the ADAMI in 2005 and for the ''Victoires du Jazz'' in 2006. In December 2010 she was knighted as a Chevalier dans l'ordre national du Mérite.Accueil du site du Ministère de la Culture et communication
/ref>

Discography

* 1995 : ''Les pantalons gris'' (with Gilles Blandin) (Lord's Records) * 1997 : ''Voice and Bass'' (with Vincent Guérin und Loïc Roignant) * 2001 : ''Alkemi'' (with

Philippe Combelle Philippe is a masculine sometimes feminin given name, cognate to Philip. It may refer to: * Philippe of Belgium (born 1960), King of the Belgians (2013–present) * Philippe (footballer) (born 2000), Brazilian footballer * Prince Philippe, Coun ...

, Eigenproduktion) * 2001 : ''E.Z. pass to Brooklyn (live)'' (Cristal Records) * 2004 : ''Carrousel'' (Cristal Records) * 2005 : ''Well You Needn't'' (Candid) * 2007 : ''Who Wants Love? Live at Jazz Standard, New York City'' (Candid) * 2008 : ''Simple Things ?'' (Candid) * 2010 : ''Just Like a Lady'' (Naïve Records) * 2011 : ''Red Eyes'' (Naïve Records) – featuring

References

External links

Website
*
Portrait at ''Rfi musique''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Agossi, Mina French women singer-songwriters French singer-songwriters Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite 1972 births Living people 21st-century French singers