Benjamin Biolay

Benjamin Biolay, concert at Casino de Paris, France, May 31, 2011

Benjamin Biolay [ bɛ̃ʒaˈmɛ̃ bjɔˈlɛ ] (born January 20, 1973 in Villefranche-sur-Saône ) is a French singer , multi-instrumentalist , composer , arranger , producer and actor . With a few other interpreters, such as Dominique A or Philippe Katerine , he is one of the best-known representatives of the Nouvelle Chanson .

Life

Biolay completed classical training for tuba and violin at the Lyon Conservatory . In the early 1990s he turned to pop music, with his first band Mateo Gallion not being very successful. From 1996 he worked as a solo artist with a contract at EMI . He only became better known in 1999 in the duo with Keren Ann . The two wrote pieces for the comeback album Chambre avec vue (2000) by Henri Salvador .

In addition to his own works, Biolay was particularly successful through collaboration with well-known artists such as Isabelle Boulay and Valérie Lagrange , on whose comeback album he worked on in 2003. For his sister Coralie Clément he wrote and produced the three albums Salle de pas perdus (2001), Bye Bye Beauté (2004) and Toystore (2008). On the album Home he worked with his wife Chiara Mastroianni , from whom he is now divorced.

Biolay is considered to be a representative of the “New Chanson”, although he has little to do with the term.

He is also active as an actor; He made his debut in 2004 in the film Pourquoi (pas) le Brésil . In 2008 he starred in the film Stella and received a César nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance . Biolay was appointed to the jury of the Festival du film francophone d'Angoulême in 2013 .

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		FR	BE W	DE	CH
2001	Rose Kennedy	FR66 gold (13 weeks)FR	-	-	-
2003	Negatif	FR15 (29 weeks) FR	BE W9 (4 weeks) BE W	-	-	Double CD
2004	Home	-	BE W26 (15 weeks) BE W	-	CH98 (1 week) CH	with Chiara Mastroianni
	Clara et moi	FR163 (3 weeks) FR	-	-	-	Movie soundtrack
2005	À l'origine	FR17 (14 weeks) FR	BE W27 (10 weeks) BE W	-	-
2007	Trash yéyé	FR11 (32 weeks) FR	BE W23 (10 weeks) BE W	-	CH72 (1 week) CH
2009	La superb	FR3 gold (83 weeks)FR	BE W7 (43 weeks) BE W	DE98 (1 week) DE	CH61 (3 weeks) CH	Double CD
2011	Pourquoi tu pleures?	FR38 (6 weeks) FR	BE W54 (10 weeks) BE W	-	-
2012	Vengeance	FR2 (23 weeks) FR	BE W6 (27 weeks) BE W	-	CH22 (3 weeks) CH
2013	Best of	-	BE W178 (1 week) BE W	-	-
2015	Kick	FR18 (11 weeks) FR	-	-	-	Benjamin Biolay, Nicolas Fiszman & Denis Benarrosh
2016	Palermo Hollywood	FR3 gold (46 weeks)FR	BE W6 (23 weeks) BE W	-	CH17 (4 weeks) CH
2017	Volver	FR3 gold (19 weeks)FR	BE W1 (24 weeks) BE W	-	CH12 (4 weeks) CH
2018	Songbook	-	BE W147 (1 week) BE W	-	-	Benjamin Biolay & Melvil Poupaud
2020	Grand Prix	FR1 (... week) FR	BE W1 (... week) BE W	-	CH3 (6 weeks) CH

More albums

• Remix EP (2001)
• Live (double DVD / double DVD + La superbe, 2010)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		FR	BE W
2003	L'hymne à l'amour	FR50 (12 weeks) FR	-	Various artists
2011	Biolay	FR31 (4 weeks) FR	-
2012	La fin des cours / Non madame	FR76 (1 week) FR	-
	Aime mon amour Vengeance	FR60 (2 weeks) FR	BE W39 (1 week) BE W
	Profits Vengeance	FR93 (1 week) FR	-	feat. Vanessa Paradis
	Ne regrette rien Vengeance	FR157 (1 week) FR	-	feat. Orelsan
2014	Tone héritage La Superbe	FR80 (2 weeks) FR	-
2015	La superbe La superbe	FR188 (1 week) FR	BE W38 (1 week) BE W
2016	Palermo Hollywood Palermo Hollywood	FR161 (1 week) FR	-
	Miss Miss Palermo Hollywood	FR134 (2 weeks) FR	-
	Ballad française Palermo Hollywood	FR137 (1 week) FR	-
	La débandade Palermo Hollywood	FR149 (1 week) FR	-
	Palermo Queens Palermo Hollywood	FR183 (1 week) FR	-
The following songs did not appear as single, but were made available for download and streaming through the album and were thus able to achieve a placement:
2020	Comment est ta peine? Grand Prix	FR99 (... weeks) FR	-

More singles

• Qu'est ce que ça peut faire? (2008)
• Si tu suis mon regard (2010)
• Pas la forme (2011)
• Les chanteurs sont tous les mêmes (Vincent Delerm & Benjamin Biolay, 2016)
• Roma (Amor) (avec Illya Kuryaki and the Valderramas, 2017)

Guest Posts

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		FR	BE W
2014	Pas besoin de permis Love Songs Tour	FR35 (4 weeks) FR	-	with Vanessa Paradis

Filmography (selection)

• 2004: Pourquoi (pas) le Brésil
• 2008: Didine
• 2008: Stella
• 2010: The pack (La meute)
• 2013: Under the rainbow (Au bout du conte)
• 2016: Personal Shopper
• 2017: Fleur de Tonnerre
• 2017: Not my fault (Irréprochable)
• 2017: Memoir of Pain (La douleur)

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: DE CH BE (Wallonie) FR
2. ↑ Awards for music sales: FR FR2

Web links

• Benjamin Biolay in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Official website of Benjamin Biolay
• Biolay: (PDF; 4.3 MB) Fiche de l'enseignant / e: Song Puisqu'il faut vraiment de tout pour faire un monde ... , text and worksheet for French learners in the project "Francomusiques" 2013/2014 des Cornelsen Verlag and the Institut Français in Germany (with music CD and student competition)