Damien Saez

Damien Saez at the Les Ardentes Music Festival, 2010

Damien Saez (born August 1, 1977 in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne ), stage name Saez , is a French songwriter .

Life

Damien Saez was born in 1977 to an Algerian mother and an Andalusian father in southern France, where he first grew up. In 1981 his parents divorced. A little later his family moved to a suburb, a banlieue, from Dijon . From the age of eight, Saez learned to play the piano under the direction of the pianist Boris Nedeltchev at the Conservatoire National de Région de Dijon , which he graduated from nine years later. In his early youth he also began to get enthusiastic about guitar and rock music. However, his career as a singer only started in 1995 when he no longer wanted to play with bands whose songs were only covers of famous groups such as Pink Floyd : He wanted to make his already recorded titles known with the ulterior motive that they could interest a new audience.

This is how Saez began to express his love for poetry, which he says he acquired at the age of 16 through his eleventh grade French teacher. He describes it as "the kind of person who teaches you to love words". In order to have a better chance of success, Damien moves to Paris , leaving his mother, her new husband and his two half-brothers (born in 1991 and 1994) behind in Dijon. He was lucky, quickly got a record deal and began recording his first album, Jours étranges , in February 1999 . It will be a success.

In December 2001 his first collection of poems appeared, À ton nom . In March 2002 he released his second work, God Blesse / Katagena , a double album. In the meantime he also offered an album of about an hour length for free download on the Internet (via unofficial websites), also under the title Katagena . Saez has also in the production of the soundtrack of the film fatale Femme involved which was released in April of 2003.

In 2004, Debbie appeared , his third work, which could not build on the success of Jours étranges . After spending some time in various studios, Saez returned to MySpace in 2006/2007 with three new tracks ( Numb , Killing the Lambs , Yellow Tricycle ) and announced his fourth album and a tour for 2008.

On April 21, 2008, the triple album Varsovie - L'Alhambra - Paris was released, which processed 29 purely acoustic songs in particular the separation from Damien's long-term friend Katarzyna. In June and July 2008 several concerts followed, at which Saez appeared for the first time with a string trio, as well as the promise to release two more albums in the same year, including an English-language one. However, nothing came of this promise. Instead, the first all-English-language album "A Lovers Prayer" hit stores on March 16, 2009. On this there are both more from touring and Internet publications already well-known songs ( White Noise , Killing the Lambs , Yellow Tricycle , Numb , Is it OK? , Pill for the Ride and Helicopters ) and several new titles that one in collaboration with professional translator.

Named a provocateur by the media, Saez does not hesitate to shock. The song " Sexe " (from the album God Blesse ) caused a lot of noise when it was released and, under pressure from various clubs, its clip was no longer played by certain French TV stations. Saez was content to make it available for free download on his official website.

Saez is also politically active: on April 22nd, 2002 , the day after the first round of the French presidential election, he published a free song " Fils de France " on the website of his label at the time, Universal Music , which he composed and recorded in about ten hours. . This song accuses the high percentage that right-wing extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen achieved in the first ballot, especially to make it clear to the young people who listen to his music that if there hadn't been such a low turnout on their part, it would not have been that "20% for horror, 20% for fear" would have come. In May 2007, shortly before the presidential elections in France, Saez again gave "Fils de France" in a speech by the socialist Ségolène Royal in order to protest against the conservative Nicolas Sarkozy , who had not been elected at the time, and who, among other things, claimed for his criticism became known to suburban youth in 2005.

Saez also openly criticizes the US , as the title of his second album, God Blesse , shows in connection with the US motto: "God blesse America" ​​(pun: "May God bless America" ​​or "May God hurt America"). This album, which was released only a few months after the events of September 11th, 2001 , has several songs with names that speak for themselves, for example " WTC ", " Massoud ", or " J'veux du nucléaire " ("I want something Radioactive ").

Saez's music was initially aimed at a young audience, who were not only affected by his political pieces, but also by his simple songs, which often told about life at school, about love and somehow about everyday life, but also taboo subjects such as Suicide, alcohol, drugs and sex did not leave untouched. In the meantime, his image of the rebellious post-pubescent rock star has moved a bit into the distance, the lyrics have become deeper, more poetic and more intimate.

Saez is a complete artist. Basically rather the rock singer (" Jeune et con " on Jours étranges , the song that made him accessible to the general public, " Sauver cette étoile " ...), he handles techno beats (" Sexe ") just as well , soft and poetic Songs (" Petit Prince " on Jours étranges or " So gorgeous " and " J'veux qu'on baise sur ma tombe " on God Blesse ), film music ( Femme fatale 2002) and piano solos (" Theme I " and " Theme II " on God Blesse ), and purely acoustic songs (as on Varsovie - L'Alhambra - Paris ) as solo artists. The date of publication of his autobiographical work is still unclear.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		FR	BE W	CH
1999	Jours étranges	FR22nd × 2 Double gold (46 weeks)FR	-	-
2002	God blow	FR10 (26 weeks) FR	BE W26 (4 weeks) BE W	CH52 (4 weeks) CH	Double album: God Blesse and Katagena
2004	Debbie	FR2 (23 weeks) FR	BE W4 (7 weeks) BE W	CH30 (4 weeks) CH
2008	Varsovie - L'Alhambra - Paris	FR3 (27 weeks) FR	BE W13 (20 weeks) BE W	CH45 (4 weeks) CH	Triple album
2009	Paris	FR83 (4 weeks) FR	BE W95 (1 week) BE W	-
	A lovers prayer	FR9 (6 weeks) FR	BE W20 (4 weeks) BE W	-
2010	J'accuse	FR3 (48 weeks) FR	BE W7 (29 weeks) BE W	CH25 (7 weeks) CH
2012	Messina	FR2 (29 weeks) FR	BE W2 (31 weeks) BE W	CH24 (3 weeks) CH
	Miami - Holy Bible	FR4 (17 weeks) FR	BE W14 (26 weeks) BE W	CH26 (3 weeks) CH
2016	Le manifeste - L'oiseau liberté & prélude acte II	FR15 (20 weeks) FR	BE W41 (21 weeks) BE W	CH30 (3 weeks) CH
2017	Le manifest vol. 1 - Mon Européenne	-	BE W134 (2 weeks) BE W	-
	Le manifest vol. 2 - Lulu	FR4 (14 weeks) FR	BE W12 (17 weeks) BE W	CH34 (3 weeks) CH
	Le manifest vol. 3 - Les bords de Seine	-	BE W151 (3 weeks) BE W	-
2018	# Humanité	FR13 (21 weeks) FR	BE W56 (11 weeks) BE W	CH26 (2 weeks) CH
2019	Messina / Messine	FR125 (1 week) FR	-	-
	Le manifeste 2016 2019	FR11 (9 weeks) FR	BE W36 (7 weeks) BE W	CH48 (2 weeks) CH

More albums

• 2002: Femme Fatale OST

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		FR	BE W
2000	Jeune et con Jours étranges	FR14 (28 weeks) FR	-
	Sauver cette étoile Jours étranges	FR70 (5 weeks) FR	-
2002	Sexe / Solution God blesse	FR41 (4 weeks) FR	-
2010	J'accuse J'accuse	-	BE W14 (9 weeks) BE W
2013	Miami Miami - Holy Bible	FR67 (1 week) FR	-
2016	Les enfants paradis Le manifeste - L'oiseau liberté & prélude acte II	FR184 (1 week) FR	-

bibliography

• 2001: À Ton Nom, ISBN 2-7427-3555-0

Web links

• Official site
• Unofficial page FR
• Unofficial page FR
• Unofficial page CH
• Unofficial page DE
• some documents

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: FR BEW CH
2. ↑ Awards for music sales: FR