Pow woW

	Chart positions ; Explanation of the data
	Albums
	Regagner les plaines
	Comme un guetteur
	Pow woW
	Quatre
	Chanter
	Singles
	Le chat
	Le lion est mort ce soir
	Devenir Cheyenne

Pow woW is a four-piece French vocal group that had its greatest success in the 1990s.

History of the ensemble

At the end of the 1970s, Pascal Périz and his brother founded the rockabilly band Les Alligators , which Alain Chennevière soon joined. The band only existed until the mid-1980s, but the two stayed in touch and met rock singer Ahmed Mouici through their music. In 1990 they also met Bertrand Pierre from Paris. They decided to make music together, and when the instruments were missing for their first session, they simply sang a cappella . It worked so well that they began rehearsing in earnest in October of that year and made their first gig in December. As the name for their ensemble, they chose the Indian expression Pow Wow for a special gathering of tribes.

This was followed by other appearances in which they sang pop classics such as Louie Louie and Le lion est mort ce soir as well as their own compositions such as Le chat (Der Kater), accompanied only by a guitarist. In early 1992 they went into the studio and recorded their debut album Regagner les plaines . The first single from it was Le chat and it was number 1 in the singles charts in France for 7 weeks in July and August . Shortly thereafter, the album also made it to the top of the chart.

The second single was Le lion est mort ce soir , a long-running hit based on an African song. B. Wimoweh or The Lion Sleeps Tonight had been very successful in different countries. At the end of 1992 the song reached the top 5 in France and the album became the best-selling album of the Christmas season.

At the subsequent awarding of the French music prize Victoires de la Musique , Pow woW received the award as Group of the Year and Le chat was named Song of the Year.

This is followed by a major tour of France and, in autumn 1993, the second album, Comme un guetteur . It reached number 8 on the charts, but no song made it into the singles charts. Another two years later followed a third successful album with Pow Wow , but the initial momentum had waned. In addition, they had turned away from pure a cappella singing and rely on a full backing band, which the purists among the fans disliked. The four members began to be interested in their own projects and so after the best-of album Quatre and a last appearance at the annual benefit event Les Enfoirés in 1997 the quartet split up.

This separation lasted nine years, then Chennevière, Périz, Mouici and Pierre came together again. They recorded the album Chanter in 2006 and were able to build on their chart history, although not as in the past. Pow woW have been giving concerts since then.