Matthieu Chedid

Matthieu Chedid's sisters are the music video and concert director Émilie Chedid (born in 1970) and French singer Anna Chedid (born in 1987), also known by her stage name Nach.

Matthieu Chedid (born 21 December 1971) is a French multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter.

Chedid began his career as a session musician playing both acoustic and electric guitar.

In 1978, at the age of six, Chedid lent his voice to the chorus of his father's hit song T'as beau pas être beau alongside older sister, Émilie.

During his teenage years and early twenties, Chedid was part of short-lasting groups such as Tam Tam, Les Bébés fous and Les Poissons Rouges with Mathieu Boogaerts, as well as Julien Voulzy and Pierre Souchon (respectively the sons of singers Laurent Voulzy and Alain Souchon) who went on to form the duo Les Cherche Midi.

He has collaborated with a number of artists, both on stage and in the recording studio.

Early into his solo career, Chedid was the opening act for Texas concerts.

He has recorded with NTM, Sinclair, Billy Ze Kick, Brigitte Fontaine, Sean Lennon, Vanessa Paradis, and Johnny Hallyday.

His brother Joseph "Selim" Chedid (born in 1986) is also a French singer and a guitar and drums player.

Chedid took an interest in music early on.

In the late 1990s, he rose to fame as a singer-songwriter and musician under the alias M (often stylized as -M-), blending Nouvelle Chanson, electronic and rock music.

In studio, he experiments with various instruments and electronic music, while on tour as -M- he mostly plays the guitar, and is known for his eccentric outfits and dramatic live performances, sometimes including special effects.

In 1997, -M- released his first solo album Le Baptême.

During this time; he played mainly solo or with the cellist Vincent Ségal.

The album received overall positive critical reception, but public recognition only came a few months later, with the release of the single "Machistador".

In 1999, -M- published his second album, Je dis aime a title that puns 'aime' (like/love) with 'M'.

-M- gained international exposure through his recording of the song "Belleville Rendez-vous" for the soundtrack of the 2003 Sylvain Chomet animated film The Triplets of Belleville in both French and English.

The song, with lyrics by Chomet and music by Benoit Charest, was nominated for a 2003 Academy Award.

The music video for "Belleville Rendez-vous" uses both a live-action depiction of -M- and an animated depiction incorporated into footage from the film.

In autumn 2003, he released his 3rd album Qui de nous deux (Which one of us two) with the singles "Qui de nous deux", "La bonne étoile", "Mon ego".

Softer, this album saw the birth of his first daughter, Billie, for whom an all-pink guitar was built by instrument-maker Cyril Guérin.

A pink guitar can be seen in the video for "Qui de nous deux".

Chedid has also performed in the 2005 stage musical Le soldat rose and is part of French-Malian band Lamomali.

In 2007, he worked once again with Vanessa Paradis on her album Divinidylle, released in September 2007.

Until 2008, Chedid was in a relationship with French actress Audrey Tautou.

Chedid performs and records under the stage name -M-.

Chedid created -M- as means of overcoming his shyness on stage and also as a way of distancing his work from that of his father and grandmother.

The pseudonym comes from Chedid's first initial but also refers to the similar-sounding French word aime, meaning love.

The character -M- is a superhero, noted for having a playful nature, and recognized for his flamboyant costumes (primarily monochrome suits with slim trousers and long jackets with upward pointed collars) and hair styled into the shape of an M.

Rumors circulated before the release of his 2009 studio album, Mister Mystère, that Chedid had decided to drop the character -M- to record and perform under his given name.

The album, however, was released under the name -M- but included photographs of the singer without the wild costumes and hair associated with the -M- character.

A few months later, the album was 11th on the French Charts, with more than 500,000 albums sold, thanks to a number of successful songs ("Je dis aime", "Onde Sensuelle", "Monde Virtuel", "Le complexe du corn-flakes", "Mama Sam").

Live, -M- played with Cyril Atef, Vincent Segal and DJ Shalom for the samples on some songs.

He still works with his sister Emilie Chedid for the realisation of the clips.

His live performance largely contributed to his success, playing on his character of -M- to transform every concert into a show.

He won his first Victoire de la Musique awards for Male Artist of the Year and Concert of the Year.

Since 2018, he has been the most awarded artist at the Victoires de la Musique Awards with 13 awards, tied with Alain Bashung.

Matthieu Chedid was born in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France.

His father Louis Chedid is a singer from a family of Lebanese extraction, of Maronite and Greek Orthodox Christian background.

Louis Chedid's mother Andrée (née Saab) was an Egyptian-born French writer and poet, who has written lyrics for Matthieu Chedid's songs.