Patrick Fiori

Patrick Chouchayan (born 23 September 1969), known by his stage name Patrick Fiori, is a French singer of Armenian descent.

Fiori was born in Marseille to a French-Armenian father (Jacques Chouchayan) and a Corsican mother (Marie Antoinette Fiori) in Marseille, France.

His father's family were escapees of the Armenian genocide.

He was born in a family of five siblings.

He spent part of his childhood in Marseille south of France and part in Ajaccio in Corsica.

He started music at the age of 12 in 1981 thanks to encouragement from Franck Fernandel, who offered him a role in the musical La Légende des santonniers.

In 1985, at the age of 16, he recorded his first song "Stéphanie" with financing from his parents followed by other recordings like "Dans ton regard" and "Le Cœur à fleur d'amour".

Taking part in Léon Zitrone's show Les Habits du dimanche gave him more exposure.

In 1987 he opened for singer Gilbert Montagné for a number of shows.

He later opened for other renowned artists like Michèle Torr and Barry White.

In 1992 he had great success with "Au fil de l'eau" written by his childhood friend Bernard Di Domenico during the Francophonie.

He won first prize during Fenouillèdes Song Contest held in Sournia, the Pyrénées-Orientales). That year's event had been sponsored by Fabienne Thibeault who encouraged him to go further in his career.

In 1993, as he became well-known with the public, at 23, the songwriters François Valéry and Marie-France Brière (director of variety and entertainment at France 2) suggested that he represent France in the 1993 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Mama Corsica" composed by Valéry, a bilingual song mainly in French language but with some additional Corsican language lyrics.

The song delivered the first rare occasion in which Corsican language was heard at the Eurovision Song Contest.

On 15 May 1993, Fiori performed "Mama Corsica" representing France in the Contest held that year in Green Glens Arena in Millstreet, Ireland.

He was accompanied by an orchestre led by Christian Cravero.

The accompaniment also included two banjo players and two vocalists who joined him on stage throughout the song.

Fiori finished fourth with a total of 121 points in between 25 nations competing.

The song obtained the coveted "douze points" (12 points) from jury in Denmark and Portugal.

In 1994, Fiori released his debut album titled Puisque c'est l'heure.

In 1995 he released the self-financed Cœur à l'envers.

He also appeared in a number of variety shows notably La Chance aux chansons hosted by Pascal Sevran interpreting on an occasion "Ma vie" an original song by Alain Barrière in his presence.

After a suggestion by Eddy Marnay, he auditioned for the musical Notre Dame de Paris with shows in Palais des Congrès de Paris.

Convinced by his talent Luc Plamondon offered him the role of Phoebus both onstage and in the recording studio for Notre-Dame de Paris.

With Daniel Lavoie and Garou, he recorded the song "Belle" for the show.

The greatly loved song was released as a single reaching number 1 on the French Singles Chart and the Wallon French Belgian Charts.

Also in 1998, Patrick signed a contract with Sony and recorded his third album Prends Moi.

He sang in the French soundtrack for Mulan singing in the role of Shang and in French version of The Prince of Egypt (in French Le Prince d'Égypte) with songs in the role of Ramesses II.

The song won "Best French Song of the Year" and the staging of Notre-Dame de Paris "Best French Show of the Year" during ''Victoires de la Musique in 1999.

In 1999, he took part in Les Enfoirés participating for many years with them.

In 2000, he decided to leave Notre-Dame de Paris to concentrate on his fourth album Chrysalide.

The album contains a collaboration with Calogero in "Que tu reviennes".

The same year, he appeared for the first time in the coveted Paris Olympia.

He also wrote "Si je m'en sors" for Julie Zenatti.

In 2002, Patrick Fiori released his fifth album, the self-titled Patrick Fiori with the first single from the album being "Marseille" dedicated to his home town and written by Jacques Veneruso.

Fiori had a collaboration with Jean-Jacques Goldman who wrote four songs for him for the album including "Je sais où aller".

In 2003, he toured France, Belgium with many dates and venues accompanied by his band including guitarist Jacques Veneruso, keyboard player Pierre-Jean Scavino, guitarist André Hampartzoumian and percussionist Patrick Hampartzoumian, drummer Laurent Coppola, bass guitarist Patrick Dupont and bagpipes player and flutist Bruno Le Rouzic with backing vocals by Agnès Hampartzoumian and Véronique Mavros.

2005 marked his new album Si on chantait plus fort with singles "Toutes les peines", "4 Mots sur un piano" and "Il paraît".

His single "4 Mots sur un piano" was written by Jean-Jacques Goldman.

The next appearance of Corsican was after 18 years with France's entry in Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with Amaury Vassili's song "Sognu" which was completely in Corsican.