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Gaston Ghrenassia known by his stage name Enrico Macias (born December 11, 1938 in Constantine, then French Algeria) is a Jewish-French singer and musician.

Early Years

He was born to a Jewish family in Constantine, then French Algeria, and played the guitar since childhood. His father was a violinist in an orchestra that played primarily maalouf, Andalo-Arabic music. Gaston started playing with the Cheikh Raymond Leyris orchestra at 15.

He pursued a career as a school teacher, but continued practicing the guitar. In 1961 the Algerian War of Independence was raging, and the situation became untenable for the French residents of Constantine. Of immense effect on Gaston Ghrenassia was the assassination in 1961 of his father-in-law and musician Cheikh Raymond Leyris by the National Liberation Front (FLN) and Gaston went into exile in mainland France leaving Algeria with his wife, Suzy on 29 July 1961, eleven years before the end of the Algerian War of Independence.

Career

First living in Argenteuil, France he eventually moved to Paris, where he decided to pursue a career in music. At first, he tried translating the maalouf numbers that he already knew into French. Later on he developed a new French repertoire that he performed in cafés and cabarets. He remained though a popular interpreter of Arab-Andalusian music and Judeo-Arab songs and a champion of the Pied-Noir in France.

He adopted the name Enrico Macias. Enrico comes from him being called "petit Enrico" when he joined Cheikh Raymond's orchestra. Macias comes through an error of the record label he would eventually sign. When asked about his family name on the phone he said "Nassia" (Ghrenassia), but the receptionist misheard the name and wrote Macias. Thus the name Enrico Macias.

He made his first recording in 1962 after a meeting with Raymond Bernard of Pathée. The result was recording of "Adieu mon pays," which he had composed on the boat to France. He appeared on French television and became an overnight sensation. This led to a first tour in 1963 as a second act with Paola and Billy Bridge. His daughter Jocya was also born that year.

In the sproing of 1964, he performed in the first half of the Compagnons de la Chanson show at the Paris Olympia in spring and then undertook a successful tour to the Middle East performing with great success in Lebanon, Greece, and Turkey and where he still his to date a huge following. In 1965 he was awarded the Prix Vincent Scotto and the following year, he sang before 120,000 people at the Dinamo Stadium in Moscow, peforming concerts in more than 40 other Soviet cities.

Of great popularity were his Oriental-influenced songs (J’ai quitté mon pays, Les filles de mon pays, l'Orientale, Entre l'orient et l'occident, Le violon de mon père a tribute to his father and Mon chanteur préferé, a tribute to his father-in-law Cheikh Raymond) and his French interpretation of Oh guitare, guitare and Spanish El Porompompero and Solenzara. He was also performing his big hits such as Paris, tu m'as pris dans tes bras, La femme de mon ami, Non je n'ai pas oublié, La France de mon enfance, Les gens du nord, Les filles de mon pays. From that time on, he toured throughout the world, recorded hit songs in Spanish and Italian, and met great success on every continent. His American debut at a sold-out Carnegie Hall took place on February 17, 1968.

He received a gold disc in 1976 for Mélissa. In 2003, he put out a new album Oranges amères produced by his son, Jean-Claude Ghrenassia. He has a great song called "Enfant de Tous Pays".

Achievements

He was named Singer of Peace by UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim in 1980.
In 1997, Kofi Annan named him Roving Ambassador for Peace and the Defence of Children.

Controversies

After the cancellation of a proposed tour in Algeria in 2000, he wrote a book Mon Algérie, a love story of his feelings for his native land.

On 14 February 2007, he announced his support of Nicolas Sarkozy for the French presidential elections. He confirmed his political convictions of the left, but said could not support the Socialist candidate Ségolène Royal although would have supported if Laurent Fabius or Dominique Strauss-Kahn had been the candidates.

He attempted again unsuccessfully to visit Algeria in November 2007 accompanying French president Nicolas Sarkozy, but was faced with fierce resistance from several Algerian organizations and individuals, including Algerian Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem, due to his support of Israel. ^[1]^[2] ^[3]

References

^ الأخبار - ثقافة و فن - زيارة المغني إنريكو ماسياس تثير غضبا شعبيا بالجزائر
^ "Algeria mulls visit by pro-Israeli French singer". Al-Arabiya. 2007-11-21. Retrieved 2007-11-22.
^ "Enrico Macias gives up his Algeria visit on advice from Pt Sarkozy". Echorouk Online. 2007-11-25. Retrieved 2007-11-25.

External links

[1] الأخبار - ثقافة و فن - زيارة المغني إنريكو ماسياس تثير غضبا شعبيا بالجزائر

[2] "Algeria mulls visit by pro-Israeli French singer". Al-Arabiya. 2007-11-21. Retrieved 2007-11-22.

[3] "Enrico Macias gives up his Algeria visit on advice from Pt Sarkozy". Echorouk Online. 2007-11-25. Retrieved 2007-11-25.

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@@ Line 38: / Line 38: @@
 He made his first recording in 1962 after a meeting with Raymond Bernard of Pathée. The result was recording of "Adieu mon pays," which he had composed on the boat to France. He appeared on French television and became an overnight sensation. This led to a first tour in 1963 as a second act with Paola and Billy Bridge. His daughter Jocya was also born that year.
-In 1964, he undertook a tour to the Middle East performing with great success in [[Lebanon]], [[Greece]], and [[Turkey]]. Of great popularity were his Oriental-influenced songs (''J’ai quitté mon pays'', ''Les filles de mon pays'', ''l'Orientale'', ''Entre l'orient et l'occident'', ''Le violon de mon père'' a tribute to his father and ''Mon chanteur préferé'', a tribute to his father-in-law Cheikh Raymond) and his French interpretation of ''Oh guitare, guitare'' and Spanish ''El Porompompero'' and ''Solenzara''. He was also performing his big hits such as ''Paris, tu m'as pris dans tes bras'', ''La femme de mon ami'', ''Non je n'ai pas oublié'', ''La France de mon enfance'', ''Les gens du nord'', ''Les filles de mon pays''. From that time on, he toured throughout the world, recorded hit songs in Spanish and Italian, and met great success on every continent.  His American debut at a sold-out [[Carnegie Hall]] took place on February 17, 1968.
+In the sproing of 1964, he performed in the first half of the Compagnons de la Chanson show at the Paris Olympia in spring and then undertook a successful tour to the Middle East performing with great success in [[Lebanon]], [[Greece]], and [[Turkey]] and where he still his to date a huge following. In 1965 he was awarded the Prix Vincent Scotto and the following year, he sang before 120,000 people at the Dinamo Stadium in [[Moscow]], peforming concerts in more than 40 other Soviet cities.
+Of great popularity were his Oriental-influenced songs (''J’ai quitté mon pays'', ''Les filles de mon pays'', ''l'Orientale'', ''Entre l'orient et l'occident'', ''Le violon de mon père'' a tribute to his father and ''Mon chanteur préferé'', a tribute to his father-in-law Cheikh Raymond) and his French interpretation of ''Oh guitare, guitare'' and Spanish ''El Porompompero'' and ''Solenzara''. He was also performing his big hits such as ''Paris, tu m'as pris dans tes bras'', ''La femme de mon ami'', ''Non je n'ai pas oublié'', ''La France de mon enfance'', ''Les gens du nord'', ''Les filles de mon pays''. From that time on, he toured throughout the world, recorded hit songs in Spanish and Italian, and met great success on every continent.  His American debut at a sold-out [[Carnegie Hall]] took place on February 17, 1968.
 He received a gold disc in 1976 for ''Mélissa''. In 2003, he put out a new album ''Oranges amères'' produced by his son, Jean-Claude Ghrenassia. He has a great song called "Enfant de Tous Pays".