Zaz (singer)

Isabelle Geffroy[1] (born 1 May 1980), better known by the nickname Zaz, is a French singer-songwriter who mixes jazzy styles, French variety, soul and acoustic. She is famous for her hit "Je veux", from her first album, Zaz, released on 10 May 2010.[2]

Zaz
Zaz in 2014
Background information
Birth nameIsabelle Geffroy
Born (1980-05-01) 1 May 1980
OriginTours, Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire, France
Genres
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter
Years active2001–present
LabelsPlay On
Websitewww.zazofficial.com

Early life

Zaz was born in Tours, France. Her mother was a Spanish teacher, and her father worked for an electric company. In 1985, she entered the Conservatoire de Tours with her sister and her brother, attending courses from the ages of 6 to 11. She studied music theory, specifically the violin, piano, guitar, and choral singing. In 1994, she moved to Bordeaux. In 1995, she took singing lessons and played sports for a year in Bordeaux. In 2000, she won a scholarship from the regional council, which allowed her to join a school of modern music, the CIAM (Centre for Musical Activities and Information) of Bordeaux. Her musical influences included 'Four Seasons' by Vivaldi, jazz singers such as Ella Fitzgerald, and other singers such as Enrico Macias, Bobby McFerrin, and Richard Bona, as well as African, Latin, and Cuban rhythms. In 2006, she moved to Paris.

Career
Zaz performing with Benoit Simon at the TFF Rudolstadt festival in 2011

In 2001, she started her singing career in the blues band "Fifty Fingers". She sang in musical groups in Angoulême, especially in a jazz quintet.[3] She became one of the four singers of Izar-Adatz (Basque for "Shooting Star"), a variety band which consisted of sixteen people with whom she toured for two years, especially in the Midi-Pyrenees and the Basque Country. She worked in the studio as a backing singer in Toulouse and performed with many singers, including Maeso, Art Mengo, Vladimir Max, Jean-Pierre Mader, and Serge Guerao.

In 2011, Zaz won an EBBA Award. Every year the European Border Breakers Awards (EBBA) recognize the success of ten emerging artists or groups who reached audiences outside their own countries with their first internationally released album in the past year.

In May 2010, French magazine Télérama announced: "Rumor has swelled in recent weeks: Zaz is an extraordinary voice, and she will be the revelation of the summer!".[4] On 10 May 2010, Zaz released her first album. It contains songs she wrote ("Trop sensible") and co-composed ("Les passants", "Le long de la route", "Prends garde à ta langue", "J'aime à nouveau", "Ni oui ni non"). Kerredine Soltani produced the album on the label "Play On" and wrote and composed the hit single "Je veux". The pop singer Raphaël Haroche wrote her songs "Éblouie par la nuit", "Port Coton" and "La fée". In 2010, she signed a contract for her tours with Caramba and publisher Sony ATV. She was invited to make several television appearances (such as Taratata or Chabada) and was featured in several programs on the radio. On Sunday 6 October 2013, Zaz appeared on BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show in London and sang "Je veux" live.

Zaz then toured France (Paris, La Rochelle, Montauban, Saint-Ouen, Chateauroux, Landerneau, Fécamp...), performed at the Francofolies of Montreal (Canada), and sang in Monthey (Switzerland), Brussels, Berlin, and Milan. In autumn Zaz topped the charts in Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria. Matthieu Baligand, her manager and producer at Caramba Entertainment, explained to Libération: "There's a lot about her right now and people want to see her tour... But despite the demand, it seems preferable for her to begin touring in fifty small places, which will make her more credible. Zaz is a popular, intuitive artist, who is familiar with music, who can sing, but doing a quality show is something else (...)." In November 2010, the debut album Zaz became double platinum and she was awarded "Revelation Song" by the Académie Charles Cros. Zaz also won the European Border Breakers Award: she was named the French artist most played abroad in 2010. According to a survey published by L'Internaute, Zaz was the most popular French singer in the 2010 ranking.[5]

She is also featured on the song "Cœur Volant" for the soundtrack of the 2011 film, Hugo. Her live CD and DVD Zaz live tour Sans Tsu Tsou was revealed.

Her song "Eblouie Par La Nuit" was featured in the 2013 American neo-noir crime thriller, "Dead Man Down".

In 2012, Zaz went on tour and held concerts in various countries around the world including Japan, Canada, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Slovenia, Czech Republic (Colours of Ostrava), Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Turkey, among other countries.[6]

Zaz (Paris Tour) in Brest in 2016.

With her album Paris she won the 2015 Echo award for best international female rock/pop artist.[7]

In 2016, Zaz was invited to perform in Zacatecas City, Mexico as part of the Festival Cultural Zacatecas.[8]

In September 2018, Zaz released "Qué vendrá", the first track from an upcoming album titled Effet miroir ("Mirror Effect"). The track's title and chorus are in Spanish.[9]

Philanthropy

In 2011, she joined the Les Enfoirés charity ensemble.

Zaz created the project Zazimut to "develop and promote projects for a society more respectful of life in all its forms".

Awards and nominations
YearAwardsWorkCategoryResult
2014 World Music Awards Herself World's Best Female Artist Nominated
World's Best Live Act Nominated
Zaz World's Best Album Nominated
Recto Verso Nominated
"Si" World's Best Song Nominated
"On Ira" Nominated
World's Best Video Nominated

Discography

Albums
Title Album details Peak positions[10][11][12] Certifications
FRA AUT
[13]		 BEL (FL) BEL (WA) GER
[14]		 GRE ITA POL
[15]		 SWI NED RUS CZE
[16]		 ESP
Zaz 1125113319110563393
Recto Verso
  • Released: 13 May 2013
  • Label: Play On, Sony Music Entertainment
 241632——5173—121
Paris
  • Released: 10 November 2014
  • Label: Play On, Warner Music Group
 24825——2354—317
  • AUT: Gold
  • FRA: 3× Platinum[28]
  • GER: Gold
  • POL: 2× Platinum[26]
  • SWI: Gold
Effet miroir
  • Released: 16 November 2018[29]
  • Label: Play On, Warner Music Group
 5
[30]		181693——255
[31]		63—5—
"–" denotes items which were not released in that country or failed to chart.

Others

  • 2014: Recto verso / Zaz (joint re-release of the two albums) (Peak: FR: #64)[32]

Live albums
Title Album details Peak positions Certifications
FRA BEL (WA) POL
[33]		 SWI
Sans tsu tsou Live Tour
  • Released: 2011
 242717—
Sur la route
  • Released: 30 October 2015
 3[34] 10189
"–" denotes items which were not released in that country or failed to chart.

Singles
Title Year Peak chart positions Album
AUT BEL
(FL)
[35]		 BEL
(WA)
[36]		 FRA
[37]		 GER SWI
"Je veux" 2010 16342342223 Zaz
"Le long de la route" —8211662——
"La fée" 2011 —681740——
"Éblouie par la nuit" —6713413——
"Cette journée" 2013 ——811——— Recto Verso
"On ira" 7483116124715
"Comme ci, comme ça" —761561———
"Si" —86153134——
"Gamine" 2014 ——571169——
"Paris sera toujours Paris" —777148—— Paris
"Sous le ciel de Paris" ———170——
"Champs Élysées" ———177——
"Si jamais j'oublie" 2015 ——2711—43 Sur la route
"Qué vendrá" 2018 —581601——— Effet miroir
"Demain c'est toi" —311————
"Nos vies" 2019 —181221———
"On s'en remet jamais" —451————
"–" denotes items which were not released in that country or failed to chart.
Title Year Peak chart positions Album
BEL
(WA)
[36]		 FRA
[37]
"I Dare You (Appelle ton amour)"
(Kelly Clarkson featuring Zaz)		 2020 871 — Non-album single
"–" denotes items which were not released in that country or failed to chart.

Charity singles

Other charted songs
Title Year Peak chart positions Album
FRA
[37]
"Trop sensible" 2013 52 Zaz
"Belle" 136 Non-album single

1 Did not chart on main chart Ultratop, but bubbling under Ultratip Chart. Added 50 positions to actual Ultratip position for reporting purposes in table.

References
  1. "Zaz : de saltimbanque chanteuse de rue... au sommet des charts !" (in French). Purepeople. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
  2. "interview et live de Zaz, chanteuse aux actualités A2" (in French). 2424actu. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
  3. "Zaz n'a pas la voix dans sa poche" (in French). Respectmag. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  4. "Zaz – chanson". Telerama (in French). Retrieved 4 January 2011.
  5. "Musique: Zaz personnalité préférée de l'année" (in French). Linternaute. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
  6. "ZAZ – Bandsintown – Facebook".
  7. Brunner, Ula (27 March 2015). "'Die Helene-Fischer-Festspiele haben begonnen'" ['The Helene Fischer festival has begun']. RBB online (in German). Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg. Archived from the original on 30 March 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  8. "Zaz". Mexico Es Cultura. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  9. Qué vendrá. 7 September 2018.
  10. "ZAZ – ZAZ, in various albums charts" (in French). Lescharts. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  11. "ZAZ – ZAZ, in various albums charts". acharts. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  12. "ZAZ – ZAZ, in various albums charts" (in Russian). lenta.ru. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  13. "Discographie Zaz". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  14. "Discographie Zaz". GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  15. Peak chart positions in Poland:
  16. "Zaz – Zaz, Czech Albums Chart" (in Czech). ČNS IFPI. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
  17. "Zaz – Zaz, Austrian certification" (in German). IFPI. Archived from the original on 1 July 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  18. "Zaz – Zaz, Belgian certification". IFPI. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  19. "Zaz – Zaz, French certification". SNEP. Archived from the original on 15 May 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  20. "Zaz – Zaz, German certification" (in German). IFPI. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  21. "Albums certified Platinum in 2012" (in Polish). ZPAV. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  22. "Zaz – Zaz, Russian certification" (in Russian). IFPI. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  23. "Zaz – Zaz, Swiss certification" (in German). IFPI. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  24. "Belgian Certifications in 2013". ultratop.be. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  25. "SNEP Certifications October 2013" (PDF). SNEP. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  26. "Albums and singles certified Platinum in 2016" (in Polish). ZPAV. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  27. SCHWEIZER HITPARADE – ALBEN TOP 100 << 22.09.2013 (in German). hitparade.ch. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  28. "SNEP – National Union of Phonographic Edition". Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  29. "Effet miroir por ZAZ" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  30. "Le Top de la semaine : Top Albums Fusionnes – SNEP (Week 47, 2018)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  31. "Zaz – Effet miroir – hitparade.ch". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  32. "lescharts.com – Zaz – Rectro verso / Zaz". lescharts.com. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  33. Peak chart positions in Poland:
  34. "Le Top de la semaine : Top Albums – SNEP". 1 November 2013.
  35. "ultratop.be – Zaz discography". Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  36. "ultratop.be – Zaz discography". Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  37. "ZAZ – "Je veux", in various singles charts" (in French). Lescharts. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
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