Kendji Girac, the irresistible rise of a popular singer shot last night

Around 5:30 a.m., this Monday, April 22, Kendji Girac, singer of gypsy pop music, electro matinee, collapsed after being shot in the chest at the Grand Passage reception area where people from the travel near Biscarrosse in the Landes. Between life and death, the artist, only 27 years old, was rushed to Pessac hospital in Gironde, 68 kilometers away. A few hours later, his vital prognosis was no longer in jeopardy.

Was it an accident, an argument that went particularly bad? The people present at the scene told the police that “nothing had happened”. The criminal investigation unit of the Landes group was dispatched to the scene.

Contacted by Le Figaro, his loved ones remained silent. Most put their cell phones on messaging. Very close to travelers to the point of living a good part of the year in a camper van in the same parking areas, the variety singer, Daniel Guichard, author of the hit Le Gitan, is close to Kendji Girac's family. He immediately sent a word of support to the artist's father and cousin, Chico, the singer of the Gipsy Kings.

According to the singer's initial statements, his bullet wound was the result of improper handling of a weapon purchased the day before at a flea market. As planned, will he be able to celebrate ten years of his career this year? Everything will depend on his state of health, in particular his lungs and his vocal cords.

Started in 2014, her career has allowed her to perform in front of a fervent audience with the hits Andalouse, Color Gitano, Les yeux de la mama…. We also owe him duets, notably with Florent Pagny. Kendji Girac had joined the same Pagny who was recovering from his cancer in Patagonia to shoot the beautiful music video for Encore, a song written by Vianney. A major seller of albums and concert tickets, Kendji Girac is an extremely popular artist who has more than 3 million subscribers on the Spotify streaming platform.

Each of his concerts is an event. At the Palais des Sports in 2021, we remember the remarkable entry of his family headed by Carmen, the singer's mother. Long dress, dark hair, hoarse voice, she was clearly the star of the evening. Fans immediately rushed to ask for a selfie, which she accepted very kindly. Behind, Soraya, the singer's companion, a model silhouette in a powder pink jumpsuit, managed to go almost unnoticed. The set design was simple: lights, a video wall that runs the width of the stage and four musicians. Florian on piano, Tony on drums, Kema and Benoît on bass.

Kendji Girac carried the whole show on his shoulders. When he appeared in a yellow halo while strumming a few guitar chords, like the older ones, he immediately brought the room to its feet. Imagine the Palais des Sports standing with its arms in the air and clapping its hands. On stage, Kendji Girac oscillates between gypsy music which is his base, pop and rap. Sunglasses, hat, his “friend” the rapper Soolking of Kabyle origin makes a remarkable entrance on stage with their duet Bebeto. Kendji continues the 90 minutes of show without downtime. At ease, he often chats with the public. “I’m so happy to be with you friends, this evening for this first concert, it’s a lot of emotion.”

Bruno Berbérès, casting director of The Voice, discovered him at the age of just 17, and registered him for the famous TF1 telecrochet in 2014. His fifth album, The School of Life, was released in 2022 In 2020, the singer was the victim of an attack in the Paris region. Four individuals, armed with tear gas bombs, attacked Kendji Girac and his friends who were leaving a bowling alley, to steal their personal effects “including a watch, car keys and a bag”. The perpetrators of the theft then fled by car. In January 2021, his very discreet companion Soraya gave birth to a little girl, Eva Alba.

His family is his backbone. Kendji Girac comes from the community of travelers, those of gypsies from Spain. In addition to French and Catalan, he is fluent in Castilian and Occitan. A clansman, Kendji is incapable of staying ten days away from his family. On the land that he acquired with his first fees, in Brétigny-sur-Orge (Essonne), there is his house, his caravan and those of his relatives. “If the weather is nice, I follow them,” he told us in 2021. “I need greenery, spacious paths, to see the birds.” In Sanary-sur-Mer, in the Var, where he had bought another property, “Captain Kendji” likes to pilot his boat between Porquerolles and the creeks of Cassis.

Direct, without filter, Kendji lets himself be carried from day to day. A well-bred boy, he never hesitates to get up at dawn. “The artists who succeed are those who work,” emphasized Pierre-Alexandre Vertadier, producer of his concerts. Kendji also has a singularity, a crazy talent, something natural that arouses empathy. He is authentic and people feel it. This is why he is one of the biggest sellers of concert tickets and albums in France.”

Carried by the hits Color Gitano and Andalouse, today respectively 151 and 406 million views on YouTube, it lays the foundations of what will become its musical identity: a sound with flamenco tones, all in a French language dotted with words in Spanish. At the same time, he recorded the French version of the hit One last time with the American pop star, Ariana Grande. A consecration for a French artist, even if this title will have less resonance (14 million views on the singer's YouTube). Less than a year later, he returned with his second album Ensemble, then, in 2018, Amigo was released. Mi vida will follow in 2020 then The School of Life in 2022.

Just before Covid, Kendji sang in Dubai and recorded in Jamaica. “In the same studio, facing the sea, as the rapper Drake,” he said. What a journey for this boy from a modest background, who at 17 had never yet taken the train. Among the Maillés (Girac is his mother's name), the caravans are on the road every ten days and the children go to school as the family travels. In winter, they settle down at the Gilets reception area, in Bergerac, in Dordogne. Without being a spokesperson for the Traveler community, the singer nevertheless wants to carry “his gypsy identity loud and clear” in a country where stereotypes targeting this community still die hard.

From the age of 11, Kendji became a pruner, like his father. “I sang with my guitar for fun, I learned with my grandfather, but I never imagined I would make it my job. » In August 2013, his uncle posted a video of his shirtless nephew in a meadow energetically covering Bella, by Maître Gims, in a gypsy version. On YouTube, these 2 min 55 minutes have been viewed 7 million times. Everyone in showbiz is talking about it. “I called all the gypsies I knew before finding one in Marseille who knew where to reach him,” says Bruno Berberes.

Thanks to coach Mika, Kendji Girac won season three of telecrochet, that of 2013-2014. “During The Voice, Mika was able to give me the courage to assert myself. And then I didn't warm up my voice. I didn't sing with my diaphragm, with my stomach. I wasn't articulate enough. Details that matter today,” he explained to Ouest-France. Producers are fighting to sign him. Between two shows produced with Kamel Ouali, Hakim Nassouh, 46, gives a helping hand to The Voice and takes care of Maillé in particular. “My parents, who came from Kabylia, knew neither how to read nor write, exactly like those from Kendji,” he explains. This family touched me. They were blank of everything. I will always be there for them and they know it. A man in the shadows, Hakim Nassouh prevented Kendji from being devoured alive by the sharks of showbiz. He is to Kendji what Thierry Saïd is to Matt Pokora and Jean-Rachid Kallouche to Grand Corps Malade: a true accomplice, a benevolent protector who has no equal when it comes to negotiating contracts, sniffing out trends and giving artistic advice. He also manages the gypsy microcosm. Asking Kendji what his sisters do, for example, arouses a certain astonishment. “If you are at all feminist, the gypsy environment is not the place to go,” laughs Bruno Berbérès.In the little family that was created around the singer, there is Maud from Universal Music, Alban known as “James Dean”, who manages the daily life and the millions of subscribers on social networks. And the bodyguards Hernani and Alexis.