Patrick Fiori

Patrick Fiori born Patrick JeanFrançois Chouchayan 23 September 1969 is a French singer of Armenian descent Fiori was born to a FrenchArmenian father Jacques Chouchayan and a Corsican mother Marie Antoinette Fiori in Marseille France His fathers 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 damour Taking part in Léon Zitrones 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 leau written by his childhood friend Bernard Di Domenico during the Francophonie He won first prize during Fenouillèdes Song Contest held in Sournia the PyrénéesOrientales That years event had been sponsored by Fabienne Thibeault who encouraged him to go further in his career In 1993 as he became wellknown with the public at 23 the songwriters François Valéry and MarieFrance 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 The next appearance of Corsican was after 18 years with Frances entry in Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with Amaury Vassilis song Sognu which was completely in Corsican 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 entitled Puisque cest lheure In 1995 he released the selffinanced Cœur à lenvers 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 Source Article Patrick Fiori from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30