אנריקו מסיאס

Enrico Macias (born Gaston Ghrenassia) (b.1938), singer and songwriter born in Constantine, Algeria. He played the guitar from an early age and learned from his father, Sylvain Ghrenassia, who was a violinist in an orchestra of Arab-Andalusian music. At the age of 15, Gaston joined the band and later replaced the lead singer, Cheikh Raymond, who became his father in law. After Cheikh Raymond’s assassination, he immigrated to France settling in  Argenteuil and later in Paris, where he pursued a musical career. He began by translating Andalusian music into French and eventually developed his own French repertoire, which he performed in cafes and cabarets. He later changed his stage name to Enrico Macias and made his first recording in 1962 after meeting Raymond Bernard of Pathé recording company. The result was the recording Adieu, mon pays! also known as J'ai quitté mon pays ("Goodbye, my country!"), which became an overnight hit in France. Macias also composed a song about his connection to France called Toi, Paris, tu m'as pris dans tes bras ("You, Paris, took me in your arms"). During his career, Enrico Macias composed and performed dozens of songs, including his own creations and those of others, with great public success worldwide. Some of his best-known hits include La femme de mon ami (“My friend's wife”) and Zingarella (The Little Gypsy Girl”). Macias has performed on major stages around the world, including L'Olympia in Paris, and has undertaken numerous concert tours through many countries on all continents, including United States, Canada, Israel, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, and South Korea. Macias sung in French, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew, Turkish, Greek, English, Armenian, Arabic. Despite his success in the French music scene, Macias remained a popular interpreter of Arabo-Andalusian music and Jewish traditional music. Macias was married to Suzy Leyris (1940-2008), the daughter of Cheikh Raymond.