Dany Brillant

by Mark DemingBorn in Tunisia on December 28, 1965, French pop crooner Dany Brillant has earned a large fan following in Europe for his lively, retro-flavored mix of swing, rockabilly, Latin, and French chanson influences. Brillant's family moved from Tunisia to France was he was only a year old, settling in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, a community not far from Paris. When Brillant was 14 years old, he was given a guitar by his grandfather; while Brillant had ambitions of becoming a doctor, his studies had to share his time with his new enthusiasm for music as he formed a rock & roll band that played regularly in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois. When a friend who played saxophone invited Brillant to sing with his jazz combo, the match proved fortuitous; Brillant quickly developed a passion for classic jazz and swing sounds, and the band landed a standing gig at a nightspot called Les Trois Maillets, where it played to enthusiastic crowds for five years. In 1996, Brillant released his first album, C'Est Toi, which became the first in a series of European chart successes for the singer; he's since released eight hit albums between 1996 and 2007 and become a popular live attraction, selling out a three-night stand at Paris' Palais des Congres months in advance.