Gérald Gardrinier (French pronunciation: [ʒeʁald ɡaʁdʁinje]; born 14 October 1967 in Saint-Denis, Réunion), better known by his stage name Gérald de Palmas, is a French singer-songwriter.
Gérald De Palmas | |
|---|---|
 Gérald de Palmas, 2014. | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Gérald Gardrinier |
| Born | 14 October 1967 Saint-Denis, Réunion, Overseas France |
| Genres | Pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Labels | Universal Music |
| Website | www.depalmas.net |
Biography
Early life
Gérald de Palmas was born in France. His father was a land surveyor from Brittany and his mother was a French teacher from Réunion. At the age of 10, De Palmas' family left Réunion, to live in Aix-en-Provence, France. At the age of 13, he discovered ska music, and became a fan of the UK band The Specials. Then he met Étienne Daho and formed a group called Les Max Valentin together with Edith Fambuena and Jean-Louis Pierot. They released the single 'Les Maux Dits' in 1987, but De Palmas was uncomfortable with this group, and went solo. After seven years of writing and singing solo, Da Palmas won a talent contest on the French M6 TV network.
Career
In 1994, Gérald de Palmas, or just De Palmas as an artistic name, released his first album La dernière Année (The Last Year), which contains the hit song Sur la Route (On the Road). He won a Victoires de la Musique award in 1996.
De Palmas released his second album Les Lois de la Nature (Laws of Nature) in 1997. The album was less successful than his debut album, probably due to the dramatic change in his style. He was in the slumps for two and a half years, until 2000. That's when Jean-Jacques Goldman restored his confidence and wrote a song for him titled J'en rêve encore (I still dream about it).
De Palmas composed and wrote 10 of the 12 songs in his third album Marcher dans le sable (Walking in the sand). He was reborn as a star in 2002, as he won the Victoires de la Musique and the NRJ Music Awards, while playing more than 180 concerts. His songs even crossed the Atlantic, when Céline Dion sang his hit song Tomber (falling) in English, titled Ten Days. At the end of that year, Live 2002 was released on DVD and on CD, to commemorate his great tour of 2002.
Two years later, De Palmas returned with his fourth album Un homme sans racines (A man without roots), a more intimate album with less music, but still in the same melancholic style.After having problems with Universal, Gérald de Palmas came back in November 2009 with his new album "Sortir" (Leaving) with the hit single "Au bord de l'eau".
His latest album is "La beauté du geste" released in the summer of 2016.
Awards
- NRJ Music Awards :
- Best francophone male artist (2003)
- Best francophone album (Marcher dans le sable) (2002)
- Victoires de la musique :
- Best male artist of the year (2002)
- Male revelation of the year (1996)
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album | Charts | Certification | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FR [1] | BEL Wa | SWI | |||
| 1994 | La dernière année | — | — | — | |
| 1997 | Les lois de la nature | 32 | — | — | |
| 2000 | Marcher dans le sable | 2 | 2 | 28 | |
| 2001 | La dernière année | 50 | — | — | |
| 2004 | Un homme sans racines | 1 | 6 | 36 | |
| 2009 | Sortir | 2 | 4 | 32 | |
| 2011 | Sur ma route | 10 | 8 | — | |
| 2013 | De Palmas | 11 | 11 | 68 | |
| 2016 | La beauté du geste | 3 | 14 | 56 | |
- Live albums
| Year | Album | Charts | Certification | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FR [1] | BEL Wa | SWI | |||
| 2002 | Live 2002 | 3 | 7 | 28 | |
Singles
| Year | Single | Charts | Certification | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FR [1] | BEL Wa | SWI | ||||
| 1994 | "Sur la route" | 14 | — | — | La dernière année | |
| 1995 | "Comme une ombre" | — | — | — | ||
| "Sans recours" | — | — | — | |||
| 1997 | "Comme ça" | — | — | — | Les lois de la nature | |
| "Mary Jane" | — | — | — | |||
| "Les lois de la nature" | — | — | — | |||
| 2000 | "J'en rêve encore" | 7 | 4 | — | Marcher dans le sable | |
| 2001 | "Une seule vie (marcher dans le sable)" | 30 | — | — | ||
| "Tomber" | 35 | — | — | |||
| 2002 | "Regarde-moi bien en face" | — | — | — | ||
| "Elle s'ennuie" | 35 | — | 73 | Live 2002 | ||
| 2004 | "Elle danse seule" | 22 | — | 46 | Un homme sans racines | |
| "Au paradis" | — | — | — | |||
| "Elle habite ici" | — | — | — | |||
| 2009 | "Au bord de l'eau" | — | — | — | Sortir | |
| "Dans une larme" | — | — | — | |||
| 2010 | "Mon cœur ne bat plus" | — | — | — | ||
| 2011 | "L'étranger" | 59 | — | — | Sur ma route | |
| 2013 | "Je me souviens de tout" | 130 | — | — | De Palmas | |
| 2016 | "Il faut qu'on s'batte" | 44 | — | — | La beauté du geste | |
| "Le jour de nos fiançailles" | — | — | — | |||
- Featured in
| Year | Single | Charts | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FR [1] | BEL Wa | SWI | |||
| 2012 | "Toi + moi" (Maurane, Le Forestier, Keim, Darmon, Zenatti, De Palmas, Foly, Leroy, Les Enfoirés) | 187 | — | — | |
References
External links
- (in French) Official website
- (in French) broken link previous Official website
- Biography of Gérald De Palmas, from Radio France Internationale
- Gérald de Palmas' music videos from his album "Sortir" : "Mon Coeur ne bat plus" & "Dans une Larme"