Born in Marseilles on August 1st, 1977 of immigrant parents (Algerian/Spanish) Damien Saez grew up in a warm and attentive family environment. When he reached adolescence he left the Phocaean region for Dijon where he met Franck (guitarist) and Antoine (keyboards) and he began his career at the Conservatory. He quickly proved himself to be gifted for music and he learned how to play the piano and the guitar at the same time.

At sixteen, Damien discovered the world of writing with a French teacher who fascinated him. Following the example of referent groups like U2, Noir Desir as well as Radiohead and the Doors, he started to jot down literature and songs. Up until 1995 he played in small cover bands. At this point he decided to go further and left Dijon, the symbol of his youth, for Paris.

After several fruitful encounters, in particular with a manager who has him sign with Island Records (Universal), he started his career under the wing of Marcus Bell (the guitarist for Opposition). He even managed to win the support of William Sheller, who was touched by the young artist's compositions.

In 1999, alone with only a guitar in his hand he opened for Massive Attack in July. But he above all devoted himself to the recording of "Jours Etranges" his first album, which came out at the end of the year. Here he mixed melancholic ballads and blazing pieces that evoke violence, poverty and drugs. Saez depicted a society like a young rebel even if above all he sees himself as a realist, a man hurt by life.

Using strong language (without over-use) which is repeated in concert halls, this album is like a stripping of the artist's sentiments and reflections. Intense lyrics, sometimes bordering on fatalism like in "Jeune et con" the first track on "Jours Etranges" or "J'veux m'en aller," such is Saez's credo. With the release of this song the airtime on the radio, the television clips and the French tour followed on from each other. He was on tour for most of the autumn in 2000. He could also be seen on some music festival programmes: The Eurockéennes in Belfort, the Paleo Festival in Nyon (Switzerland) and the FrancoFolies in Spa (Belgium). He was also on the Paris stage at Elysée Montmartre on December 19th 2000. In spring of 2001, the young singer did a showcase tour of France.

To mark the twenty-year anniversary of Georges Brassens's death Saez took part in a French rock compilation (a tribute to Brassens) called "les Oiseaux de Passage." At the same time, Saez was working on his second album.

On march 26th 2002, Saez released the awaited album entitled "God Bless / Katagena", which rapidly rocketed to the number 10 of the Top Album charts. Produced by Placebo’s former producer, the album also featured Clive Deamer, Portishead’s drummer. As insolent as ever, this double album consisting of 29 tracks reflects its author’s contradiction, balancing between Rock’n Roll and classical tones, spleen and aggressiveness, megalomania and doubt—another piece of evidence that Damien Saez does not sacrifice to political-correctness and that he cannot be narrowed down to definitions.

Due to unspecified reasons the promotion concerts (Elysée-Montmartre in Paris and the Printemps de Bourges Festival) were cancelled one after the other.

On 21st April 2002 shockwaves rippled through the French political scene when far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen gained a surprise number of votes in the first round of the presidential elections, allowing him to stand as opposition candidate to out-going president Jacques Chirac in the second round. Like many other young French people, Saez chose not to vote in the first round - and, like many others, he was shocked and revolted to see Le Pen passing through to the second round!

Saez's immediate reaction was to shut himself away in the studio and record his own protest song. Released as a single on 25 April, "Fils de France" vented Saez's anger at the fact that "20% (voted in favour) of horror/20% for fear!" Politically apathetic until the far-right shock, Saez has now put his fame and notoriety at the service of a real cause.

2002 was also the year Saez made his mark on the film world. His song “Sexe” was chosen by American director Brian de Palma to feature on the soundtrack of his film “Femme Fatale.”

On 1st to 3rd July 2003, Saez played a series of concerts at the Cigale in Paris accompanied only by the piano.

In 2004, Saez released "Debbie", a new collection of amped-up rock tracks. It was a more direct and a more considered work. If occasionally a little too solemn, it was essentally an intellectual rock album that tried to avoid ready-made formulas. The album was no big hit, but on stage the 27 year old rocker continued to wow the crowds. He toured in early 2005, playing to enthusiastic audiences, and performed at the Zénith in Paris on 31 March.

Saez reached a professional turning-point in his career in 2005, leaving the major record label Universal. He re-emerged on the live circuit shortly afterwards with a scaled-down tour, "Damien Saez: Piano & Voix", performing a series of intimate piano-and-vocals shows accompanied by piano and three guitars. Throughout 2006 and 2007, whilst working on material for his fourth album, Saez gave fans tantalising glimpses of what they could expect on his future release. He regularly posted new songs and video clips ("Killing the Lambs", "Numb" and "Yellow Tricycle") on his Myspace page and tried out other tracks such as "Jeunesse lève-toi" and "On n'a pas la thune" (which were eventually included on his fourth album).

In June 2007, Saez played a run of three shows at Le Bataclan, in Paris, and followed these gigs up with two appearances at the "Nuits de Fourvière" festival in Lyons, in July.

Finally, on 21 April 2008, he unveiled his new 100% acoustic album to fans. The bumper triple album "Varsovie, l'Alhambra, Paris" was released on the independent Paris-based label Cinq7 and featured no less than 29 tracks in all. This new album mined a dark, and highly personal, vein and proved to be extremely popular with Saez's fans from the early days. Saez embarked on a major solo tour after the album's release, finishing things up with two grand finale appearances at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, in Paris (on 25 & 26 June 2008).

June 2008