Dany Brillant, who was born on 28 December 1965 in Tunis, grew up in the Paris suburbs. A passionate music fan from an early age, Dany began playing music himself at the age of 14 when his grandfather gave him a guitar for his birthday. Dany spent his teenage years shut away in his bedroom, teaching himself to play guitar from a simple chord book. He was soon playing along to the radio, practising the chords to his favourite songs. His great musical idols at the time were Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Yves Montand and Michel Legrand.

Meanwhile Dany, a rather solitary adolescent, worked hard at his school studies, passing his science 'baccalauréat' with flying colours. He went on to study medicine but dropped out of his course at the age of 20 to devote himself to his musical career. Dany started out from humble beginnings, busking on café terraces but he soon went on to perform professionally, appearing in numerous Paris cabarets including the famous "Trois Maillets" in Saint Germain des Prés.

Meanwhile Dany continued to take his demo tape around various record labels, but each time he met with the same negative response. His crooning vocals and jazzy style were considered too old-fashioned to appeal to a modern market. Finally in 1991 Dany struck lucky and signed a recording contract, going into the studio that same year to record his début album "C'est ça qui est bon". The first single release, "Suzette", went on to become an enormous hit, rocketing straight to the top of the French charts.

Dany Brillant soon went on to prove record company bosses wrong - his old-fashioned lyrics and retro musical style (recalling the ambiance of 50's jazz) proved extremely popular with the French public. And Dany was soon back in the studio, putting the finishing touches to his second album. "C'est toi", released in 1993, confirmed Dany's success as a modern-day crooner. As for the wonderful orchestration on Dany's new album, this was put in the capable hands of the Cuban star Rembert Egues (a long-time friend of the singer's). Egues who brought a veritable Big Band into the studio, conducting a group of at least 40 musicians which included no less than 16 violinists and an extensive brass section.

Three years later the indefatigable Dany was back at the forefront of the French music scene once again with his third album entitled "Havana". This album not only featured vibrant Cuban dance rhythms such as the mambo and the cha cha cha, but it was actually recorded in Havana in the famous state-owned EGREM studios. Working with a group of talented musicians and a huge brass section, Dany Brillant captured the torrid ambiance of the Cuban capital in his new songs which were recorded "live" in the studio then remixed in Paris. The result - a perfect fusion of Dany's crooning style and the wildly frenetic dance rhythms of Cuba - bridged the generation gap and appealed to younger music fans too. In fact, "Havana" proved to be a massive hit with music fans, and even went on to earn Brillant a platinum disc after sales topped the 300,000 mark.

One of the most recent highlights of Dany Brillant's career was his series of concerts at the legendary Paris music-hall, L'Olympia, where the singer performed to a packed house between 24 January and 2 February 1997.

Dany Brillant re-emerged on the French music scene in April '99 with a brand new album entitled "Nouveau jour" (New Day). This album, Brillant's fourth to date, was recorded in a studio in London. "Nouveau Jour" marked a new stage in the 34-year-old singer's career, featuring more serious, mature-style songs which (as on his previous albums) Brillant wrote and composed himself. "Nouveau Jour" also included a highly original cover of the Charles Aznavour classic "Sur ma vie". In June '99, Brillant was invited to support Céline Dion when the Quebecois mega-diva performed at the Stade de France. In October Brillant went on to embark on his own tour, kicking things off with a series of concerts at the Palais des Sports in Paris (21-24 October). The singer appeared on stage with an impressive backing band featuring some 20 musicians plus brass section, Latin percussion and 12 violinists! Brillant's tour, which proved a big hit with music fans, carried on well into December.

A recent deal with Columbia in his pocket, Dany embarked upon the writing of a new album, which he recorded in Rome at the Forum Music Village—Ennio Morricone’s house. Justly entitled "Dolce Vita", the album, released in October 2001, is greatly influenced by romantic Italian music. The content is fairly unoriginal as the songs deal with love, women and family. Even though the artist is usually very discreet as regards his private life, he dedicated one of the tracks to his daughter Leah.

In January 2002 Dany headed down to Marseilles to take part in the annual recording of a fund-raising album for French charity "Les Restos du cœur". The singer spent the rest of the early part of the year preparing for his "Dolce Vita" tour which he kicked off in Rouen on 1 March 2002. The tour included three dates at Le Grand Rex in Paris where Dany brought the house down on 8, 9 and 10 March.

2004 found Dany Brillant confirming his passion for jazz and swing-style big bands. That year, the French singer flew out to the States to record a new album, "Jazz... à la Nouvelle Orléans", with Harry Connick Junior's musicians. Modelling his vocal style on one of his greatest all-time influences, Charles Aznavour, Brillant also invoked the spirit of Frank Sinatra on his new album with a cover of "Fly Me to the Moon." In June 2004, the singer gave a series of concerts at Le Petit Journal Montparnasse, renewing his links with the St-Germain cabaret circuit where he had performed in his early years.

Meanwhile, Dany Brillant continued his support of charities and humanitarian causes. In April 2004, he took part in TF1's television special "10 ans Ensemble contre le sida" (10 Years Together against AIDS).

2005 saw the release of Dany Brillant's live DVD "Jazz… De Saint-Germain-des-Prés à la Nouvelle-Orléans", full of bonus clips and backstage documentaries about the making of his albums "Nouveau Jour", "Dolce Vita" and "Jazz… à la Nouvelle-Orléans." The live CD "Casino", released shortly afterwards, featured highlights from the singer's "Jazz à la Nouvelle-Orléans" tour as well as big band versions of some of his greatest hits including "Quand je vois tes yeux", "Un jour", "Suzette" and "Garde la danse."

In 2006, Dany Brillant turned his attention back to his acting career, playing the role of a burlesque seducer in Emmanuel Mouret’s film "Changement d'adresse." In the spring of 2007, the singer returned to the music news with his seventh album, "Histoire d'un amour." The album, recorded in New Orleans with a group of swing musicians, featured some highly original reworkings of classics from the 1920s to the 1950s (such as "Strangers in The Night", "Volare", "Mambo Italiano" and "Les Moulins de mon cœur"). Copying the style of old ‘50s LPs, the appropriate dance style was mentioned alongside each track - "Besame Mucho" (fox-trot), "Strangers in The Night" (jerk), "Volare" (lindy hop)!

In a bid to get people back to old-fashioned ‘couple dancing’, Dany Brillant based his "Histoire d'un amour" tour on the same principle, organising a series of concerts/dance nights called "Dany Brillant vous invite à venir danser" (Come Dancing with Dany Brillant). From 27th to 30th September, the singer and his band took to the stage at the Palais des Congrès, in Paris, getting 12,000 people fox-trotting and waltzing together on the dancefloor. On 11 October, Brillant even brought out a bonus "Learn to Dance" DVD, providing fans with instructions and easy-to-follow step-by-step guides to couple dancing. Brillant is due to continue his retro-style shows, which tap into France’s old ‘bal populaire’ tradition, right through until the spring of 2008 and he is due to organise a huge ‘Come Dancing’ spectacular at Bercy Stadium, in Paris, on 12 April.

December 2007