Born in Villefranche-sur-Saône, near Lyons, on 20 January 1973, Benjamin Biolay was surrounded by music from an early age. He and his two sisters grew up in a cultivated, musical household and their father, an amateur clarinettist and active member of the local orchestra, encouraged his children to embrace his hobby too. Benjamin went on to study classical music at the local music institute, where he mastered the violin and the tuba. Following in his father's footsteps, he also played in the town's junior symphonic orchestra. When he was 15 the enterprising young musician teamed up with his cousin and set up his own group, Wind?.

Benjamin, who soon proved to have a real talent for music, went on to enrol at the prestigious Lyons Conservatoire, where he learnt to play trombone and carried off two of the top awards in his year in 1990. Later that same year, Benjamin began his 'alternative' musical education, teaching himself to play guitar by watching MTV.

By this stage of his career, the young musician had also tried his hand at songwriting and started to put his first demo tapes together. It was not long before Benjamin made a radical break with his classical music background, abandoning the trombone and turning from Mozart and Beethoven to pop. In 1992 the budding young talent went on to record his first full-length demo tape, featuring tracks written by one of Liane Foly's songwriters.

Benjamin went on to make his recording debut in 1994 as lead singer of French rock group Mateo Gallion. The group released a live CD album, but unfortunately it made little impact on the record-buying public.

After splitting with Mateo Gallion to go his own way, Benjamin signed a solo contract with EMI in October '96. His first single, "la Révolution", was released the following year, but failed to make any sort of impact on the French charts.

While concentrating all his efforts on getting his solo career off the ground, Benjamin still found time to go into the studio and play on l'Affaire Louis Trio's 1997 album. The group, based in Lyons, was fronted by a close musician friend of Benjamin's, Hubert Mounier (better known to French music fans as Cleet Boris).

Biolay went on to perform at a collective 'new talents' concert at the Casino de Paris, then most of the following year was taken up with writing songs for his forthcoming album. He released a new single, entitled "le Jour viendra", (The Day Will Come) in 1998, but once again the single failed to take off with the public. The budding young songwriter would have to wait another couple of years before his big day came at last.

Meanwhile, as he established himself in songwriting and musician circles, Benjamin Biolay began meeting a number of like-minded people. In 1999 he was introduced to a young singer by the name of Keren Ann Zeidel and, finding themselves on the same wavelength, the pair embarked on a successful songwriting partnership together. In fact, Biolay was responsible for writing most of the tracks on Keren Ann's debut album, "la Biographie de Luka Philipsen" (released in April 2000).

French music critics gave Keren Ann's album a warm reception and shortly afterwards veteran French 'chanson' crooner Henri Salvador contacted the duo and asked them to write a series of songs for his new album. Salvador went on to record a superb version of "Jardin d'hiver" (one of the most outstanding ballads on "la Biographie de Luka Philipsen"). And when Salvador released his new album, "Chambre avec vue", in the autumn of 2000, "Jardin d'hiver" became an instant hit with the French public. However, while Keren Ann received her own share of glory for the song, "Jardin d'hiver" did little to further Biolay's career.

With little choice but to remain in the shadows for the time being, Biolay devoted his attention to his parallel career, producing and writing musical arrangements for a wide range of other singers including Québecoise diva Isabelle Boulay, up-and-coming French/Cameroonian star Ol. and Hubert Mounier (who had split from l'Affaire Louis Trio to launch his own solo career).

Biolay was also contacted by Bambou, partner of the late Serge Gainsbourg and mother of Gainsbourg's son, Lulu. Mother and son teamed up to record a special tribute to Serge, releasing the single "Ne dis rien", to mark the 10th anniversary of the singer's death. Biolay, who has always been a fervent admirer of Gainsbourg's work, was deeply touched at being invited to collaborate on the single.

Biolay finally got the chance to make his own mark on the French music scene when his debut solo album, "Rose Kennedy", was released on the Virgin label in May 2001. As its name suggest, this finely-constructed concept album revolves around the story of the Kennedy clan, touching on the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 and the history of the clan's legendary matriarch, Rose Kennedy. Featuring beautiful melancholy-tinged melodies and some finely-crafted songwriting, Biolay's debut album scored a major hit with the critics, confirming him as one of the French music scene's brightest new talents.

Not one to be swept off his feet by his new-found fame, Biolay continued his production and arrangement work for other singers. Meanwhile, one of France's most promising young singer/songwriters prepared for a series of concerts in Paris in the autumn, performing at the "Nuits Botanique" festival in Brussels on 21 September 2001 alongside his old friend Hubert Mounier.

Biolay returned to the stage on 12 November 2001, bringing the house down with a show at the Olympia and then delighting fans with an appearance at the "Inrockuptibles" festival at the Elysée Montmartre on 18 December.

In 2002 Biolay was back in the French music news supporting Alain Souchon at the Casino de Paris (25 - 30 March). The young singer/songwriter hit the headlines again on Saturday 11 May when he married French actress Chiara Mastroianni (the daughter of Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni) at the town hall in the 6th arrondissement of Paris.

He really hit the big time in his thirtieth year, in 2003. That year he wrote songs for Valérie Lagrange and produced her comeback album "Fleuve Congo"; he also adapted jazz standards for Julien Clerc (for the album "Studio"); he wrote some of Juliette Gréco's album "Aimez-vous les uns les autres ou bien disparaissez"; and he released his own second album, "Négatif", which rose to no. 15 in the charts and went on to ship 300,000 units. His concert at the Olympia, on 23 October, was a triumph.

The following year, the dandyish Biolay cut an album entitled "Home" with his wife Chiara Mastroiani based on a road movie concept, with pop-folk ballads, some sung in English. 2004 was also a movie year, with Benjamin Biolay scoring his first soundtrack for the film "Clara et moi", directed by Arnaud Viard.

He released another solo album in April 2005. "A l'origine" comprises 14 rather dark songs, best reflected by the opening title track, a musical chaos with references to hostages, anthrax and the Intifada. Less romantic and more urban, this album is nonetheless a very personal work with real feeling on certain tracks ("Même si tu pars", "Mon amour m'a baisé" a duet Françoise Hardy or "Mes peines de coeur"). As both composer and arranger on the album, as usual Benjamin Biolay makes use of strings but also guitars and electronic loops. The album won critical praise, overshadowing previous criticisms about his attitude. He has been accused of being a pretentious poseur, although he himself simply says that he's shy. He has often been compared to Serge Gainsbourg, an easy way for the media to categorise and caricature him. But many consider him a rising star: the New York Times even published an article about him entitled "Le Pop Star". (27/03/2005).

On 20 June 2005, Biolay took to the stage to perform a special one-off concert at Le Bataclan, in Paris. In September of that year he stepped back behind the studio controls to produce "Voyageur léger", a solo album by Hubert Mounier (former lead singer of L'Affaire Louis Trio).

In 2006, the multi-talented Biolay turned his attention back to his songwriting career, penning two songs for Dick Rivers: "Tout se consume" and "La Nuit" (both of which featured on the album "Dick Rivers" released in March 2006). Shortly after this, Biolay attended a Florent Marchet concert where he met Elodie Frégé, winner of the reality TV show La Star Academy (season 3). Young Ms. Frégé asked Biolay if he would produce her next album and the pair embarked upon a surprise studio collaboration together. Biolay ended up writing the lyrics and the folk-style compositions for almost all of the tracks on Elodie’s album "Jeu des 7 erreurs" (released in September 2006). He also contributed vocals to the title track. The single, "La Ceinture", did extremely well in the French charts, boosting Elodie Frégé’s album sales to gold disc status.

Around the same time, Benjamin Biolay made his mark on yet another branch of the arts, stepping in front of the camera in his first acting role. In September 2006, he starred opposite Géraldine Pailhas in Vincent Dietschy’s film "Didine." Then, in October of that year, he joined rapper Stomy Bugsy and Johnny Hallyday’s daughter, Laura Smet, on the set of Sylvie Verheyde’s film "Sang froid." In November, Biolay returned on the recording front, recording a duet with Françoise Hardy ("Des lendemains qui chantent") which featured on the sixties icon’s duets album "Parenthèses."

On 27 March 2007, Benjamin Biolay won the ‘Grand Prix de l'Union nationale des auteurs compositeurs’ for his song "La Ceinture" (written for Elodie Frégé). Then, in September of that year, he made a major recording comeback in his own right with his fourth album, "Trash yéyé." The moody black-and-white portrait of Biolay on the album cover, taken by the renowned American photographer Bruce Weber, showed the singer sipping a drink while staring nonchalantly off into the distance. Biolay’s fourth album proved to be very much in keeping with its cover, full of introspective ballads of spleen, love and hate. The songs on the album, which included "Dans la Merco Benz", "Bien avant", "La Garçonnière", "Douloureux dedans" and "Cactus concerto", veered between soft, velvet arrangements and raw acoustic compositions, confirming his reputation as an eternal romantic and one of French songwriting’s most tortured souls.

On 13 September 2007, Biolay fans turned out in force to see him perform at La Cigale, in Paris. Biolay went on to assure a European tour, playing a series of dates across France, Belgium and Spain.

At the start of 2008, Biolay featured on "Tombés pour Daho", a tribute compilation to French pop king Etienne Daho. Biolay’s contribution was a reworking of "Les Bords de Seine" recorded as a duet with Elli Medeiros.

In 2008 and early 2009, Benjamin Biolay worked for other people: he coproduced Julien Clerc’s album "Où s’en vont les avions ?", wrote and produced Coralie Clément’s new album "Toystore", and arranged the strings on "Comme si de rien n’était" for Carla Bruni.

In May 2009, Benjamin Biolay was nominated for a César award in the best supporting actor category for Sylvie Verheyde’s film "Stella", released in 2008.

Having left his label Virgin Music, he started recording new songs by paying studio fees out of his own pocket. Without the pressure of a label, Biolay felt a sense of creative freedom in his new work. It was finally released by Naïve as a double album, “La Superbe”, on 19 October, 2009. It features twenty-two searingly personal tracks about love, his own failures and small happinesses. He sings a duet with Jeanne Cherhal on the track "Brandt Rhapsody", which recounts the love story of a couple through the post-its they leave each other on the fridge.

Benjamin Biolay’s talent as a composer strikes the listener immediately. He is capable of working in a whole range of styles, from English pop to rap, from jazz to electro arrangements. More luminous and optimistic, more relaxed with the media, Benjamin Biolay scored a solid comeback with this critically acclaimed album.

Benjamin Biolay kicked off a tour of France and abroad in early 2010, performing at the Casino de Paris from February 4-9.

February 2010