Jocelyn Labylle was born on January 7th, 1973 in Saint Claude on the West Indian Island of Guadeloupe. She was attracted to the world of show business at an early age. Her dream of sequins and gloss was largely fostered by her mother's success as a dancer in Karabina, the most famous folklore dance group in Guadeloupe. Jocelyne went to the group's rehearsals and shows and was impatient to join her mother in the spotlight. But her destiny would be different because it was as a singer that she was noticed. Despite a happy school life she chose to go out on her own.

In 1992, Jocelyne Labylle joined the group Melodie with Tony Deloumeaux who would be the future co-leader of the group Fuzion. This first adventure barely lasted two years. Yet her had name already started to circulate in the Guadeloupian musical microcosm. In 1994 Jocelyne met Jose Vildina, founder of the famous group Zouk Orchestra. This partnership on and off stage gave her the opportunity to learn her job as a singer in a much more rigorous manner.

Learning by the old school method of live shows got her off of doing playback which is largely practised in the zouk milieu. From this point on, her name came before that of the group on the album covers. After three albums, Jocelyne left Zouk Orchestra in order to stand on her own two feet. Straight away, she wrote a song with Frederic Caracas and Liso which earned her a contract with Sonodisc records. In August 1997, the single "Quand tu veux" was heard on all the radio stations and the hit sold several thousand copies. But she did not let herself get carried away by this dazzling success. At the very most, she became aware of her potential and subjected herself to new discipline regarding work.

Regarding her appearance, she spruced up her wardrobe by opting for a sexy lace outfit, high heels, and long hair with purple streaks. At the heart of all this she had to musically confirm all of the good things people thought of her.

1999 constituted a strong period in the career of the one who was already being called the "icon of Zouk". Fredreic Caracas truly became her mentor and agreed to support her in the making of her third album "On verra." We can notice the contribution of Jean-Claude Naimro, Jacob Desvarieux of Kassav and Harry Diboula in its making. "On verra", the song which gave the album its name was an enormous success. That same year Jocelyne discovered Africa when she went to the Ivory Coast. This would be the first step in a long series of meetings with her African fans over whom she exercises the same power of seduction as on the West Indian public. When she sings in Africa, she feels African and she affirms that this communion is perfect.

In order to meet the numerous demands made of her, Jocelyne Labylle chose to move to Paris in 1998. In Spring 2000 she surrounded herself with a new team led by Eric Siar as manager and executive producer and she obtained more advantageous conditions with her record company Sonodisc who was now controlled by Next Music.

In July 2000, the single which announced her next album "J'ai deposé les clés" was a hit. This song was a realistic painting of a romantic break-up because of a new-found love.

On this album, the songs seem to convey a deep maturity for the young Labylle. The extravagant outfits were replaced by chic and more sober ones, and short hair. Several tracks from this opus met with success: "Je reconnais" with moving lyrics poignantly written in honour of her mother who died in 1995 and who she was able to be with until her final moments.

"Parle-moi d'elle" a song written by Harry Diboula is a medley of the work by the legendary Haitian group Coupé Cloué. We especially remember "Jusqu'au bout" where she invited the famous Ivorian group Magic System (who she met in Abidjan in 1999) and Claudy Siar, singer and radio announcer for Radio France International to join her.

Besides Frederic Caracas, the singer also put her trust into Frederic Wurtz who produced Jacques d'Arbaud's album "Meta Ipso Facto" and composed "Kimbe" by Sonya Dersion (Jocelyne's best friend) and who was Francky Vincent's orchestra leader.

The album "Ma petite lumiere" stayed on top of the charts for West Indian music for twelve straight weeks and enabled Jocelyne today to not only perform regularly in Africa, like in Cameroon and Burkina Faso where she performed in Autumn 2001,but also in the French and English West Indies as well as in France.

November 2001