Patrick Chouchayan (French pronunciation: [patʁik ʃuʃajɑ̃]; born 23 September 1969), known professionally as Patrick Fiori (French: [patʁik fjɔʁi], Corsican: [ˈfjɔri]), is a French singer.
Fiori was born in Marseille to a French-Armenian father (Jacques Chouchayan) and a Corsican mother (Marie Antoinette Fiori). His father's family were escapees of the Armenian genocide. He was born in a family of five siblings. He spent part of his childhood in Marseille, south of France and part in Ajaccio in Corsica. He started music at the age of 12 in 1981 thanks to encouragement from Franck Fernandel, who offered him a role in the musical La Légende des santonniers. In 1985, at the age of 16, he recorded his first song, "Stéphanie" with financing from his parents, followed by other recordings like "Dans ton regard" and "Le Cœur à fleur d'amour".
Original successes, until 1993
Taking part in Léon Zitrone's show Les Habits du dimanche gave him more exposure. In 1987, he opened for singer Gilbert Montagné for a number of shows. He later opened for other renowned artists like Michèle Torr and Barry White. In 1992, he had great success with "Au fil de l'eau" written by his childhood friend Bernard Di Domenico during the Francophonie. He won first prize during the Fenouillèdes Song Contest held in Sournia, the Pyrénées-Orientales. That year's event had been sponsored by Fabienne Thibeault, who encouraged him to go further in his career.
In 1993, as he became well-known with the public, at 23, the songwriters François Valéry and Marie-France Brière (director of variety and entertainment at France 2) suggested that he represent France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1993 with the song "Mama Corsica" composed by Valéry, a bilingual song mainly in French language but with some additional Corsican language lyrics. The song delivered the first rare occasion in which the Corsican language was heard at the Eurovision Song Contest. The next appearance of Corsican was after 18 years with France's entry in Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with Amaury Vassili's song "Sognu" which was completely in Corsican.
On 15 May 1993, Fiori performed "Mama Corsica" representing France in the Contest held that year in Green Glens Arena in Millstreet, Ireland. He was accompanied by an orchestra led by Christian Cravero. The accompaniment also included two [mandolin] players and two vocalists who joined him on stage throughout the song. Fiori finished fourth with a total of 121 points among 25 nations competing. The song obtained the coveted "douze points" (12 points) from the jury in Denmark and Portugal.
Debut albums and Notre-Dame de Paris (1994–2000)
In 1994, Fiori released his debut album titled Puisque c'est l'heure.
In 1995, he released the self-financed Cœur à l'envers. He also appeared in a number of variety shows, notably La Chance aux chansons hosted by Pascal Sevran, interpreting on an occasion "Ma vie", an original song by Alain Barrière in his presence.
After a suggestion by Eddy Marnay, he auditioned for the musical Notre Dame de Paris with shows in Palais des Congrès de Paris. Convinced by his talent, Luc Plamondon offered him the role of Phoebus both onstage and in the recording studio for Notre-Dame de Paris. With Daniel Lavoie and Garou, he recorded the song "Belle" for the show. The greatly loved song was released as a single, reaching number 1 on the French Singles Chart and the Wallonia French Belgian Charts. The song won "Best French Song of the Year" and the staging of Notre-Dame de Paris "Best French Show of the Year" during Victoires de la Musique in 1999.
Also in 1998, Patrick signed a contract with Sony and recorded his third album Prends Moi. He sang in the French soundtrack for Mulan singing in the role of Shang and in the French version of The Prince of Egypt (in French Le Prince d'Égypte) with songs in the role of Ramesses II.
In 1999, he took part in Les Enfoirés, participating for many years with them.
In 2000, he decided to leave Notre-Dame de Paris to concentrate on his fourth album Chrysalide. The album contains a collaboration with Calogero in "Que tu reviennes". The same year, he appeared for the first time in the coveted Paris Olympia. He also wrote "Si je m'en sors" for Julie Zenatti.
Further successes (2000–present)
In 2002, Patrick Fiori released his fifth album, the self-titled Patrick Fiori with the first single from the album being "Marseille" dedicated to his hometown and written by Jacques Veneruso. Fiori had a collaboration with Jean-Jacques Goldman, who wrote four songs for him for the album, including "Je sais où aller".
In 2003, he toured France and Belgium with many dates and venues accompanied by his band, including guitarist Jacques Veneruso, keyboard player Pierre-Jean Scavino, guitarist André Hampartzoumian, percussionist Patrick Hampartzoumian, drummer Laurent Coppola, bass guitarist Patrick Dupont and bagpipes player and flautist Bruno Le Rouzic, with backing vocals by Agnès Hampartzoumian and Véronique Mavros.
2005 marked his new album Si on chantait plus fort with singles "Toutes les peines", "4 Mots sur un piano" and "Il paraît". His single "4 Mots sur un piano" was written by Jean-Jacques Goldman. Goldman and Christine Ricol accompany him in the song, which reached number in the French charts, staying there for two weeks and selling 150,000 copies. He also launched a new long tour from 2005 to 2007 to promote the album, including two shows at the l'Olympia de Paris on 13 and 14 January 2007, where he introduced the young singer songwriter Tommy.
In 2008, he released the album Les choses de la vie. The album includes remakes from various famous films including The Godfather (in French Le Parrain), The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (in French Les parapluies de Cherbourg), Borsalino, Manon des Sources, Forbidden Games (in French Jeux interdits), Mayrig and many others. The album went platinum. Singles from the album include "Liberta" from Borsalino with new Italian lyrics from Bernard Di Domebico. This was followed up in 2009 by "Les Montagnes d'Arménie", a tribute to the Armenian genocide and taken from the soundtrack of the French Armenian-themed film Mayrig. Also in 2009, he recorded with the Budapest Philharmonic a duo with Tina Arena. The track "Si j'avais le temps" appears in Un autre univers an entirely French language album by Australian singer Arena. Fiori also engaged in a tour, taking him even to Moscow.