Cyril Kamar is a
francophone and
anglophone singer, producer and businessman living between Paris, France and New York City. Cyril Kamar was born in
Beirut,
Lebanon on January 31, 1980. After the end of the war, he moved with his family to
Montreal, Quebec, in 1991.
Music career K.Maro first broke through to the
Quebec charts with his group
LMDS, an abbreviation for "Les Messagers du Son". This was a French language
hip hop duo in
Montreal, Quebec, Canada formed in 1993 and made up of Cyril Kamar, called Lyrik, and Adil Takhssait, called Mélo in the duo. The band achieved great success in Quebec and launched two successful albums,
Les Messagers du Son in 1997 and
Il Faudrait Leur Dire in 1999. LMDS broke up in 2001. Both artists continued their musical careers, Cyril Kamar (Lyrik) as K.Maro and Adil Takhssait (Mélo) as
Vaï.
Solo career After the breakup of LMDS, Cyril Kamar became successful as a solo artist, taking the name K.Maro (alternatives K'Maro and K-Maro). As a
hip hop and
R&B singer-songwriter and producer, his first major hit was "
Femme Like U" in 2004, from the album
La Good Life. "Femme Like U" was number-one single in 17 countries and Platinum certified, more than two million copies of the song were sold and more than a million copies of
La Good Life album were sold. In 2005, K.Maro released his third album
Million Dollar Boy. Subject to commercial success, the album became certified Platinum. To celebrate his decade-long music career, K.Maro released in 2006,
Platinum Remixes album. K.Maro released his fourth album in 2008,
Perfect Stranger, his first all-English album. His songs are frequently a mix of French and English lyrics, and sometimes Arabic.
Business career In 2003, Cyril Kamar also established K.Pone Inc Music Group entertainment company, the K.Pone Inc. record label, and the Balbec line of clothing. In 2010, Cyril Kamar joined Warner Music France as CEO of Ambitious Boys Club label record. In 2013, he developed other ventures, including East 47th Music label record with
Pascal Nègre and
Universal Music Group.
Collaborations In addition to his solo career, K.Maro has collaborated with a number of artists, including: • Many collaborations with DJ Shortcut, notably in
Fresh, which also featured Moshine. Another collaboration with DJ Shortcut and Moshine was in
On est là. • He was featured in
Chance of
The 411, version exclusively available on the French edition of
Between the Sheets. • He was featured in
Le clan chill of
Corneille. • He was also featured in
Nos couleurs of
Cheb Mami. • He featured
Shy'm in his own single
Histoires de Luv. • Has written a lot of material for
Shy'm's debut album
Mes Fantaisies, and was featured in ''À l'abri'' in the second album of Shy'm,
Reflets. • He collaborated with
Belly and Rad in
Change The Game. • His song "Love It or Leave It" features
Imposs. • His song "Out in the Streets Remix" features
Jim Jones. • His song "Never Walk Away" features Odessa Thornhill. • His song "Take You Away (Part 2)" features the Canadian rock singer
Jonas Tomalty. • He produced the 2013 version of Indonesian singer
Anggun's hit "
Snow on the Sahara" for her album,
Best-Of: Design of a Decade 2003–2013.
Personal life Since July 2016, Cyril Kamar is married to the French brand and creative consultant
Anne-Sophie Mignaux, former Jewelry, Watch and Arts editor in chief at
CR Fashion Book (
Carine Roitfeld's magazine) and
Citizen K Magazine. ==K.Pone.Inc==