Beginnings 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.
Eurovision Song Contest 1993 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
1993 Eurovision Song Contest 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. 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. The album also included "À la vie!", "Dieu qu'elle était belle!" and a collaboration with
Johnny Hallyday in "Je viendrai te chercher". The album was accompanied by three tours: one acoustic in small venues, one electric in various
Le Zénith French venues and one in big venues. In 2011, he released a live album recorded at Marseille's Dôme. The concert was available on CD and DVD. In 2014, he released the album
Choisir with a Valentines release of "Elles" written and composed by Goldman. The album had collaborations with
Bénabar, Ariane Quatrefages, Robert Goldman, Jacques Veneruso, It was certified platinum. Patrick Fiori toured with a hundred dates between October 2014 and December 2015, appearing again at
Le Zénith of Paris and at the Paris
Olympia. In 2015, he took part in a Corsican musical project
Corsu Mezu Mezu containing 16 Corsican-based songs. He reinterpreted three songs in the album, "Corsica" with
Patrick Bruel accompanied by a music video, "Ci hè dinù" with Chjami Aghjalesi and "Ô Corse île d'amour" with Antoine Ciosi. In September 2017, he released his tenth album
Promesse with the single "Où je vis" from the album. It contained two collaborations with
Slimane and with French-Comorian singer and rapper
Soprano. The Soprano collaboration "Chez nous (Plan d'Aou, Air Bel)" written by Jean-Jacques Goldman was a tribute to immigrants to France, particularly the immigrant inhabitants of Air Bel, a suburb of Marseille. It was accompanied by a music video where Fiori's parents appear in roles of Armenian immigrants. Additional writing collaborations included Arianne Quatrefages,
Serge Lama and
Ycare. Fiori went on tour in the summer of 2018, interpreting the album. He has collaborated with a great number of artists. In addition to artists mentioned above, we can add
Gérard Lenorman,
Zucchero, In 2015, he was a coach in season 2 of the French version of
The Voice Kids joining
Jenifer and
Louis Bertignac. Jane, the finalist from his team won the season. In 2016 he was invited again to coach for season 3 alongside Jenifer and
M. Pokora. He has since remained as a coach after that, making him the longest serving coach in the history of The Voice Kids. The winners of Seasons 4, 7, 8 and 11 were also members of his team. ==Personal life==