 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "M. Pokora" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(July 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
M. Pokora | |
|---|---|
 M. Pokora in 2013 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Matthieu Tota |
| Also known as | MP |
| Born | (1985-09-26)26 September 1985 (age 39) |
| Origin | Strasbourg, France |
| Genres | Pop,R&B,dance[1] |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, dancer |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Labels | |
| Spouse | |
| Website | mpokoramusic |
Matthieu Tota (French pronunciation:[matjøtɔta]; born 26 September 1985), artistically known asMatt Pokora and laterM. Pokora (/pəˈkɔːrə/), is a Frenchpop singer.[2] He is very well known for his catchy melodies and smooth vocals.[3] Pokora mostly sings in French but he has also recorded a number of songs in English. In 2016 and 2017, he served as a coach forThe Voice Kids France. He was also a coach in thesixth season ofThe Voice: la plus belle voix in 2017 alongsideFlorent Pagny,Mika andZazie, where his finalistLisandro Cuxi went on to win the season.[4]
Matthieu Tota is the son of professionalfootballerAndré Tota and Brigitte. His parents divorced in 1998 when he was 13 years old. As a child, he studied in an elementary school inHohberg, and later at Collège Paul-Émile Victor inMundolsheim, and Lycée Aristide Briand inSchiltigheim nearStrasbourg. When he was younger, football was his first ambition and he wanted to become a professional player. However, he later opted for music.
Matthieu Tota explained the origin of his stage name Matt Pokora in an interview during the documentaryMise à jour broadcast on 26 August 2010 onNRJ 12 TV channel.[5] He said he was searching for an artistic name and happened to be talking to his grandmother of Polish origin and the importance of humility came up. He asked her "how do we say 'humility' in Polish", and she said "pokora". Tota immediately decided to adopt the word as his stage name.
He earned some public attention as a member of French R&B group Mic Unity.
In the fall of 2003, he participated in the third season ofPopstars, a French talent reality television show broadcast onM6. The concept of the program was to present possible candidates the winners of which would take part in the formation of a boy band or girl band. He was a crowd and jury favourite, and became a member of a boy band calledLinkup formed with Lionel and Otis, two other winners in 2003 Popstars. The female winners were formed into another groupDiadems formed of Marylore, Angel, Pookie, Ophélie and Alexandra. In the final showdown, the boy band including Matthieu Tota won the series over the girl band Diadems, who ended up runners-up.
Their first Linkup single "Mon Étoile" was very successful topping French charts, and the debut albumNotre Étoile was moderately successful. However the second single release "Une seconde d'éternité" was much less successful despite good sales.
The band tried their hand again in a collaboration with the British boy bandBlue making a bilingual English/French version with Blue based on the latter's song "Bubblin'". The bilingual English/French Blue/Linkup version was entitled "You & Me Bubblin". Soon afterwards, Linkup disbanded due to poor performance of sales on releases.[6]
In 2004, soon after the break-up of Linkup, Matthieu started working preparing for a solo career collaborating with the producersKore & Skalp.
Under the stage name Matt Pokora, he released his first eponymous solo album originally entitledMatt Pokora. In 2005, he was forced to change his chosen name after a lawsuit from French R&B singerMatt Houston. As a result, he changed hisstage name to M. Pokora and re-released the album asM. Pokora.[7]
The debut single fromM. Pokora was very successful. Called "Showbiz (The Battle)", it was a Top 10 hit in France, and also charted in Belgium and Switzerland. The second singleElle me contrôle featuring Sweety reached #6 in France and Pokora received twoNRJ Music Awards for the single. Yet a third successful single was released called "Pas sans toi". The album released onUniversal was certified gold.
He also started collaborating with Hakim Ghorab who became his long-time choreographer and took part in many of his music videos. He also developed a close collaboration with music video director Karim Ouaret who directed most of his successful videos.
In January 2006, his second albumPlayer was released topping the French chart. For producing the new album, he collaborated with Belgian producers Bionix, Rachid Mir and Christian Dessart and artistsRed Rat andZoxea and geared toward the younger and feminine fan brackets. He also enjoyed great popularity with gay audiences. The first single from his second album was the very successful "De retour" featuringTyron Carter. That was followed with single "Oh la la la (Sexy Miss)" with Red Rat.
During a concert organized byNRJ Radio in France, he met Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin and Martin asked M. Pokora to make a collaboration on Martin's hit "It's Alright". The result was a bilingual French/English Ricky Martin/M. Pokora release also entitled "It's Alright" that sold more than 100,000 copies. Finally, a last single from thePlayer album followed called "Mal de guerre", which was a relative success. M. Pokora releasedPlayer in a second edition in March 2006 with the bonus track added of the duet withRicky Martin.
To promote the album and capitalize on its success, M. Pokora engaged in a tour of more than 30 French venues under the titlePlayer Tour that culminated in a big sold-out concert atPalais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy. At the end of the tour, a DVD containing materials from the shows was marketed under the namePlayer Tour Live. The DVD also included a photo book and memories from the tour.
Pokora also created his own labelM2theP Entertainment, signing his protégé, the rapperTyron Carter. In addition to being featured on "De retour", Tyron Carter released "Ne me dis pas" that featured M. Pokora, a Top 30 hit, followed by an albumMon hold-up.
After end of thePlayer Tour, Pokora left Universal and signed withEMI France. Also desiring a more international profile, he went to New York and created contacts most importantly with producersRyan Leslie andJ. R. Rotem. The result was his third albumMP3 that was released on 24 March 2008, containing 14 tracks, including 12 in English.[8] The title of the album was a play on his name Matt Pokora (MP) and the number 3 (his third album) but also referring to the popular gadgetMP3, the audio format for consumer audio storage. Pokora promoted the launching of the album with a prerelease of single "Dangerous" featuring American hip hop artistTimbaland andSebastian, Timbaland's brother and the timing of the release was picked to coincide with the NRJ Music Awards of 2008.
The album reached #7 with estimated physical sales of 200,000 copies and additional downloads of 151,000. The album was certified gold. The album also did well internationally charting in Finland, Germany, Mexico, Belgium and in his homeland Poland where he won the PolishEska Music Awards as the "International hip hop Artist of the Year".
After the success of "Dangerous", Pokora released a second single "They Talk Sh#t About Me" that features the young English rapperNatalia Kills credited on the release by her stage name Verse. The single unlike "Dangerous" (that had reached #1) was not played heavily on French radio because of English-language content and managed to reach only #24. A third release fromMP3, namely "Catch Me If You Can" was made with the music video featuring Julie Ricci. She is known for her appearances onTop Model in 2007 onM6 and inSecret Story in its 4th season onTF1. The single failed to make it to the French charts, but was successful in Poland reaching #11. The follow-up "Through The Eyes" was also a relative success in Poland reaching #31 in the Polish charts.
To coincide withMP3 release, M. Pokora launched hisCatch Me Tour 2008 ending with a concert inPalais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy on 18 November 2008. He also toured Belgium (6 December), Switzerland (13 December) ending with a final concert in Lyon, France on 14 December 2008.
Fourth studio album titledMise à jour was released on 23 August 2010. The lead single "Juste une photo de toi" was released on 7 June 2010 and was a big hit reaching #4 in the French Albums Chart. It includes collaborations with Wayne Beckford, Gee Futuristic, X-Plosive, Astro Boyz, Tarz, STX and Bionix. Simultaneously aMis à jour Édition Deluxe was released that in addition to the original 15 tracks ofMis à jour also contained seven new tracks exclusive for the Deluxe edition (including six in English).
The first single from the album was "Juste une photo de toi" released concurrently with the launching of the album. On 22 January 2011, during the NRJ Music Awards, the song was chosen as "Song of the Year" in addition to M. Pokora being chosen "French Male Artist of the Year".
To consolidate his international drive started with theMP3 album, he announced that an English version was under preparation. Finally the English version titledUpdated was launched on 14 March 2011, containing 11 songs, mostly adaptations of the French-language hits onMise à jour. Six of the titles were already known by the French public through the August 2010Mise à jour Édition Deluxe release.
For promotion of the album, he organized a mini tour and a series of open-air concerts rather than concerts in halls.
In November 2010, a follow-up single "Mirage" was released accompanied with a new music video. The single received a great number of downloads, but not enough physical sales to reach the top of the charts and the single made only up to #64 despite the top position in downloads.
In January 2011, "Oblivion" an English-language version of "Mirage" was released with same arrangement but with new English lyrics for the international markets. The single was an opener for the release ofUpdated, destined for non-French markets ofMis à jour songs, but was made available for French markets as well.
In March 2011, M. Pokora announced a tour of 15 French cities, venues in Belgium and a final show in theOlympia. As a prelude, he also appeared in French, Belgian and Swiss clubs with dates from April to June 2011.
He also launched in March 2011Mise à jour Version 2.0 that included extra materials including theJean-Jacques Goldman,Carole Fredericks andMichael Jones classic "À nos actes manqués" which was destined to be his new single. It immediately became the number one physical single sales and reached the Top 10. The albumMise à jour Version 2.0 was made available on 18 April 2011, containing 17 titles including 14 form the original, the Jean-Jacques Goldman cover single three English-language titles fromUpdated and a new French track "Si on échangeait les rôles", the French version ofUpdated's "Finally Found Ya".
The fifth studio albumÀ la poursuite du bonheur by French singer M. Pokora, was released on 20 March. The album's leading single "Juste un instant" was released on 30 January 2012 and reached number eighteen on the French singles chart. The album entered the French albums chart at number two. The second single from the album was "On est là" released in April 2012. In order to promote the album, M. Pokora embarked in a national tour in May 2012. The third single from the album was announced in the end of May; "Merci d'être" was officially released on 2 July 2012. The album is set to be re-issued on 19 November 2012; the new edition is set to include five new tracks, including the Jean-Jacques Goldman cover "Envole-moi" with singerTal.
M. Pokora's sixth studio album,R.E.D. / Rythmes Extrêmement Dangereux was released in France in February 2015.
M. Pokora's seventh studio album,My Way was released in France on 21 October 2016, topping the French Albums Chart in its initial week of release.
M. Pokora's eighth studio album,Pyramide was released in France on 12 April 2019. The album reached the top of the French Chart upon its release.
M. Pokora's ninth studio album,Epicentre was released in France on 4 November 2022.[9]
In 2011, Pokora voiced Duncan Rosenblatt, the main character ofFirebreather, in the French dub of theCartoon Network movie.
M. Pokora appeared in the lead role ofRobin Hood[10] in the French musicalRobin des Bois (full titleRobin des Bois: Ne renoncez jamais) that premiered on 26 September 2013 inPalais des congrès de Paris with performances in that venue extending to 10 November 2013. The act then toured all over France. The musical, a Gilbert Coullier, Roberto Ciurleo and RDB-P presentation, with musicalmise en scène by Michel Laprise and text and music by Patrice Guirao and Lionel Florence was tipped as the musical event of 2013 in France.
The soundtrack for the musical was released onCapitol Records /EMI on 22 March 2013 and entered theSNEP official French Albums Chart in its first week of release eventually reaching number 3 and also reaching number 4 in the Belgian (Wallonia) francophone Singles Chart. It was released in two versions, the standard edition and the digipack limited edition.
Two tracks from the album as performed by M. Pokora have been released as singles. The first was "Le jour qui se rêve", a solo performance by Pokora, and "À nous", a hit performed by M. Pokora (Robin des Bois),Nyco Lilliu as Frère Tuck (Friar Tuck) andMarc Antoine as Petit Jean (Little John).
M. Pokora was troubled by the divorce of his parents and remained greatly attached to his mother after the divorce. He lived with her in Strasbourg before renting an apartment in Paris. His autobiographical song "Sur ma route" co-written byJack Robinson, M. Pokora and Jordan Houyez from his albumMP3 is about his experiences as a child in a broken home. He keeps contact with his father, who actively supports him.
He is an avid football fan and dreamed of a professional football career very early on. He is a big supporter of the French football clubOlympique de Marseille, and takes part in many football events.
M. Pokora has been friends for many years with his personal choreographer Hakim Ghorab and his wife Aline and is godfather to their daughter Lola. He is also a friend of footballerDjibril Cissé and is godfather to one of his sons. He added a tattoo reading X as a tribute to him, because Cissé makes the X sign with his hands every time he scores. Cissé carries a similar X tattoo himself.
On June 29, 2014, during the last performance of Robin Hood show, he formalized his love story with dancer Scarlett Baya.[11]
Pokora has been in a relationship withChristina Milian since August 2017. In January 2020, Milian gave birth to their son.[12] In December 2020, a French magazine reported they were married, and that they were expecting a second child.[13] In April 2021, they welcomed their second son.[14]
From the start, and over many years, M. Pokora has been a great supporter of charity causes particularlyHIV/AIDS and children charities. In 2004, he took part in the charity single "Chanter qu'on les aime", in support ofAssociation Mondiale des Amis de l'Enfance (AMADE). In 2005, he was in "Protège-toi", an AIDS charity single forCollectif Protection Rapprochée. In the same year, he was in "Et puis la terre...", a charity single for thetsunami victims under the nameArtistes Solidaritie Ici pour Eux (A.S.I.E.) with a great number of French artists.
In 2006, he sang in "L'Or de nos vies", a charity single fromFight Aids. In 2007, he took part in two renditions: "Je fais de toi mon essentiel" by Emmanuel Moire and "S'aimer est interdit" by Anne-Laure Girbal both featured on the charity album "Le Roi Soleil – De Monaco à Versailles (LIVE) – Fight Aids".
In 2010, he appeared inCollectif Kilomaitre charity single "Un Respect mutuel", with many other hip hop and urban artists. He was associated withAIDES project and in 2010 sang a solo cover ofTracy Chapman's "Talking About a Revolution", on the charity albumMessage (AIDES)"
Pokora is a member of theLes Enfoirés charity ensemble since 2012.[15]
M Pokora is very famous for his bodytattoos including:
| This sectionmay containirrelevant references topopular culture. Please help Wikipedia toimprove this section by removing the content or addingcitations toreliable andindependent sources.(April 2023) |
| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Nos chers voisins | Antoine | TV series (1 episode) | |
| Scènes de ménages | Mattéo | Francis Duquet | TV series (1 episode) |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
