Kendji Girac

Kendji "Girac" Jason Maillié ( ; born 3 July 1996), also known mononymously as Kendji, is a French singer. He is the winner of season 3 of the music competition The Voice: la plus belle voix as part of Team Mika. He has released six studio albums, Kendji, Ensemble, Amigo, Mi Vida, L'école de la vie, and Vivre... as well as a string of hit singles.

Biography Beginnings The youngest of a Catalan Gitano family, Kendji grew up in Saint-Astier and was taught to play the guitar and sing by his grandfather. He left school at 16 to follow the family business as an arborist. He speaks Catalan with his parents. He gained some fame through publishing materials online. His Romanes version of "Bella" by Gims filmed by a friend went viral. His video garnered 5.8 million views. Another popular song he uploaded was "Si j'étais président", a cover of Gérard Lenorman.

The Voice For season 3 of The Voice: la plus belle voix, he auditioned with the song "Bella" by Maître Gims in the second episode of season 3, broadcast on 18 January, with only judge Mika turning his chair, whereas the three others, Florent Pagny, Jenifer and Garou refrained.

In the Musical Battles Round broadcast on 8 March 2014, Mika put him against Youness both singing "Tous les mêmes" by Stromae. Kendji moved to "L'épreuve ultime" round, in which he performed "Hotel California by The Eagles in the 29 March 2014 emission.

In the live rounds he performed "Ma philosophie" by Amel Bent (5 April 2014), "Mad World" from Tears for Fears (19 April 2014) and "Allumer le feu" by Johnny Hallyday (19 April 2014). In the semi-final on 3 May 2014, he sang "Belle" by Garou and Daniel Lavoie qualified for the finals as Team Mika's finalist.

Career

His first official single the bilingual French/Spanish "Color Gitano", was released in June 2014 from his eponymous EP, followed by his official album release in September. In December 2014, he won two NRJ Music Awards for Francophone Breakthrough of the Year and "Color Gitano" as Francophone Song of the Year. His album Kendji sold 600,000 copies by January 2015, and over 1 million copies by October 2015, certifying Diamond and becoming France's second-highest selling album of 2014 after Racine carrée by Stromae. He is currently the biggest-selling The Voice alumnus worldwide. His follow-up single "Andalouse" proved even more successful commercially. Other notable singles included "Conmigo" from the repackaged version of Kendji released on 4 May 2015.

A second album titled Ensemble was released on 30 October 2015. Notable singles from his second album include "Me Quemo", "Les yeux de la mama" and "No Me Mires Más" (jointly with Soprano).

On 31 August 2018, his third album, titled Amigo was released. It started at number one on the French sales chart with 48,408 sales.

On 22 August 2020, he joined the cast of The Voice Kids France, becoming the first French former contestant to join the jury of the French franchise of the show, alongside Jenifer, Patrick Fiori, and Soprano.

Charity work In 2017, Kendji joined the Enfoirés, a team of artists involved in supporting the charity Restos du Coeur, which hosts yearly concerts to raise money for one of France's main soup kitchen networks.

Discography

Studio albums Title Album details Peak chart positionsSalesCertifications FRA BEL(Fl) BEL(Wa) NLD SWI Kendji Released: 8 September 2014 Label: Mercury Formats: CD, digital download 1 119 1 53 22 FRA: 1,500,000 (incl. streaming) SNEP: 3× Diamond Ensemble Released: 30 October 2015 Label: Mercury Formats: CD, digital download 1 88 1 — 1 FRA: 1,000,000 (incl. streaming) SNEP: 2× Diamond Amigo Released: 31 August 2018 Label: Mercury Formats: CD, digital download 1 69 1 — 7 FRA: 350,000 (incl. streaming) Mi Vida Released: 9 October 2020 Label: Mercury Formats: CD, digital download, LP 2 83 1 — 5 L'école de la vie Released: 11 November 2022 Label: Mercury Formats: Digital download, LP 1 — 3 — 11 Vivre... Released: 4 October 2024 Label: Mercury Formats: Digital download, LP 3 — 3 — 14

Live albums Title Album details Peak chart positions FRA "Color Gitano"2014 11 — 12 —Kendji "Cool" 20 — 17 —"Andalouse" 3 14*(Ultratip) 3 10"Elle m'a aimé" 22 — 53* —"Je m'abandonne" 25 — — —"La bohème" 61 — — — Aznavour, sa jeunesse"Conmigo"2015 7 — 6 — Kendji (2015 reissue) "Les richesses du cœur" 57 — — —"Me Quemo" 7 — 8 — Ensemble"Les yeux de la mama" 5 — — —"No me mirès màs"2016 9 — 11 —"Sonrisa" 25 — 42 —"Ma câlina" 2017 40 — 15 —"L'envie" 53 — 26*(Ultratip) —"Maria Maria"2018 8 — 19 — Amigo"Pour oublier" 7 23*(Ultratip) 3 —"Tiago" 12 34*(Ultratip) 5 —"Tu vas manquer"2020 — — 10*(Ultratip) —"Habibi" 109 — 2*(Ultratip) — Mi Vida"Dernier métro"(featuring Gims) 79 — 11 — "Dans mes bras" (with Dadju) 2021 43 — 12 — "Conquistador" — — 32 — "Eva" 2022 104 — 14 — L'école de la vie "Desperado" 2023 — — 29 — "Le feu" 29 — 9 — "Je suis fou" 61 — 42 — À 2 à 3 "Si seulement..." 2024 38 — 16 — Vivre... "J'ai changé" 2025 — — 41 — "Un, dos, tres" — — 19 — Vivre...Encore "Oublier" — — 47 — Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts.

As featured artist +List of singles, with selected chart positions Title Year Peak chart positions Album FRA —"Jamais à genoux" 85 31 Amigo"Dans mes bras"(with Dadju) 2020 119 — Mi Vida"Évidemment"2021 87 13"Bebeto" (with Soolking) 33 10 Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts.

Awards

Filmography 2017: Chacun sa vie et son intime conviction