Biography Wikipedia
Wikipedia:
Benjamin Siksou (born 8 February 1987 in Ivry-sur-Seine), is a French singer-songwriter and actor. He sings in a "jazz blues" style and plays the guitar, piano, and the violin.
Early years
Benjamin Siksou was born from a visual-artist mother and media consultant father. This precocious musician grew up between the thirteenth and the sixth arrondissement of Paris. He began taking violin and tennis classes in 1989 at the age of two and a half years, but in 2000 a knee injury prevented him from realizing his childhood dream of becoming a professional tennis player. Benjamin devoted himself entirely to his other passion of music, and in 2002 he started to write and compose his first songs. He also joined a band with some of his friends from his college and, beginning in 2005, performed in Parisian jazz bars such as the Caveau des Oubliettes, the Melody Blues, the Swan Bar, and the café Le Charteux. At the time Benjamin was taking influences from songs such as Billie Jean, Hallelujah, Just the Two of Us, and Summertime, and was already playing his own compositions like Just know that I knew, On the Ground, Work Another Day, and Ma muse mon égérie.
In 2007, now studying in his second year of art history, Benjamin decided to interrupt his studies to dedicate himself to music, and obtained his first roles in the film industry in the same year.
Some of the musicians that have influenced Siksou are: John Lee Hooker, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Jeff Buckley, Ella Fitzgerald, Alain Bashung, Lauryn Hill, John Coltrane, and James Chance.
Performances
Touring
Siksou's EP was the result of his first French tour. Organized by Auguri Productions, this tour was sold out from its debut in April 2009 to its finish in June. The tour passed through Dijon at La Vapeur, Angers at Chabada, Clermont-Ferrand at Coopérative de Mai, Bordeaux at Rock School Barbey, Marseilles at Espace Julien, Lyon at Ninkasi Kao, Lille at Splendid, and Paris at Café de la Danse for two concerts on 10 and 11 April 2009.