Damien Saez

Biography

Damien Saez (French pronunciation: [damjɛ̃ sɛz]; born 1 August 1977) or just Saez, is a French singer-songwriter and musician.

Early life

Damien Saez was born in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, Savoie, on 1 August 1977, where he lived until the age of three or four years before his family moved to Marseille. Saez spent most of his childhood in Marseille until he moved to Dijon when he was about eight years old, where he was raised by his Algerian mother, after she divorced her Andalusian husband.
Later, she met a director of documentaries who worked for the French channel 'France 3' and gave birth to Damien's two younger brothers.
At the age of eight, Saez started taking piano lessons with Boris Nedeltchev at the Conservatoire National de Région de Dijon and graduated nine years later. He then took an interest in playing the guitar. His career as a singer began in 1995 when he let his interest in writing come out. He stopped playing in bands that sang covers of more famous bands like Pink Floyd. He wanted to work on his own songs that he had written and try to attract a new audience.

Jours Etranges, God Blesse, Debbie (1999–2005)

In 1999, a record company became interested in his compositions, and he signed a record contract with Island and began to record his first album Jours étranges×Jours étranges25 October 1999 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Jeune et con3:532Sauver cette étoile5:033Jours étranges5:194J’veux m’en aller6:245Hallelujah4:096Crépuscule5:097Soleil 20005:128Amandine II3:319Rock’n’Roll Star3:5310My Funny Valentine4:2111Montée là‐haut6:0612Petit Prince3:07 ("Strange Days", a tribute to the album of the same name by The Doors) which went double platinum. His first single Jeune et con was broadcast on many radio stations and reached the general public, which earned him a nomination for the Newcomer of the Year award at the Victoires de la Musique in 2001.
In December 2001 his first poetry collection was published entitled À ton nom.
In March 2002, he released his second album God Blesse×God Blesse26 March 2002 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 29 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11J’veux du nucléaire5:322Solution3:103So Gorgeous5:234No Place for Us3:365Light the Way (interlune)3:176Isn’t It Love II2:557Sexe5:058W T C2:319J’veux qu’on baise sur ma tombe4:3210Route 6662:1911Ice Cream Trip on an Acid Van3:4812Thème II, Partie 18:0313Be My Princess5:4614Perfect World3:3715Thème II, Partie 23:4716Light the Way5:33Disc 21Thème I (intro)1:162Thème I14:063Isn’t It Love I2:594Les Condamnés8:055À ton nom2:556Saint‐Petersbourg3:327Massoud4:528Les Hommes7:189Usé5:1910Voici la mort (intro)0:4811Voici la mort12:4612Silence0:1213Menacés mais libres5:38/Katagena×Katagena17 August 2001 · EPSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 6 tracks1Connection3:282Introduction4:553Neige à Varsovie2:154L’Envol4:395La Liberté4:176La Chute7:03. In the meantime he released a piece of instrumental work called Katagena. It was available online via non-official web-sites and downloadable free of charge.
Brian De Palma contacted him and asked him to contribute to the original soundtrack of the movie Femme Fatale that was released in April 2003. The song that was chosen, Sexe, caused a lot of commotion due to its vulgar lyrics. Many radio stations refused to broadcast it, and the music video was banned from television.
On 22 April 2002, the day after the first round of presidential elections, he wrote the song Fils de France online, which was meant to be against French right-wing politician Jean-Marie Le Pen who qualified for the second ballot. The song was written and recorded in about 10 hours, then made available for free on the website of Universal Music.
His third album, Debbie×Debbie31 August 2004 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Debbie3:322En travers les néons4:473Céleste4:374Marie ou Marilyn3:505J’hallucine4:296Autour de moi les fous5:387Dans le bleu de l’absinthe7:128Comme une ombre5:239Marta6:4810Clandestins4:3711Tu y crois / Sakura sakura14:54, was released in 2004 with a more rock style than his previous albums.

Post-Universal period

In 2005 Saez quit Universal Music and went on the Damien Saez: Piano and Voice Tour. His musical style underwent a profound transformation from alternative rock to acoustic ballads, as his singing was accompanied only by three guitars and a piano.
At the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007, Saez released four new songs in English (Killing the Lambs, Numb, Jessie and Yellow Tricycle) for free on his MySpace page. He performed all of them, except for Jessie, at five acoustic concerts in Paris and Lyon, in June and July 2007, respectively.

Varsovie, Alhambra, Paris (2008)

On 8 December 2007, Saez released Jeunesse, leve-toi, a song that was written in March during the presidential elections. The song became the first track and also the first single from his next album, Varsovie, Alhambra, Paris. Edited by the independent quality-label Cinq7, it was released on 21 April 2008 as a triple album (Paris was also sold separately), consisting of 29 acoustic songs. The album mainly deals with Saez's breakup with his Polish girlfriend, Katarzyna. The first two discs, Warsaw and Alhambra, bear a similar sound and were meant to pay homage to Jacques Brel, Léo Ferré, Barbara, Georges Brassens and other classic French songwriters. The third disc, Paris, has a richer and more diverse sound and, despite little advertising, was certified gold.
In June and July 2008, accompanied for the first time by a string trio (violin, viola and violoncello), Saez launched, as part of various festivals, a new acoustic tour which was very short-lived: emotionally exhausted by the intimate nature of his songs, Saez decided to cancel his big summer tour and dedicated himself to writing new material.

Yellow Tricycle - A Lover's Prayer (2009)

On 23 January 2009 Saez launched a new website, dedicated entirely to his new project, consisting of songs written entirely in English. The songs available for free download were "Killing the Lambs", "Numb" and "Yellow Tricycle", which had been released on his MySpace page two years earlier, with the addition of a new song called "White Noise". Their dark rock sound was very different from his previous acoustic album, and marked Saez's return to rock music.
In February 2009 Saez was nominated in the category "Pop-rock Album of the Year" at Victoires de la Musique, where he performed an unpublished song called "Embrassons-nous", which he performed without any rehearsals.
His fifth album, A Lovers Prayer, was released on 16 March 2009 under the pseudonym Yellow Tricycle. The 12 tracks on the album were written entirely in English and Saez's name did not appear anywhere on the cover. It received little advertising and was not backed up by a live tour.

J'accuse (2010)

At the end of 2009 Saez released a new track, Police, followed in February 2010 by "J'accuse" as a preview of his next rock album, bearing the same name. When the album J'accuse was released, it ranked 3rd in the charts, with 21,229 copies sold in the first week. J'accuse also sparked a controversy and a media debate when the posters with the cover of the album (depicting a nude woman in a shopping cart) were banned from the Paris subway.

Messina (2012)

In September 2012, Saez released the album Messina×Messina17 September 2012 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 27 tracks · 3 discsDisc 11Fin des mondes5:062Les Échoués4:273Betty5:234Marie6:395Faut s’oublier5:076Les Fils d’Artaud5:527Le Gaz4:218Into the Wild4:349À nos amours5:35Disc 21Marianne4:462Sur le quai4:173Légionnaire5:244Webcams de nos amours4:335Ma petite couturière6:066Je suis un étranger3:527Planche à roulettes4:448Rois demain6:20Disc 31Thème Quais de Seine6:022Aux encres des amours4:533Messine6:164Les Magnifiques4:565Les Meurtrières5:386Bouteille à la mer4:527Ami de Liège7:548Le Bal des lycées7:039Thème Aux encres des amours4:5210Châtillon‐sur‐Seine6:05, a triple album with the separate titles Les Échoués (CD1), Sur les quais (CD2) and Messine (CD3).

Miami (2013)

In March 2013, Saez released Miami. This rock album includes 10 tracks, including the lead title "Miami×Miami18 March 2013 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Pour y voir4:452Les Infidèles3:583Rochechouart4:544Miami5:055Le Roi5:406Des drogues5:047Cadillac noire4:288Rottweiler4:429No More4:5210Que sont‐elles devenues ?4:38". The song deals with addiction and mixes religion, drugs and fascism on a dance music.

Le Manifeste and Le Nouvel Art (2016)

An 8-minute video posted on the website www.culturecontreculture.fr, replacing the official website "saez.mu", is published on the evening of 16 June 2016 revealing a vast artistic project entitled "Le Manifeste×Le Manifeste1 December 2021 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)". In this video Saez announces a long one-year journey, from 31 July 2016 to 31 July 2017, during which songs, photos and texts recounting the journey will be published from city to city over the days, in the image of a notebook combining music, poetry and all forms of art. He describes this art as "Nouvel Art".[1] He presents Mélancolie in this short film: a sad clown, a mime dressed in black "populating the earth with flowers".
"Le Manifeste" begins on 31 July 2016. This trip will take place to the day from the first to the last day of his 40th year.
The first album of the Manifesto is entitled L'oiseau liberté, released in December 2016. This is a short album of 7 songs and a second album of 3 tracks. Two of them will be present on the next album. The second album, Lulu, released on 10 March 2017, is a triple 29-track album. Two excerpts from the album are published free of charge on 22 February for those who participated in the manifesto project. These are Bonnie and Rue d'la soif as well as Château de brume, a new piece. On 24 February, Saez announced via requiem the release of a third album entitled Le Dernier Disque for the fall of 2017, the eleventh album in the artist's discography.
On the eve of 1 May, Damien Saez releases a new song for free download on his website culturecontreculture.fr entitled Premier Mai, in which he denounces both the presence of the far right in the second round of the 2017 presidential election and that of the "banker" Emmanuel Macron.
During the discovery of the Manifesto, videos are shown throughout the tour. First concert first paintings, second concert second paintings, etc. The videos are unveiled at the same time in several places.

Albums

as Saez

as Yellow Tricycle (pseudonym used by Damien Saez)

Singles

Charting

Others (non charting)
2002: "Fils de France×Fils de France22 April 2002 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Fils de France3:56"
2002: "Sexe" (soundtrack from Femme fatale)
2004: "Debbie×Debbie31 August 2004 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Debbie3:322En travers les néons4:473Céleste4:374Marie ou Marilyn3:505J’hallucine4:296Autour de moi les fous5:387Dans le bleu de l’absinthe7:128Comme une ombre5:239Marta6:4810Clandestins4:3711Tu y crois / Sakura sakura14:54"
2005: "Marie ou Marylin"
2006: "Killing the Lambs" (MySpace release)
2007: "Jessie" (MySpace release)
2007: "Yellow Tricycle" (MySpace release)
2007: "Numb" (MySpace release)
2007: "Jeunesse lève-toi" (free download)
2010: "Police×Police13 November 2009 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Police4:34" (free download)
2012: "Betty" (free download)
2012: "Les fils d'Artaud" (free download)
2012: "Messine" (free download)