Zaz

Biography

Isabelle Geffroy (French pronunciation: [izabɛl ʒɛfʁwa]; born 1 May 1980), known professionally as Zaz (pronounced [zaz]), is a French singer and songwriter who mixes jazz, French variety, soul and acoustic. She is best known for her single "Je veux×Je veux22 February 2010 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Je veux3:37", taken from her self-titled debut album, released on 10 May 2010. She has six studio albums: Zaz, Recto verso×Recto verso10 May 2013 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 20 tracks · 2 discsDisc 1A1On ira3:00A2Comme ci, comme ça2:45A3Gamine3:10A4T’attends quoi3:21A5Ensemble3:53B1Déterre2:42B2Toujours3:11B3Si je perds3:04B4Je rentre5:09B5Si2:38Disc 2C1Oublie Loulou2:40C2Cette journée2:54C3Nous debout3:13C4La Lune2:43C5La Part d’ombre3:53D1Le Retour du soleil4:25D2Laissez-moi2:41D3En rêve2:40D4La Lessive2:18D5J’ai tant escamoté3:43, Paris×Paris7 November 2014 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Paris sera toujours Paris3:002Sous le ciel de Paris3:183La Parisienne3:014Dans mon Paris (Swing manouche version)3:195Champs‐Élysées2:576À Paris3:017I Love Paris – J’aime Paris4:058La Romance de Paris3:329Paris canaille3:5510La Complainte de la butte3:2011J’aime Paris au mois de mai4:0712Paris, l’après‐midi2:2513J’ai deux amours3:2914Sous le ciel de Paris3:19, Effet miroir×Effet miroir15 November 2018 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Demain c’est toi2:382Qué vendrá2:583On s’en remet jamais3:194J’aime j’aime3:265Mes souvenirs de toi3:296Toute ma vie2:257Je parle3:308Résigne-moi5:179Ma valse3:3510Si c’était à refaire3:5511Pourquoi tu joues faux2:2712Plume3:5413Nos vies3:3814Saint-Valentin3:1715Laponie4:57, Isa, and Sains et saufs×Sains et saufs19 September 2025 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 20 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11Je pardonne3:292Au pays des merveilles3:433Mon cœur tu es fou3:234Mon sourire2:525Mon dieu2:536On peut comme ça4:047Sains et saufs3:428J’imagine que tu sais3:309La Flamme3:1310Un enfant pour toujours3:3211Que des liens3:5012Bleu de la nuit3:1713Une passerelle vers la mer3:21Disc 21Mon vrai moi2:232Camarade3:403Les otages aussi ont besoin d'amour2:424Comme deux enfants2:435J'veux plus3:186Vivre longtemps3:367Avez-vous des amis3:34 as well as two live albums: Sans tsu tsou×Sans tsu tsou12 May 2011 · Album · LiveSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 16 tracks1Les Passants4:452J’aime à nouveau4:353Le Long de la route5:054Prends garde à ta langue3:415Dans ma rue5:266Port Coton3:047La Fée5:088Ma folie5:539Trop sensible4:0210J’arrive pas4:4111Éblouie par la nuit3:0712Je veux8:0113Je saute partout3:4414Pray the Sunshine4:0915Ni oui ni non3:3216Aux détenteurs5:24 and Sur la route×Sur la route30 August 2015 · Album · LiveSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 33 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11On ira4:162Le long de la route4:213Cette journée3:564Eblouie par la nuit3:585Comme ci comme ça2:466Si2:387Si je perds5:208La Fée5:249Déterre4:3810Je veux5:2411Si jamais j'oublie3:29Disc 21Intro Live Recto Verso Tour1:52:402On ira3La vie en rose4Le long de la route5Cette journée6Éblouie par la nuit7La révolution des colibris8Comme ci comme ca9La Lune10Si11Trop sensible12Si je perds13Samba em preludio14La Fée15Minor Swing16Doxy17Laissez-moi18Déterre19Je veux20Dos gardenias21Si jamais j'oublie22Outro. Worldwide as of February 2023 Zaz has sold over 5 million albums, including 2 million outside France.

Early life

Zaz was born in Tours, France. Her mother was a Spanish teacher, and her father worked for an electric company. In 1985, she entered the Conservatoire de Tours with her sister and her brother, attending courses from the ages of 6 to 11. She studied music theory, specifically the violin, piano, guitar, and choral singing. In 1994, she moved to the Bordeaux region. In 1995, she took singing lessons and played sports for a year in Bordeaux. In 2000, she won a scholarship from the regional council, which allowed her to join a school of modern music, the CIAM (Centre for Musical Activities and Information) of Bordeaux. Her musical influences included 'Four Seasons' by Vivaldi, jazz singers such as Ella Fitzgerald, and other singers such as Enrico Macias, Bobby McFerrin, and Richard Bona, as well as African, Latin, and Cuban rhythms. In 2006, she moved to Paris.

Career

In 2001, she started her singing career in the blues band "Fifty Fingers". She sang in musical groups in Angoulême, especially in a jazz quintet. She became one of the four singers of Izar-Adatz (Basque for "Shooting Star"), a variety band which consisted of sixteen people with whom she toured for two years, especially in the Midi-Pyrenees and the Basque Country. She worked in the studio as a backing singer in Toulouse and performed with many singers, including Maeso, Art Mengo, Vladimir Max, Jean-Pierre Mader, and Serge Guerao.
In 2011, Zaz won an EBBA Award. Every year the European Border Breakers Awards (EBBA) recognize the success of ten emerging artists or groups who reached audiences outside their own countries with their first internationally released album in the past year.
In May 2010, French magazine Télérama announced: "Rumor has swelled in recent weeks: Zaz is an extraordinary voice, and she will be the revelation of the summer!". On 10 May 2010, Zaz released her first album. It contains songs she wrote ("Trop sensible") and co-composed ("Les passants", "Le long de la route", "Prends garde à ta langue", "J'aime à nouveau", "Ni oui ni non"). Kerredine Soltani produced the album on the label "Play On" and wrote and composed the hit single "Je veux×Je veux22 February 2010 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Je veux3:37". The pop singer Raphaël Haroche wrote her songs "Éblouie par la nuit×Éblouie par la nuit2 April 2012 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Éblouie par la nuit2:58", "Port Coton" and "La fée×La Fée2011 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1La Fée (Radio Edit)3:24". In 2010, she signed a contract for her tours with Caramba and publisher Sony ATV. She was invited to make several television appearances (such as Taratata or Chabada ) and was featured in several programs on the radio. On Sunday 6 October 2013, Zaz appeared on BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show in London and sang "Je veux" live.

Zaz then toured France (Paris, La Rochelle, Montauban, Saint-Ouen, Chateauroux, Landerneau, Fécamp...), performed at the Francofolies of Montreal (Canada), and sang in Monthey (Switzerland), Brussels, Berlin, and Milan. In autumn Zaz topped the charts in Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria. Matthieu Baligand, her manager and producer at Caramba Entertainment, explained to Libération: "There's a lot about her right now and people want to see her tour... But despite the demand, it seems preferable for her to begin touring in fifty small places, which will make her more credible. Zaz is a popular, intuitive artist, who is familiar with music, who can sing, but doing a quality show is something else (...)." In November 2010, the debut album Zaz became double platinum and she was awarded "Revelation Song" by the Académie Charles Cros. Zaz also won the European Border Breakers Award: she was named the French artist most played abroad in 2010. According to a survey published by L'Internaute, Zaz was the most popular French singer in the 2010 ranking.
She is also featured on the song "Cœur Volant×Cœur volant22 November 2011 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Cœur volant2:36" for the soundtrack of the 2011 film, Hugo. Her live CD and DVD Zaz live tour Sans Tsu Tsou was revealed.
Her song "Eblouie Par La Nuit" was featured in the 2013 American neo-noir crime thriller, "Dead Man Down".
In 2012, Zaz went on tour and held concerts in various countries around the world including Japan, Canada, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Slovenia, Czech Republic (Colours of Ostrava), Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Turkey, among other countries.
With her album Paris×Paris7 November 2014 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Paris sera toujours Paris3:002Sous le ciel de Paris3:183La Parisienne3:014Dans mon Paris (Swing manouche version)3:195Champs‐Élysées2:576À Paris3:017I Love Paris – J’aime Paris4:058La Romance de Paris3:329Paris canaille3:5510La Complainte de la butte3:2011J’aime Paris au mois de mai4:0712Paris, l’après‐midi2:2513J’ai deux amours3:2914Sous le ciel de Paris3:19 she won the 2015 Echo award for best international female rock/pop artist.
In 2016, Zaz was invited to perform in Zacatecas City, Mexico as part of the Festival Cultural Zacatecas.
In September 2018, Zaz released "Qué vendrá×Qué vendrá7 September 2018 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Qué vendrá3:16", the first track from an upcoming album titled Effet miroir×Effet miroir15 November 2018 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Demain c’est toi2:382Qué vendrá2:583On s’en remet jamais3:194J’aime j’aime3:265Mes souvenirs de toi3:296Toute ma vie2:257Je parle3:308Résigne-moi5:179Ma valse3:3510Si c’était à refaire3:5511Pourquoi tu joues faux2:2712Plume3:5413Nos vies3:3814Saint-Valentin3:1715Laponie4:57 ("Mirror Effect"). The track's title and chorus are in Spanish.
In 2019 Zaz took a career break in order to, "look after myself...There has to be a balance because it's Isa [a contraction of her real name] who feeds Zaz, not Zaz who feeds Isa." In October 2021 Zaz released her fifth studio album, Isa.
In September 2023, Zaz performed Lucienne Delyle's "Mon amant de Saint Jean" at the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup in the Stade de France.

Philanthropy

In 2011, Zaz joined the Les Enfoirés charity ensemble.
Zaz created the project Zazimut to "develop and promote projects for a society more respectful of life in all its forms". Since 2017 Zazimut has been one of the joint organisers of the annual Crussol Festival which aims to "raise awareness of building together a more sustainable, happy and supportive society."

Charity singles

2014: "Le chemin de pierre (version pop)" (with Nolwenn Leroy, Thomas Dutronc...)