Amaury Vassili

Amaury Vassili (born 8 June 1989 in Rouen, Upper Normandy, France) is a French singer and the youngest professional tenor in the world. His debut album Vincero from 2009 went double platinum in France, and he achieved international success with releases in Canada, South Africa and South Korea. Vassili began singing around the age of 9 years, enrolled by his mother at a musical school in Rouen, created by Albert and Elizabeth Amsallem. At 14, Vassili contested in his first singing contest, were he won in singing "Amsterdam" by Jacques Brel (an idol of Vassili). In Vassili's second contest, in front of a full house, he sang "Les Lacs du Connemara" by Michel Sardou; however he did not qualify for the final, despite receiving a standing ovation from the crowd. During the contest, his mother realised how much he enjoyed being on the stage and especially the impact he had on the public, saying "C'est son truc !" ("it's his thing!"). In 2004, Vassili sang in the Coupe de France de la chanson française by winning the contest. He became famous with his debut album Vincero from 2009, a classical crossover effort released in association with Warner Music, the album includes well-known pop standards such as "Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from the Godfather)" (adapted in French as "Parla Più Piano"), Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," and Queen's "Who Wants to Live Forever" alongside well-known classical standards as the title track. Vincerò was a Top Ten hit on the French albums chart and spawned the promotional singles "Lucente Stella" and "Io Ti Amerò." The album went double platinum (over 250,000 copies) after a worldwide release and was re-released in November 2009 with the addition of six bonus tracks. His second album Canterò was released in November 2010. Vassili describes his music style as "lyrical pop". On 27 January 2011, it was announced by the French broadcaster France Télévisions, that Vassili would be the French entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 to be held in Düsseldorf, Germany. The song was revealed as "Sognu" (English: Dream), and performed in Corsican. It marks the second French Eurovision entry to be performed in the language after Patrick Fiori received a fourth place finish with "Mama Corsica" in 1993. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.