Jocelyne Béroard

Born

1954-09-12

Birthplace

Fort-de-France, Martinique, France

Biography

Jocelyne Béroard (born 12 September 1954) is a Martinican singer and songwriter. She is one of the lead singers of the Zouk and Compas band Kassav'. As a solo artist, she helped create zouk Beton, a music genre started by Kassav'. The main members are from Guadeloupe and Martinique. Béroard was born in Fort-de-France, Martinique, and studied in France, attending the National School of Fine Arts in Paris, before beginning to work with Caribbean artistes as a background singer in 1980. She has served as a lead singer of Kassav' since 1983. She has also recorded several albums as a solo artist. In 1986, she won a Gold Disc for her album Siwo (the all-time biggest seller for an album by a female in the West Indies). In 1987, she recorded a duet with Philippe Lavil, the hit single "Kolé séré", which peaked at number four in France. In 1999, she was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur. In 2014, she sang "On n'oublie pas" (written by Serge Bilé) with several artists and personalities including Alpha Blondy, Harry Roselmack and Admiral T. This song is a tribute to the 152 victims from Martinique of the crash of 16 August 2005, to remember this event and to help the AVCA, the association of the victims of the air disaster, to raise funds. She helped American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett write the song "Love and Luck", which appeared on the compilation album Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads. The song mentions the Kassav song "Kolé Sére". On 1 April 2019, it was announced on Kassav's official Facebook page that Béroard was to marry her longtime fellow Jacob Desvarieux, singer and musician of the band and that the festivities were to take place on the day Kassav' will celebrate their 40 years. The announcement later proved to be a joke for April Fools' Day. Source: Article "Jocelyne Béroard" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.