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Biography

Gallavin is a new kind of jazz singer. Since his debut album Mad about the Boy, he highlights with determination his political and poetic voice. Inspired by Nina Simone’s fight against racial discriminations, Gallavin produces a first album that raises the influence of homosexuality in vocal jazz. He places himself beyond the stereotypes of Crooner and Diva and gives to jazz standards written by gay authors – such as Cole Porter, Billy Strayhorn or Noël Coward – their original intentions and essence. He opens new fields of interpretation of jazz classics and gains a rare freedom in his inspirations that form and define his artistic world.

Gallavin publishes his second album So Sad the Songs. Under the sign of melancholy, this album traces the spleens of lost years and time passing by. It narrates the solitude of old broken hearted lovers whose once flamboyant passion has faded out throughout the seasons. So Sad the Songs is a journey through nostalgic and  melancholic songs of yesterday and today arranged by Guy-François Leuenberger and Pierre Sottas.

Born in 1975 in Sierre, Swiss and British, Gallavin grows up in Lausanne. He graduates with a Master of Arts. He records in 1996 an album of seven original songs with his first band Mind the Sun. He forms afterwards the jazz band Late Nights (1999), with which he performs, among other venues, at the Cully Jazz Festival.

Gallavin publishes in 2010 his debut album Mad about the Boy arranged by Pierre Sottas. National and international medias (up to Sydney) positively review this album. Three singles is published in 2011 and 2012 on different European and American radios. The music videos are broadcasted on the local television, La Télé, and can be viewed on YouTube. Gallavin performs regularly at the cabaret bar, Chez Maman, in Brussels where the music video Mad about the Boy was shot.

In 2013, Gallavin begins a collaboration with Catherine d'Oex. Together, they create the burlesque music hall Ils se marient, and turn in 2014 with the accordeonist Moineau a tribute to Piaf and realistic French songs. This show is still on tour and planned in Barcelona and Paris in 2015. Gallavin and Catherine d’Oex collaboration on the song La chanson des vieux amants win the award for most moving video at the RightOutTV Music & Video Awards 2014.

Press reviews:

Gallavin is going to make is voice heard in the small world of Swiss Jazz. His sincerity and originality will highly delight all jazz lo vers. [Jean-Philippe Bertrand, Le Matin, February 2010].

Gallavin gives to jazz a new dimension with his authentic and true interpretation. [Diana Gisler, Révélation.ch, December 2012].

Jazz and homosexuality have a rather discrete relationship. This young Anglo-Swiss artist breaks the ice with talent and determination. [Arthur Babel, 360, f évrier 2010].