Philippe Katerine

In November 1991, Katerine began his career. In 1992, he released his debut album Les Mariages Chinois (later re-released with an additional track under the title Les Mariages Chinois et la Relecture). Anxious and self-doubting, Katerine in those days mostly composed and record in a home studio. In 1994, he released the album L’Education Anglaise on which his sister (under the pseudonym Bruno) and his girlfriend Anne did the singing. In 1995, he worked on his third album and went through a major artistic shift over a year. He began to use other musicians and do his own singing. The album Mes Mauvaises Fréquentations, released in 1996, and offering lusher orchestrations and several vocalists, was well received critically and commercially. He also worked for the first time as musical director on someone else's album, Mercedes Audras' self-titlred debut, released in 1996. In 1997, he composed an album for two Anglo-Japanese singers, the Winchester Sisters and also participated in a disc where he met the jazz musicians of the group The Recyclers, with whom he collaborated further. He created and recorded two albums at the same time: L’homme à Trois Mains and Les Créatures. The former he recorded at home alone as previously, while the latter was recorded in a more conventional manner in a studio with The Recyclers. The two albums were released together and marked a turning point in his musical career. He promoted the records extensively in the media and the song “Je Vous Emmerde” got plenty of airplay. The Recyclers with their entirely different musical background fascinated him by their way of working and their relationship to improvisation, which he integrated into his techniques. In 1999, he composed “Une Histoire d’Amour” for Anna Karina, his favourite actress, with whom he subsequently toured.