Marc Aryan

Real name Henri Markarian, the French-Belgian singer, songwriter and record producer of Armenian origin Marc Aryan was born on November 14, 1926 in Valence, Drôme (France). He had a near-death experience at the age of 18, when he decided to fulfill his dream of becoming a successful musician. To this end, he learned piano, solfeggio and harmony, and began writing his own songs. He hoped to succeed in Paris, which he reached in 1957, but there were no real opportunities. So he moved to Belgium in 1963, where one of his sisters ran a nightclub in Zeebrugge on the coast. There, he began to make a name for himself, eventually settling first in Waterloo and then in Ohain. Gradually, his fame grew with the hits he published, such as "Katy", "Volage Volage", "Un Petit Slow", "Angelina", "Giorgina", "Parce que je t'aime", "Mon petit navire", and " Tu es n°1 au hit-parade de mon cœur". In 1969, he set up his own label, Markal, and saw his success spread, enjoying great popularity in the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon and Syria, where he also sang a few songs in Armenian, as well as in Eastern Europe and Latin America. He toured extensively, visiting the Soviet Union in 1968 and Armenia, where he made a point of singing a few songs in Armenian, including "Erevan", dedicated to the Armenian capital. When he returned to Belgium in 1969, he set up his own studio, named Katy after his hit of the same name, where artists such as Julio Iglesias, Salvatore Adamo, Michel Fugain, Frédéric François, Will Tura, Danyel Gérard, Toots Thielemans, Patrick Hernandez (for his hit "Born to Be Alive ") and Marvin Gaye recorded his 1981 album Midnight Love . He died on November 30, 1985 in Ohain (Belgium) of heart failure, aged just 59.