Prominent Poles
Matthieu Tota commonly known as M. Pokora or Matt Pokora, a French singer and songwriter.
Born: 26 September 1985, Strasbourg, France
Early life. His father, professional footballer André Tota, is the son of Polish immigrants. His mother: Brigitte. His parents divorced in 1998. He went to an elementary school in Hohberg, and later at Collège Paul-Émile Victor in Mundolsheim, and Lycée Aristide Briand in Schiltigheim near Strasbourg. When he was younger he wanted to become a professional football (soccer) player. However, he later opted for music. Matthieu Tota explained the origin of his stage name Matt Pokora in an interview during the documentary Mise à jour. He said he was searching for an artistic name and happened to be talking to his grandmother of Polish origin and the importance of humility came up. He asked her "how do we say 'humility' in Polish language," and she said "pokora". Tota immediately decided to adopt the word as his stage name, and shortened his first name to Matt. In fall 2003, he participated in the third season of Popstars, a French talent reality television show broadcast on M6. He was a crowd and jury favorite, and became a member of a boy band called Linkup. In the final showdown, the boy band including Mattieu Tota won the series. Their first Linkup single "Mon Étoile" was topping French charts. However the second single release "Une seconde d'éternité" was much less successful. Soon afterwards, Linkup disbanded due to poor performance of sales on releases.
Solo career. In 2004 Pokora released his first eponymous solo album originally entitled Matt Pokora. In 2005, he was forced to change his chosen name after a lawsuit. As a result, he changed his stage name to M. Pokora. The debut single from M. Pokora was very successful. Called "Showbiz (The Battle)" it was a Top 10 hit in France, and also charted in Belgium and Switzerland. The second single Elle me contrôle reached #6 in France. Yet a third successful single was released called "Pas sans toi". The album released on Universal was certified gold. He also started collaborating with Hakim Ghorab who became his long-time choreographer and took part in many of his music videos. He also developed a close collaboration with music video director Karim Ouaret who directed most of his successful videos. In January 2006, his second album Player was released topping the French chart. For producing the new album, he collaborated with Belgian producers and geared toward the younger and feminine fan brackets. He also enjoyed great popularity with gay audiences. The first single from his second album was the very successful "De retour”. That was followed with single "Oh la la la (Sexy Miss)". During a concert organized by NRJ Radio in France, he met Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin and Martin asked M. Pokora to make a collaboration on Martin's hit "It's Alright". The result was a bilingual French/English Ricky Martin/M. Pokora release also entitled "It's Alright" that sold more than 100,000 copies. Finally, a last single from the Player album called "Mal de guerre", was a relative success. To promote the album and capitalize on its success, M. Pokora engaged in a tour of more than 30 French venues under the title Player Tour that culminated in a big sold-out concert at Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy. At the end of the tour, a DVD containing materials from the shows was marketed under the name Player Tour Live. Pokora also created his own label M2theP.
Entertainement. After end of the Player Tour, Pokora left Universal and signed with EMI France. Also he went to New York and created contacts most importantly with R & B producers Ryan Leslie and J. R. Rotem. The result was his third album MP3 released in 2008. Pokora promoted the launching of the album with a prerelease of single "Dangerous" that reached #7 with estimated physical sales of 200,000 copies and additional downloads of 151,000. The album was certified gold. The album also did well internationally charting in Finland, Germany, Mexico, Belgium and in his homeland Poland. After the success of "Dangerous", Pokora released a second single "They Talk Sh#t About Me". The single unlike "Dangerous" (that had reached #1) was not played heavily on French radio because of English language content. A third release from MP3, namely "Catch Me If You Can" failed to make it to the French charts, but was successful in Poland reaching #11. The follow up "Through The Eyes" was also a relative success in Poland reaching #31 in the Polish charts. To coincide with MP3 release, M. Pokora launched his Catch Me Tour 2008 ending with a concert in Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in 2008. He also toured Belgium, Switzerland ending with a final concert in Lyon, France. Fourth studio album titled Mise à jour was released in 2010. The lead single "Juste une photo de toi" was a big hit reaching #4 in the French Albums Chart. Simultaneously a Mis à jour Édition Deluxe was released. In January 2011, during the NRJ Music Awards, the song was chosen as "Song of the Year". Finally the English version titled Updated was launched containing 11 songs, mostly adaptations of the French language hits on Mise à jour. In January 2011, "Oblivion" an English language of "Mirage" was released. He launched in March 2011 Mise à jour Version 2.0. It immediately became the number one physical single sales and reached the Top 10. The fifth studio album A la poursuite du bonheur, was released in March 20. The album entered the French albums chart at number two. The second single from the album was "On est là" released in April 2012. The third single from the album was announced in the end of May; "Merci d'être" was officially released in July, 2012. In September 2012, M. Pokora's official website posted the news that the album had sold over 200,000 copies in France, earning double platinum certification.
Acting career. In 2011 Pokora voiced Duncan Rosenblatt, the main character of Firebreather, in the French dub of the Cartoon Network movie. M. Pokora is appearing in the role of Robin Hood in the French musical comedy Robin des Bois Ne renoncez jamais that premiered in September 2013 in Palais des congrès de Paris. The musical is tipped as the musical event of 2013 in France.
Personal life. M. Pokora was troubled by the divorce of his parents and remained greatly attached to his mother after the divorce and lived with her in Strasbourg before renting a personal flat in Paris. His autobiographical song "Sur ma route" is about his experiences as a child in a broken home. He keeps contact with his father who actively supports him. He is a big supporter of the French football (soccer) club Olympique de Marseille, and takes part in many football events. M. Pokora has been friends for many years with his personal choreographer Hakim Ghorab and his wife Aline and is godfather to their daughter Lola. He is also a friend of footballer Djibril Cissé and is godfather to one of his sons.
Charities and public awareness. From the start, and over many years, M. Pokora has been a great supporter of charity causes particularly HIV/AIDS and children charities. In 2004, he took part in the charity single "Chanter qu'on les aime", in support of Association Mondiale des Amis de l'Enfance (AMADE). In 2005, he was in "Protège-toi", an AIDS charity single for Collectif Protection Rapprochée. In the same year, he was in "Et puis la terre...", a charity single for the tsunami victims under the name Artistes Solidaritie Ici pour Eux (A.S.I.E.) with a great number of French artists. In 2006, he sang in "L'Or de nos vies", a charity single from Fight Aids. In 2007, he took part in two renditions: "Je fais de toi mon essentiel" by Emmanuel Moire and "S'aimer est interdit" by Anne-Laure Girbal both featured on the charity album "Le Roi Soleil – De Monaco à Versailles (LIVE) – Fight Aids". In 2010, he appeared in Collectif Kilomaitre charity single "Un Respect mutuel”. He was associated with AIDES project and in 2010 sang a solo cover of Tracy Chapman's "Talking About a Revolution", on the charity album Message (AIDES)"
Tattoos. M Pokora is very famous for his body tattoos including "POKORA" inscribed on his right arm in capital letters.
In popular culture. M. Pokora took part three times in French television game and adventure competition series Fort Boyard in 2005, 2006 and 2009. In 2006, he performed "Elle me contrôle" in the TV show La chanson de l'année. In 2006, his song "Get Down On It" appeared on the soundtrack of Asterix and the Vikings. In 2006, he took part in the French version of Muppets TV.In 2007, he took part in Symphonic show special organized by Sidaction, a French AIDS charity. In 2008, Sony Ericsson and EMI Music France his label offered in exclusivity the downloading of 7 songs from the MP3 album through the W380i . In April 2008, M. Pokora also gave an interview to French gay publication Têtu also appearing on its cover. He took part in "L’Or de nos vies", a charity song recorded for "Fight AIDS Monaco", an association of Princess Stéphanie of Monaco. He also took part with a song in the album Message made available starting January 2010. In 2011, he performed on Le show Johnny. Enjoying great popularity with children, M. Pokora has taken part in many broadcasts concentrated on kids, including a special on him on 25 May 2011 where children aged 5 to 7 years sang covers of his songs. He was also was co-sponsor of the second edition of TF1's show Le grand show des enfants. On 19 March 2011 he won season 1 inaugural series of Danse avec les stars getting 62% of the votes.
Awards. 2006 : NRJ Music Awards Video of the year Elle me contrôle, NRJ Music Awards French song of the year Elle me contrôle, HIT MACHINE d'or French male artist of the year; 2007 : NRJ Music Awards French male artist of the year, NRJ Music Awards Video of the year De retour; 2008 : Popcorn Magazine Best pop artist, NRJ In The Park Honor award for his career international; 2009 : Eska Music Awards Best pop artist of the year; 2011 : NRJ Music Awards French male artist of the year, NRJ Music Awards French song of the year Juste une photo de toi, Le Ch'ti Award Honor award for 8 years of his career; 2012 : NRJ Music Awards French male artist of the year; 2012 : NRJ Music Awards French song of the year A nos actes manqués, Planéte Timbre French singer favorite, Trophée Marianne French singer favorite; 2013 : Musée Grévin M. Pokora joining the Grevin Museum.
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