Olivia Ruiz
Olivia Ruiz at the Eurockéennes of 2007
Background information
Birth name	Olivia Blanc
Born	1 January 1980 (1980-01-01) (age 30)
Origin	Marseillette, Aude, France
Genres	nouvelle chanson
Occupations	Singer–songwriter
Years active	1992–present
Labels	Polydor
Associated acts	Mathias Malzieu
Website	Olivia-Ruiz.com

Olivia Blanc (born 1 January 1980) known as Olivia Ruiz is a female French pop singer of partial Spanish origin belonging to the nouvelle chanson genre.¹

Contents 1 Biography 2 Discography 2.1 Albums 2.2 Singles 3 Charts 3.1 Albums 3.2 Singles 4 References 5 External links

Biography

Ruiz was born at Carcassonne², daughter of musician Didier Blanc though later taking her grandmother's maiden name Ruiz. In 2001, she was a prominent contestant in the first French edition of Star Academy, a popular TV reality-show and musical contest. She was defeated in the semi-final by eventual winner Jenifer Bartoli but according to an interview on Europe 1 she claimed that she never wanted to win³ and, following a post-series tour, worked to distance herself from the Star Ac image.

For her second studio album La Femme Chocolat, Olivia Ruiz was recognised by the Victoires de la Musique as the Female Artist of the Year in 2007. For the live performances accompanying the record, she also received the prize in the category of Musical Show, Tour or Concert of the Year. The album topped the French chart and was certified as a diamond record for selling more than 750,000 copies in France⁴ and made it to the top 50 of the Walloon and Swiss charts.⁵ Off the album, the music videos of the tracks "J'traine des pieds" and "La femme chocolat" were placed on rotation on the MCM French TV channel in 2006.⁶ The singles made it to the top 50 of the French and Walloon charts.

Olivia Ruiz wrote all the lyrics for her third studio album Miss Météores, co-orchestrated the music and employed a crew of guest stars including the rapper Buck 65, the indie band Noisettes and the folk and dark cabaret project Lonely Drifter Karen and featured the styles of nouvelle chanson, punk, folk and Hispanic rock.¹⁷ The record topped the French and Walloon album charts in 2009.⁸ Off the album, the single "Elle panique", with the music written by Buck 65 peaked at #2 of the Walloon chart. The music video of the song was placed on rotation on the MCM in May 2009.⁶ Her partner is Mathias Malzieu, the lead singer of the band Dionysos. She currently resides in France with her daughter Angela Ruiz.

Discography

Albums

• 2003 : J'aime pas l'Amour, produced by Iso Diop & Mitch Olivier
• 2005 : La Femme Chocolat, produced by Alain Cluzeau, Mathias Malzieu (Dionysos) & Olivia Ruiz
• 2007 : Chocolat Show
• 2008 : La Chica Chocolate (La femme chocolat)
• 2009 : Miss Météores

Singles

• 2001 : Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight), an Abba cover sung by a group of Star Academy contestants including Ruiz and Jenifer Bartoli that reached No 1 in the French charts⁹
• 2002 : Paris, songwriter Chet.
• 2003 : J'aime pas l'amour, songwriter Juliette.
• 2003 : Pas si vieille, songwriter Philippe Prohom.
• 2003 : Qui sommes nous ?, songwriter Chet and Jérôme Rebotier.
• 2004 : Le tango du qui, songwriter Stéphane Balmino and Denis Hénault-Parizel.
• 2004 : Les vieux amoureux, songwriter Chet and Jérôme Rebotier.
• 2005 : J'traîne des pieds, songwriter Olivia Ruiz and Ben Ricour.
• 2006 : La femme chocolat, songwriter Mathias Malzieu.
• 2007 : Non dits, songwriter Christian Olivier.
• 2007 : Goutez-moi, songwriter Mathias Malzieu.
• 2007 : Thérapie de Groupe
• 2009 : Elle panique
• 2009 : Belle a en crever
• 2010 : Les crêpes aux champignons

Charts

Albums

Year	Title	Chart positions10			Sales and certifications
		BEL (Wal)	FRA	SWI
2001	Star Academy, L'Album	1	1	3	Ruiz appears as one of the Star Academy team11
2001	Star Academy, Le Live	7	16	38	Live versions of the Star Academy songs, Ruiz sings Paris12
2003	J'aime pas l'amour	95	87	–	Silver record (more than 50,000 sold) in France
2005	La Femme Chocolat	6	1	33	Diamond record (more than 750,000 sold) in France
2007	Chocolat Show!13		54		Live Album
2008-9	Chica Chocolate1415	60	185		La Femme Chocolat rerecorded in Spanish
2009	Miss Météores	1	1	7	Over 400,000 copies sold

Singles

Year	Single	Peak positions			Album
		BEL (Wal)	FRA	SWI
2001	Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)	11	1	–	as Star Ac 1 with Jenifer Bartoli and Carine Haddadou16
2007	La Femme Chocolat	31	42	–	La Femme Chocolat
2007	J'traîne des pieds	23	37	–	La Femme Chocolat
2009	Elle panique	2	9	74	Miss Météores
	Belle à en crever	13	3		Miss Météores
2010	Les crêpes aux champignons	22			Miss Météores

References

External links

• Official Olivia Ruiz Website
• Olivia Ruiz at the Internet Movie Database
• Review of Miss Meteores
• Chronicle of an amateur song (french)

v â€¢ d â€¢ e Star Academy France Host Nikos Aliagas Winners Jenifer Bartoli (2001) Â· Nolwenn Leroy (2002) Â· Élodie Frégé (2003) Â· Grégory Lemarchal (2004) Â· Magalie Vaé (2005) Â· Cyril Cinélu (2006) Â· Quentin Mosimann (2007) Â· Mickels Réa (2008) Other notable contestants Mario Barravecchia (2001) Â· Jean-Pascal Lacoste (2001) Â· Olivia Ruiz (2001) Â· Houcine (2002) Â· Georges-Alain Jones (2002) Â· Jérémy Chatelain (2003) Â· Emma Daumas (2003) Â· Morganne Matis (2003) Â· Michal Kwiatkowski (2004) Â· Sofia Essaïdi (2004) Singles "La Musique (Angelica)" (2001) Â· "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" (2002) Â· "Paris Latino" (2002) Â· "La Bamba" (2003) Â· "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" (2003) Â· "L'Orange" (2003) Â· "Laissez-moi danser" (2004) Â· "Adieu monsieur le professeur" (2004) Â· "Santiano" (2005) Â·

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