Benjamin Siksou

Benjamin Siksou
Benjamin Siksou in 2016
Born	(1987-02-08) 8 February 1987 (age 30) Ivry-sur-Seine, France
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, actor
Years active	2008–present

Benjamin Siksou (born 8 February 1987) is a French singer-songwriter and actor. He sings in a "jazz blues" style and plays the guitar, piano, and the violin.

Benjamin Siksou was born to a visual-artist mother and media consultant father. This precocious musician grew up between the thirteenth and the sixth arrondissement of Paris. He began taking violin and tennis classes in 1989 at the age of two and a half years, but in 2000 a knee injury prevented him from realizing his childhood dream of becoming a professional tennis player.

After the injury, Benjamin devoted himself entirely to his other passion of music, and in 2002 he started to write and compose his first songs. He also joined a band with some of his friends from his college and, beginning in 2005, performed in Parisian jazz bars such as the Caveau des Oubliettes, the Melody Blues, the Swan Bar, and the café Le Charteux. At the time Benjamin was taking influences from songs such as "Billie Jean", "Hallelujah", "Just the Two of Us", and "Summertime", and was already playing his own compositions like "Just know that I knew", "On the Ground", "Work Another Day", and "Ma muse mon égérie".

In 2007, now studying in his second year of art history, Benjamin decided to interrupt his studies to dedicate himself to music, and obtained his first roles in the film industry in the same year.

Some of the musicians that have influenced Siksou are: John Lee Hooker, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Jeff Buckley, Ella Fitzgerald, Alain Bashung, Lauryn Hill, John Coltrane, and James Chance.