Thomas Fersen
Thomas Fersen (born 4 January 1963 in Paris) is a French singer-songwriter. During his childhood, he was part of a punk group before playing the piano in café-theatres. He released his first album in 1993; it gave him immediate name recognition. Fersen is an accomplished poet who regularly plays with language, using puns, rich rhymes, symbols and images taken from the realms of plants (vegetables and fruits) and animals (birds and various beasts) to tell stories or original fables, to recreate moments from daily life, impressions and sentiments, and also the dreams of ordinary people and  their failings and faults. His deep and gravelly smoker's voice gives a particular tone to his songs, which belong to different musical styles depending on the album (rock, folk-rock or jazz and blues). The stage name "Thomas Fersen" comes from the names of Tomas Boy, a Mexican footballer, and Hans-Axel de Fersen, Marie-Antoinette's Swedish lover. He was one of the first singers to join the label Tôt ou tard.