Bilal Hassani (b. 1999)
Birthplace:
Orsay, Essonne, France
Born:
September 9, 1999
Bilal Hassani (Arabic: بلال حسني, romanized: Bilāl Ḥasnī; born 9 September 1999) is a French singer-songwriter and YouTuber. He represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Roi", finishing in 16th place. Hassani was born in Orsay, Paris Region to a Moroccan family from Casablanca. His mother is a French citizen, while his father lives in Singapore. He has an older brother, Taha, who was born in 1995. He obtained his literary baccalaureate in 2017. In 2005, at the age of five, Hassani began singing lessons. In 2015, encouraged by his friend Nemo Schiffman, a finalist of the first season, Hassani participated in the second season of The Voice Kids and introduced himself in the blind auditions by singing a cover of "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst, a singer whom he admires. He joined the team of judge Patrick Fiori. He was eliminated during the battle rounds by Swany Patrac. In 2018, the LGBT magazine Têtu designated Hassani as one of the "30 LGBT+ [people] who move France". The magazine described him as "an icon for French LGBT+ youth". On 6 December 2018, Hassani was announced to be among the 18 candidates participating in Destination Eurovision, the French national selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest which was broadcast on France 2, with this edition choosing the representative of France at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, which took place in Tel Aviv, Israel in May 2019. On 20 December 2018, an excerpt from his song for the competition was released, the song titled "Roi" and written with the duo and 2018 winner of Destination Eurovision Madame Monsieur. The song was described to be about self-acceptance. On 4 January 2019, "Roi" was made available on all music platforms, and by 14 January, it had exceeded 3 million views. The newspaper Le Monde wrote that Hassani "leaves no one indifferent". The initial front runner to represent France at Eurovision, Hassani began a media tour for Destination Eurovision on media outlets such as NRJ, Quotidien, and France Inter. On 12 January 2019, he won the semi-final by winning 58 out of 60 points awarded by the international jury, and winning 57 points (the highest score) from the French public. He totaled 115 points and qualified for the final, alongside Chimène Badi (66 points), Silvàn Areg (59 points) and Aysat (40 points). He won the final on 26 January 2019, with a total of 200 points including 150 of the French public while he was ranked fifth with the International Jury vote, with 50 points. At the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 final, in Israel, Hassani performed the song "Roi", and placed 16th, with 105 points. He made a cameo appearance in the 2020 film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. In 2024 he had an acting role in Alexis Langlois's feature film Queens of Drama (Les Reines de la drame). On 23 June 2017, Hassani publicly came out as part of the LGBTQ+ community, the day before he attended the Paris Pride. Hassani is genderqueer and is at ease with both she and he pronouns. ... Source: Article "Bilal Hassani" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.