An unclassifiable artist and a singular figure on the French chanson scene, Thomas Fersen has, over the decades, established his own universe of poetry, humor and gentle eccentricity. His unique style blends the imaginary world of fairy tales with chiseled songwriting, all underpinned by a free and surprising musicality that blends chanson, rock, pop, reggae and baroque influences.
Born Thomas Chedid in Paris on January 29, 1963, he developed a passion for music at an early age. He learned to play the piano and guitar, but it was writing that became his favorite means of expression. Fascinated by words, he cultivates an abundant, mischievous language, where each song becomes a little theater inhabited by talkative animals, tender outsiders, lunar lovers and ordinary heroes.
In 1992, his first album Birds’ Ball is making its mark. Buoyed by sensitive lyrics and delicate acoustic instrumentation, he immediately establishes a distinctive voice in the French musical landscape. Audiences fall under his spell. Followed by Les Ronds de carotte (1995), Fish Day (1997), then Qu4tre (1999), all albums that confirmed the richness of his universe and established his place as a key singer-songwriter.
Winner of a Victoire de la Musique award in 1994 in the Male Revelation category, Thomas Fersen has pursued a free-spirited career, bucking the trend and relentlessly ploughing his own poetic furrow. Over the years, he has enriched his repertoire with new musical colors, surrounded himself with audacious arrangers, multiplied formats – studio albums, live performances, hybrid shows – and even created his own label, Éditions Bucéphale.
His love of words naturally led him to theater and novel writing. In 2023, he published God on Eartha novel in verse as irreverent as it is inspired, which became the matrix for a show of the same name. This project marks a new stage in his career: that of a total artist, oscillating between stage, song and literature.
The show My brother is God on Earthpresented at the Théâtre Louis Jouvet and then on tour, is in the image of Thomas Fersen: hybrid, vibrant, intensely alive. He mixes emblematic songs from his repertoire with texts from his novel, accompanied by the bewitching percussion of Trio SR9 and the subtle arrangements of Clément Ducol. Vibraphone, glockenspiel, marimba, prepared piano: so many sounds that underline the unreality of his characters and accentuate the shadows of his imaginary theater.
With VibrationsWith this recording and stage project, published by Tôt ou Tard, Thomas Fersen continues to blur the boundaries between the arts, true to his vision of a living image created in the moment, by word, gesture, silence and waves. A poetic and sincere attempt to “show the invisible at the heart of the theatrical space”.
Even today, after a career spanning more than thirty years, he still charms audiences across the generations, offering concerts like bubbles of escape. Thomas Fersen never stops reinventing himself, between fantasy, depth and freedom, like a tightrope walker on the edge of words and music.
