NâDIYA

'Nâdiya' (born Nadia Zighem on June 19, 1973) is a French Pop/R&B singer.

Contents

Biography

Early life

2001-2003: Early commercial success

2004-2005: Career development

2006-2007: ''Nâdiya''

Discography

Albums

Singles

DVDs

Awards

Trivia

Notes

External links

Biography

Early life

Nâdiya was born in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, to a large Algerian family, with three brothers and two sisters. In 1989 she became the French champion of the 800 metres (her brother Kader was also champion of the world in French boxing).
When she was 20, she left her family and her athletics to move to Paris and take her chances there. She was first noticed on the show Graine de Star and recorded a single in 1997. She decided to stop and have a child: Yanis.

2001-2003: Early commercial success

She then performed a duo with Stomy Bugsy in 2001 under the title "Aucun Dieu ne pourra me pardonner" (''No God Will Ever Forgive Me''). The single "J'ai confiance en toi" (''I Trust You''), released in February 2001, became the first single that charted in the French Singles Chart, peaked at #38 in France and stayed in the chart for 13 weeks. The second single slated from the album did perform better than the first one. "Chaque fois" (''Everytime'') was released in August 2001 and peaked at #27 in the French Top 100 Singles, remaining in the chart for 18 weeks, five more than the first single. After the success of both singles, Nâdiya recorded a full studio album that became "''Changer les choses''" (''Change the Things''). Though the singles became reasonable hits, the album wasn't very popular in France, not charting at all in the French Top 200 Albums. She was nominated for the Victoires de la musique in 2002.

2004-2005: Career development

In February 2004, Nâdiya recorded another song, this became "Parle-moi" (''Talk to Me''), a song about family problems and contact with her parents. The song became her first big hit in France, debuting in the chart at #79 and making an amazingly big jump to number two in its second week within the singles chart. The song still remains Nâdiya's biggest hit in France, staying in the chart for 24 weeks. "Parle-moi" also became her first single that charted in Switzerland, peaking at #11 in its fifth week in the Swiss Singles Top 100.In Poland this single became the Hit Of The Summer 2004.Her second full French studio album was also recorded, ''16/9'' was released in June 2004. The album stayed in the chart for 93 non-consecutive weeks in the French album chart, with her highest peak being number six. Her (then) 5-year-old son also accompanied her on one song featured on the album ("Quand vient la nuit").
"Et c'est parti...", the second single, became her first international hit, charting in several other European countries, including Belgium and the Netherlands. The music video to the song shows Nâdiya performing the song and boxing in a boxing ring. The single and video both feature Smartzee, a French rapper, and peaked at number five in France and number twenty-one in Switzerland. "Si loin de vous" was officially the last single off the 16/9 album, with "Signes" just being a download only single. "Si loin de vous" (''When Far from You''), released in December 2004, was the last single off the album that charted in France (#6) and Switzerland (#27). The song is a military song, as this is shown in its videoclip. Though there is a music video for "Signes" (''Signs''), its function is only for promoting the album. In 2005, the 16/9 album also received the Victoires de la musique award for rap/hip-hop/R&B album of the year.
According to her official website, in France she has sold over 500,000 copies of ''16/9'', 750,000 singles and 300,000 copies of her platinum-certified "''L'histoire en 16/9''" ("The history to 16/9") DVD, which features the 3 music video's (to ''Parle-moi, Et c'est parti...'' and ''Si loin de vous''), the making of the videos, interviews, photos and a bonus CD with remixed songs.

2006-2007: ''Nâdiya''

In February 2006, Nâdiya returned with her "Tous ces mots" ("All these words") single, her second song that features Smartzee. The song peaked at number two in the French Singles Chart and at twenty-five in the Swiss Singles Top 100. Following the success of "Tous ces mots", her self-titled third studio album ''Nâdiya'' was released on June 5 in both France as. Nâdiya stated the album would have more rock influence than her previous two albums. SNEP recently revealed the best-selling singles during the first quarter of 2006 (from January 1 - March 31, 2006). Despite being released four weeks before the first quarter of 2006 ended, "Tous ces mots" managed to peak at number thirteen in the list.^[1] The second single with the applicable title "Roc", was released two weeks after the album's release date, on June 19. The music video to the song shows Nâdiya performing the song in a big stadium. The song follows "Tous ces mots" by debuting and peaking at number two (for four consecutive weeks) in France. It has also became Nâdiya's longest single running in the top ten, being eleven weeks in the chart and still in the top 5. In Switzerland, the single is less successful, debuting at number thirty and peaking one ahead at twenty-nine in its following week. As the third single off the album, "Amies-ennemies" was released on October 31, reaching the number four (#4) position in the French singles chart. The song samples a Chopin song and stayed in the French top ten for 11 weeks, only two weeks less than previous single "Roc."
In October 2006, Nâdiya denied having an affair with soccer player Zinedine Zidane.^[2] She said "we saw each other only once and then nothing else happened."
Nâdiya was supposed to start her first tour in November 2006, but due a yet unknown reason, the performances between November 3rd and December 9th were cancelled. The web site who also posted this, ChartsInFrance.net, reveils that the tour is delayed to begin in 2007. ^[3]
Nâdiya started recording a new album after the release of "Amies-ennemies". The album's first single will be "Vivre ou Survivre". The album's release date is also confirmed, November 12 2007. The tour will also start between the date of the single's release and the album's release.^[4]

Discography

Albums

Singles

All regularly released singles and their chart peak position in France ('FR'), Switzerland ('SUI'), Belgium ('BEL'), Eurochart Hot 100 Singles ('EU') and Russian Airplay Chart ('RU'). An empty space indicates that we don't know its peak position in that chart.

Year	Single	Chart positions[5][6]					French certification (sales)	Album
		FR	SUI	BEL	EU	RU
1999	"Dénoue mes mains"	–	–	–	–	—	—	-
2000	"J'ai confiance en toi"	38	–	–	–	—	—	''Changer les Choses''
2001	"Chaque fois"	27	–	–	–	—	—	''Changer les Choses''
2004	"Parle-moi"	2	11	2	9	—	Gold (215,000)	''16/9''
	"Et c'est parti..."	5	21	1	15	—	Gold (214,000)	''16/9''
	"Si loin de vous"	6	27	10	26	—	Gold (191,000)	''16/9''
2005	"Signes"	''Did not chart'' (digital single)						''16/9''
2006	"Tous ces mots" 1	2	25	29	24	—	Gold (216,098)	''Nâdiya''
	"Roc" 1	2	29	2	19	274	Gold (252,606)	''Nâdiya''
	"Amies-ennemies" 1	4	40	3	30	2	Silver (144,679)	''Nâdiya''
2007	"Vivre ou Survivre" ²							TBA

★ ¹: Sales till the end of 2006. The sales numbers are for both the physical CD sales as well as downloads.France Sales of 2006

★ ²: To be released

DVDs

Awards

★ 2005 Victoires de la musique – rap/hip-hop/R&B album of the year (''16/9'')

Trivia

★ Her favorite singers are R. Kelly and Willy Denzey.

★ Her favorite actor is Morgan Freeman.

★ Nâdiya does not smoke.

★ Her favorite music is R&B and 'Black music' (Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin etc.)

★ Her hobbies are singing and sports.

★ She adores dogs, and she has had a rottweiler in the past.

★ She likes: meditation, candles, incense and boxing.

★ She dislikes "machos in any kinds", lazy people and boys who tell her what to do.^[7]

★ She never has had a number one single in France, though she has had three number two singles.

Notes

1. "Tous ces mots" is #13 best-selling first quarter 2006
2. [1]
3. November tour cancelled
4. http://nadiya7301.skyrock.com/index.html
5. Single chart positions in Belgium, France and Switzerland
6. Chart positions in Russia
7. Trivia source

External links

'Official'

★ Official web site

★ Official fansite
'Unofficial'

★ Very popular fansite

★ Biograhy at Stars-celebrities

★ Nâdiya's news, bio and video