Sébastien El Chato

Jean-Sébastien Abaldonato better known as Sébastien El Chato (born in Marseille, France, on 5 April 1961) is a French singer and guitar player of Romani origin. He is based in Paris and has had a long string of albums since 1976. Born to a French gypsy family of Andalusian descent, he started singing at a very young age of 5 in Marseille. He had his first studio recording in Spain appearing with Manolo Escobar and at age 8 was introduced by Dalida to the French public. 1978 his fame was established through a number of gitane songs and throughout the 1980s appeared on French television with his interpretations. In 1987, his album Je l’aime had great commercial success followed by Imagine, Garde la and Le cœur d’une mère. His compilation album Best of Gipsy was marketed internationally finding good sales in Spain, Portugal and Latin America (Argentina, Mexico, Colombia etc.). Sébastien El Chato also took part in French musical comedy adaptations, very notably in 2001 as Count Capulet in Roméo et Juliette, de la haine à l'amour, by metteur en scène Gérard Presgurvic. He was renowned for his interpretation "Avoir une fille". In 2004, he also appeared in another French musical Les enfants du soleil written by Didier Barbelivien and mise en scène by Alexandre Arcady. In 2011 he released a major album Gipsy Rumbas and in 2013 Venga Venga (Best of 3 CD collection). Both have appeared on SNEP, the official French Albums Chart.