* En anglais uniquement
One of France's biggest YouTube success stories, soul-pop singer/songwriter
Irma went from performing acoustic covers in her bedroom as a teenager to duetting with international superstars on the video-sharing site. Born
Irma Pany in Bangangte, Cameroon, in 1988 to a guitarist father and church choir singer mother, she grew up in Douale, where she started playing the piano at age seven before moving to Paris in her teens to improve her education. In 2007, she began uploading her renditions of tracks by
Norah Jones,
Colbie Caillat, and
Yael Naim onto YouTube and, after meeting Michael Goldman, son of legendary French musician
Jean-Jacques, she signed to his My Major Company label a year later.
Irma continued to develop her online presence, hooking up with established artists to perform various classic songs including
will.i.am (
the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back"),
Matthieu Chédid (
Adele's "Rolling in the Deep"), and
Patrice (
Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'"). After taking up a residency at Paris' La Java for several months, she reached the Top Ten in 2011 with both her debut single, "I Know," and its parent album,
Letter to the Lord; signed a U.S. deal with Universal Republic; and appeared in a European Google Chrome advert celebrating her rise to fame. ~ Jon O'Brien