Gandhi Alimasi Djuna (born 6 May 1986), better known by his stage name Maître Gims and more recently just Gims (sometimes stylized in all caps), is a Congolese-French singer, rapper, producer, and songwriter. He grew up in France and currently lives in France and Morocco. He is a former member of the hip hop group Sexion d'Assaut and released his first major album, Subliminal in 2013. The album sold over a million copies in France and peaked at number two in the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. His other two albums follow: Mon cœur avait raison in 2015 and Ceinture noire in 2018 reached number one in France and Belgium (Wallonia) and peaked in the top 40 in various European countries, including Denmark, Italy, and Switzerland.
He has topped the French singles charts four times, including once as a featured artist, most recently in 2018 with his song "La même". The song was the most performed in France in 2018 and it helped Gims become the most performed artist on French television and radio for the same year. In 2018, he was the 7th most performed artist in the world on Deezer. During his career he has worked with several international artists such as Sia, Pitbull, Lil Wayne, Stromae, Maluma, Sting, and others. He has sold over 5 million records, including 3 million albums since the start of his career.
In 2020, he won the International Artist of the Year in Distinctive International Arab Festivals Awards after his featuring in Mohamed Ramadan's song "Ya habibi". On 17 September 2020, Netflix released a documentary about the last ten years of his career titled Gims: On the Record. In 2022, he played the song "Arhbo" for the 2022 FIFA World Cup along with Ozuna, which they also performed during the closing ceremony.
Gandhi Djuna was born on 6 May 1986 in Kinshasa, Zaire (Now the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1997). He comes from a family of musicians: his father Djanana Djuna is the singer of Papa Wemba's Viva La Musica troupe. His parents, who were undocumented immigrants, moved to France in 1988 when he was two years old.
Because of his parents hiding, he explains having had a difficult childhood. He was placed with foster families, before living in squats until he was 18 years old. This passage from his life is mentioned in his book Vise le soleil. He is part of a family of fourteen children. He is the brother of Dadju, member of the group The Shin Sekaï, of Bedjik, Afi (formerly Xgangs) and Djelass, all three of them rappers. On his first album Subliminal (2013), they participate in the song "Outsider". Gims grew up in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris. His family then moved to the 9th arrondissement and finally to the 19th arrondissement. Gims studied graphic design and communication.
He takes the nickname "Gims" in reference to Asian cinema and the world of martial arts. ...
Source: Article "Gims" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
