Biography

Mohamed Khelifati (Arabic: محمد خليفاتي, Muḥammad Khalīfātī), better known by his stage name Cheb Mami (Arabic: شاب مامي, shābb māmī, born 11 July 1966), is an Algerian musician and singer-songwriter. He sings and speaks in Algerian Arabic and sometimes in French or Eastern Arabic dialects.

Cheb Mami was born in Graba-el-wed, a populous quarter of Saïda Algeria. Located 170 kilometres south of Oran, the city of Saida is on the high mesas of northwestern Algeria.

It was in 1985 that Mami came to Paris and found his musical niche. He was in military service for two years in Algeria but was an entertainer on army bases. After that, in May 1989, Mami returned to Paris at the Olympia, rejuvenating Raï music. He also toured the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Scandinavia and England.

Mami's music is a blend of Mediterranean and Western influences including Turkish, Flamenco and Greek music as well as Latin music. His voice is tinged with Andalusian accents, and his music is an amalgamation of the traditional and the modern styles of singing and creation of music.

Mami was under an international arrest warrant after being indicted in October 2006 for "voluntary violence, sequestration and threats" against an ex-wife, and failing to answer a court summons on 14 May 2007. He was accused of attempting to force an abortion on his then-girlfriend. His girlfriend at the time was magazine photographer Isabelle Simon.

During a trip to Algeria in the summer of 2005, Isabelle Simon was locked in a house belonging to one of Mami's friends, where an abortive procedure was attempted on her. Afterwards in France, she realized the fetus was still alive, and she later gave birth to a daughter. Mami had accused his manager Michel Lecorre (a.k.a. Michel Levy) of organizing the abortion plan.

Michel Levy was later sentenced to four years for plotting and organizing the assault. Mami was arrested in France several days before his trial; he was taken into custody by officials at a Paris airport as he arrived in the country from Algeria on 22 June 2009.

In July 2009, a Paris court found him guilty of drugging and attempted forcible abortion, and sentenced him to five years in prison.

On 21 September 2010, his lawyers applied for conditional release, a request that was turned down on 12 October 2010. Upon a second appeal however, the French court agreed for his conditional release on 23 March 2011.