Jocelyne Labylle was born on January 7th, 1973 in Saint Claude on the West Indian Island of Guadeloupe. She was attracted to the world of show business at an early age. Her dream of sequins and gloss was largely fostered by her mother's success as a dancer in Karabina, the most famous folklore dance group in Guadeloupe. Jocelyne went to the group's rehearsals and shows and was impatient to join her mother in the spotlight. But her destiny would be different because it was as a singer that she was noticed. Despite a happy school life she chose to go out on her own.

Zouk Icon

In 1992, Jocelyne Labylle joined the group Melodie with Tony Deloumeaux who would be the future co-leader of the group Fuzion. This first adventure barely lasted two years. Yet her had name already started to circulate in the Guadeloupian musical microcosm. In 1994 Jocelyne met Jose Vildina, founder of the famous group Zouk Orchestra. This partnership on and off stage gave her the opportunity to learn her job as a singer in a much more rigorous manner.

Learning by the old school method of live shows got her off of doing playback which is largely practised in the zouk milieu. From this point on, her name came before that of the group on the album covers. After three albums, Jocelyne left Zouk Orchestra in order to stand on her own two feet. Straight away, she wrote a song with Frederic Caracas and Liso which earned her a contract with Sonodisc records. In August 1997, the single "Quand tu veux" was heard on all the radio stations and the hit sold several thousand copies. But she did not let herself get carried away by this dazzling success. At the very most, she became aware of her potential and subjected herself to new discipline regarding work.

Regarding her appearance, she spruced up her wardrobe by opting for a sexy lace outfit, high heels, and long hair with purple streaks. At the heart of all this she had to musically confirm all of the good things people thought of her.

Parisian and African encounters

1999 constituted a strong period in the career of the one who was already being called the "icon of Zouk". Fredreic Caracas truly became her mentor and agreed to support her in the making of her third album "On verra." We can notice the contribution of Jean-Claude Naimro, Jacob Desvarieux of Kassav and Harry Diboula in its making. "On verra", the song which gave the album its name was an enormous success.

That same year Jocelyne discovered Africa when she went to the Ivory Coast. This would be the first step in a long series of meetings with her African fans over whom she exercises the same power of seduction as on the West Indian public. When she sings in Africa, she feels African and she affirms that this communion is perfect.

In order to meet the numerous demands made of her, Jocelyne Labylle chose to move to Paris in 1998. In Spring 2000 she surrounded herself with a new team led by Eric Siar as manager and executive producer and she obtained more advantageous conditions with her record company Sonodisc who was now controlled by Next Music.

In July 2000, the single which announced her next album "J'ai deposé les clés" was a hit. This song was a realistic painting of a romantic break-up because of a new-found love.

On this album, the songs seem to convey a deep maturity for the young Labylle. The extravagant outfits were replaced by chic and more sober ones, and short hair. Several tracks from this opus met with success: "Je reconnais" with moving lyrics poignantly written in honour of her mother who died in 1995 and who she was able to be with until her final moments.

"Parle-moi d'elle" a song written by Harry Diboula is a medley of the work by the legendary Haitian group Coupé Cloué. We especially remember "Jusqu'au bout" where she invited the famous Ivorian group Magic System (who she met in Abidjan in 1999) and Claudy Siar, singer and radio announcer for Radio France International to join her.

Besides Frederic Caracas, the singer also put her trust into Frederic Wurtz who produced Jacques d'Arbaud's album "Meta Ipso Facto" and composed "Kimbe" by Sonya Dersion (Jocelyne's best friend) and who was Francky Vincent's orchestra leader.

The album "Ma petite lumiere" stayed on top of the charts for West Indian music for twelve straight weeks and enabled Jocelyne today to not only perform regularly in Africa, like in Cameroon and Burkina Faso where she performed in Autumn 2001,but also in the French and English West Indies as well as in France. 

2003 : "Laisse parler les gens"

In 2003, her partnership with Passi led to her taking part in the compilation of "Dis L’heure 2 Zouk", produced by the French rapper. The track "Laisse parler les gens", which she sang with Cheela and Jacob Desvarieux, shot to the top of the singles charts, selling 700,000 copies plus 200,000 copies of the album. With this summer hit, named at the Victoires de la Musique, Jocelyne gained a new level of popularity in France and at the same time increased her success in several francophone African countries where the song was also widely played.

In June 2004, she represented the West Indies at the Ebony Festival in Senegal’s capital city of Dakar. That same year, she brought out a single, "Day’O", with Marina Ursule and Jacob Desvarieux. She also made an appearance on the disc, "Crossing West indies à Haiti" by Haitian group T-Vice, for whom she wrote the track, "Toujou là". The two groups shared the same manager, who initiated an enduring partnership.

The singer was back at the helm of the African continent in 2005 when she rejoined the band Magic System on the stage of the Palais de la culture in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and then played with T-Vice once again in 2006 on their album "Kite’m Viv" with the track, "J’aimerais te revoir".

In March 2007, the District Court of Paris delivered its judgement in the case of plagiarism relating to "Laisser parler les gens". Guadeloupian singer and producer Henri Debs claimed authorship of the song, originally entitled "Je reviendrai toujours". He won his case and the record label and producer were ordered to pay him compensation.

None of which stopped the partnership with Passi from continuing. In March 2008, the rapper took the singer with him to his hometown of Brazzaville in the Congo to accompany him on concerts at the French Cultural Centre followed by the Félix-Eboué stadium. In October, Jocelyne took part in a completely different project in Guadeloupe. Entitled "Les femmes chantent le gwo ka" (women sing gwo ka), the show was a turning point: after singing a cover version of "Kan Nida" to much applause, she decided to step aside from zouk for a while and bring out a 100% gwo ka album. The six-title CD "Roots chic Tambour bling bling" was released in 2009, in the middle of an unprecedented period of crisis in the West Indies. The song "Grèv’" (strike), directly linked to the state of affairs, quickly found a following.

A few months later, Kassav invited her on stage at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, where Jocelyne Beroard and Jacob Desvarieux’s band were celebrating their thirtieth anniversary with a one-off concert. She also performed with the Bisso na Bisso collective on the track "Chéri pa douté", which appeared on the team’s second album "Africa", led by Passi.

2010: "An Ti Fanm Gwada"

Some of the collaborations she had made over previous years were released together alongside new material in the album the singer brought out in 2010, "An Ti Fanm Gwada", marking her return to zouk.

August 2010

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