Grégory Lamarchal was born in La Tronche, France in 1983 and won the equivalent of American Idol in France: Star Academy, in 2004. At the age of two Grégory was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis, a genetic disease that is degenerative and causes persistent lung infections limiting the ability to breathe over time. The complications to this incredibly painful illness led to his tragic death in 2007 at the young age of twenty-four.
Grègory’s dream from very early on was to sing and become a musician. As a kid he didn’t understand the circumstances the universe had put him in, the uneven chance he was given. He simply wanted to sing with the fearlessness and the spirit of a kid. Cystic Fibrosis is extremely painful but often pain in our lives doesn’t stop us from achieving something, actually some personalities feed on this pain to create beauty and this is the very essence of art itself: making something beautiful out of something horrible, inspiring people when it was the hardest thing to inspire ourselves.
When the world hasn’t gifted some people’s lives with kind things, these people learn fast that this is the beautiful chaos of life one needs to tune in, to make great things. So Grègory Lamarchal was diagnosed with a disease that should have made it impossible for him to live his life like a “normal” person, but instead he decided the dream he had as a kid was honourable and that he would still realize it, no matter what. Despite the terrible illness, Grègory became a star: an inspiring singer.
It really must have looked and felt like a miracle that he could not only sing, but do it brilliantly for everyone but especially for whom was aware of his condition. In 1995, at the young age of twelve he became France’s champion of acrobatic rock. In 1998, he unsuccessfully participated in the show “Graines de stars”, but became a local star and was contacted by a talent scouting agency to participate at Star Academy. When he became a contestant for Star Academy he was only 21 years old and had already pursued his dream this far. The price to pay was often really high: at the contest he was monitored by a team of medics that had to perform daily treatment to clear his lungs as well as heavy medications to overcome the physical pain, given by all those hours of exposure and singing at the top of his lungs.
Grégory was still one of the most talented and lively contestants, when the show included live performances he had never shown sign of weakness, he stood by the his dream and passion won over pain. This how Grègory won one of the most important contests in Europe out of merit and not sympathy.
“Does anybody know what we are living for?”, he asks in one of his songs. Grègory did know what he lived for, and each of his songs should be dedicated to dreams turning on like a little lights in children’s eyes around the world. Grègory’s life story and passion reminds us that the things we want aren’t easy to get, but our passion burns obstacles in front of us with the rage of a flame, we might be slowed down but we can’t be stopped, that we write our future despite it all, and although the sadness of Grègory’s death remains, his name still stands with life, as he was able to realize his dream and inspire others to do so, at the same time inviting with his songs to enjoy life.
Some of his songs were released after his death and sold millions of copies, but every single cent of this money was donated to finding a cure for Cystic Fibrosis. To date more than 7.5 millions have been raised for this cause.
___________________________________________________________________
If you would like to keep an eye on our project, follow us on Facebook or Twitter. We will keep you posted!
