Stromae Trivia: 40 interesting facts about the singer!

Stromae is a Belgian-Rwandan musician, singer, rapper and songritter.  Let’s see some amazing facts and trivia about him!

1.His real name is Paul Van Haver.

2. He was born 12 March 1985.

3. Stromae was born in Belgium to a Tutsi father and a Belgian mother.

4. His father, a successful Rwandan architect, was killed during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.

5. His mother raised him and his four siblings in Brussels, and later in a nearby suburb. She encouraged each of her children to play a sport and an instrument.

6. Stromae studied percussion.

7. His mother placed him in a Roman Catholic Jesuit school after he failed in the public school system at the age of sixteen.

8. He formed a small rap group with friends while still in school. His early influences included Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel, Cuban son, and Congolese rumba.

9. Even though he was raised as a Belgian, he has stated that he did not always feel that he was from Belgium

10. In 2001, he appeared as a rapper called Opmaestro, though he later changed his stage name to “Stromae”, which is “Maestro” with the syllables reversed in a French vernacular practice called verlan.

11. At the age of 18, he founded a rap group called “Suspicion”, along with rapper “J.E.D.I.” in Eichof. They produced the song and music video “Faut que t’arrête le Rap…” before J.E.D.I. decided to leave the rap duo.

12. To finance his private school education, Van Haver worked part-time in the hospitality industry, but his academic performance wasn’t up to standard.

13. It was only later, when he registered at the Institut national de radioélectricité et cinématographie, that he released his first album “Juste un cerveau, un flow, un fond et un mic…”.

14. In 2008, Stromae worked as a young trainee at the music radio station NRJ in Brussels.

15. Vincent Verbelen, Music Manager, was impressed by the talent he perceived in Stromae’s first single “Alors on danse” and decided to air it for the first time on NRJ.

16. The response from listeners (including influential personalities ranging from Anna Wintour and Jean-Claude Van Damme, to the then-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy)was one of extreme enthusiasm and Stromae came to wider public attention. In a few weeks from that point, sales of the song established it as number one in Belgium.

17. Vertigo Records, aof Mercury Records France (Universal Music Group), signed him for a worldwide licensing deal soon after this.

18. By May 2010 the track “Alors on danse” had reached number one in Belgium, France, Sweden, Greece, Germany, Austria, Turkey, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Romania and the Czech Republic.

19. On 2 September, Stromae collaborated with Kanye West in a remix of his hit “Alors on danse”.

20. In 2010, he was nominated for Best Dutch and Belgian Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards.

21. He is one of the ten winners of the European Border Breakers Award 2011.

22. On 9 February 2011, his debut album Cheese (including the hit single “Alors on danse”) won the award for Best Dance Album at the Victoires de la musique

23. On 23 May 2011, during the recording of the French TV show Taratata, Stromae did a mashup of “Alors on danse” and “Don’t Stop the Party” with the Black Eyed Peas. Stromae also announced he would perform as opening support act for the first of two concerts by the band in Paris on 24 and 25 June 2011 at Stade De France.

24. Stromae had previously met will.i.am at the NRJ Music Awards in January. will.i.am told him that he liked “Alors on danse” and said he wanted to collaborate with Stromae.

25. In 2011, he received one nomination for Best Belgian Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards.

26. The first single “Papaoutai” from his second album Racine carrée (English: Square root) was digitally released on 13 May 2013. It went on to chart number 1 in Belgium and France, number 2 in the Netherlands, as well as number 7 in Germany and Switzerland.

27. On 22 May 2013, amateur-looking videos appeared on YouTube showing Stromae, apparently drunk and wandering at the Louiza tram station in Brussels at dawn.  The videos went viral.

28. A few days later, it was revealed that this was linked with the filming of a professional music video. This was confirmed during an appearance by Stromae on the French TV show Ce soir ou jamais in which he discussed and also performed his new single “Formidable”, which is about the story of a drunk man just separated from his girlfriend.

29. The clip was made from edited hidden camera footage taken on 22 May. It also shows people taking pictures with their cellphones, people who are clearly irritated by his drunk actions, people helping him stand up, and three policemen asking if the artist is okay or if he needs some help. The policemen also got some critiques for not acting against the drunk Stromae; however, they later declared that the entire story was not shown. The part where they returned and Stromae had to explain his case was not broadcast.

30.. On 25 August 2013, Stromae joined Major Lazer’s show at French festival Rock en Seine, where he performed Papaoutai.

31. In September 2013, Belgian rock band Mintzkov covered his song “Formidable/Wonderful” for a live session on Studio Brussel, with lyrics in English. In November 2013, Stromae received the award for Best Belgian Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards.

32. On 17 March 2014, it was made public that Stromae’s song “Ta fête” would become the official song for the Belgian national football team at the 2014 World Cup.

33. In June 2014, in support of Racine carrée, Stromae made his US television debut on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers.

34. He then embarked on a tour across the United States and performed at the Best Buy Theater in New York City.While in New York, on 22 June 2014, Stromae guest starred in a Snapchat story with Jerome Jarre as The Carrot’s Father.

35. On 21 October 2014, it was revealed that New Zealand singer Lorde invited Stromae to work on the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 along with artists like Kanye West, Grace Jones, Diplo and The Chemical Brothers.He contributed to the song “Meltdown” which also features Pusha T, Q-Tip, Haim and Lorde herself.

36. Stromae continued touring the United States, performing in March 2015 in several places among which the SXSW in Austin, Texas.[2 He was also among the line-up of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. He then began a tour in Africa on 13 May. However, in mid-June Stromae was forced to cancel the remaining of his shows until 2 August for health reasons. He performed at Madison Square Garden in October, becoming the first exclusively French-singing performer to sell out that venue.

37.Stromae is known for his distinctive physique and clothing style. He has used this image in launching a limited fashion line, Mosaert (an anagram of his stage name). The collection features bright colors and geometric patterns, and has been described as “hipster” and “retro kitsch”.

38. Stromae has said that he wanted to “create a bridge between British style and African aesthetic.”

39. The first collection was a success, with stocks almost sold out after three days.

40. On 12 December 2015, Van Haver got married to Coralie Barbier by well-known Catholic Priest Guy Gilbert, in a private ceremony held in Mechelen.