Born July 25th, 1980 in Nicosia as Mélanie Georgiades to a Cypriot father and French mother. She moved with her mother to Paris, France at the age of 3. She first came across rap at 12 years old and chose her artist name “Diam’s” (Diamonds) at age 15.
She released her debut album at 19, “Premier Mandat”. In 2001, her song “Suzy” was part of a compilation “Original Bombattack” and soon after it started getting radio plays and internet virality. In 2003 Diam’s released her sophomore album “Brut de femme”, which went Gold* in France in just 3 months, and the single DJ went platinum**. The album won “Best Rap album of the Year” by the French Ministry of Culture. During this time, Diam’s took stances both against French politicians Marine Le Pen and Nicolas Sarkozy (the latter became the President of France in 2007).
In 2004, Diam’s co-wrote the debut single of French pop singer Amel Bent which was a huge success and became the 3rd best selling single of 2004. In early February 2006, she released her 3rd album “Dans Ma Bulle”, her biggest commercial success. The lead single “La Boullette” debuted at number 1 on the singles chart of France and stayed there for 6 consecutive weeks and to this day considered an essential track within French rap.
It recently surpassed 100 million streams on Spotify, making it the first song in French by a Cypriot artist,
2nd by a Cypriot woman, 24th by a diaspora Cypriot and 25th overall.
Dans Ma Bulle sold over 900 000 copies in the first 9 months in France alone and became the best selling album, by any artist, in France 2006. At the 2007 NRJ Music Awards she won Francophone [e.g. French-speaking] Album, female Artist, and Song of the Year.
in 2009 she released her 4th and final album, S.O.S. It debuted at number 1 and sold over 300 000 copies.
In 2012, at 32 years old, Diam‘s officially retired from music. In 2022 she released a documentary about her life titled “Salam”, presented at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. Within French music industry she is remembered for her lyricism, straight-shooter attitude and being one of the biggest women within French rap, ever.
*100 000 physical albums sold (SNEPmusique.com)
** 500 000 sales