Fabien Dubos (born 3/6/1978), his brother Florian (26/3/1980), Nicolas Chassagne (24/12/1979) and Benoît Poher (27/6/1979), the four wannabe rockers who got together to form Kyo met in the playground of Notre-Dame-des-Oiseaux, a private high school in Verneuil in the Paris suburbs. All four of them came from comfortable, middle-class backgrounds, their fathers working as solicitors, directors of human resources or company directors. United by a collective passion for rock music, the foursome teamed up to form their own band, featuring Fabien on drums, Florian and Nicolas on guitars and Benoît on bass and lead vocals. The foursome, who took their name from a character in the manga video game King of Fighter, soon forged their own French rock sound inspired by their teen idols, Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

From Conflans-Sainte-Honorine to the Olympia

The group took the first step towards launching a serious career in 1997, playing at a talent contest for young rock bands organised in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine in the Paris suburbs. It was there that their potential was spotted by Yves-Michel Aklé, a 30-year-old manager of Beninois origin. Aklé offered the band his services and ended up landing them a contract with Sony Publishing.

At the end of 1999, Kyo ratcheted up their public image a stage further, appearing in David Hallyday’s video clip "Pour toi." The group hit if off with the singer immediately and Hallyday ended up inviting them to support him on tour for two months. It was during this tour that the band got to play at the legendary Paris venue L'Olympia for the first time.

After signing a new recording contract with the Zomba/Jive label in 2000, Kyo went on to release their debut eponymous album in March of that year. However, their catchy brand of melodic rock went largely unnoticed by the public, despite the release of two singles: "Il est temps" and "Je ne veux pas oublier" - and despite the fact the band had major French songwriters penning material for them! The lyrics for "Comme le monde est grand" were written by Lionel Florence (who has penned hits for big-name stars including Pascal Obispo, David Hallyday and Calogero), while the words to "Mes racines, mes ailes" were written by Michel Jourdan (famous for his work with Mike Brant).

Kyo the album certainly failed to rack up significant record sales, but it did gain considerable interest from professionals within the record industry. And in the summer of 2000, the group raised their profile once again, supporting Indochine and Placebo at a music festival staged in the Roman amphitheatre in Nîmes, in the south of France.

The road to success

Kyo went on to release their second album, "Le Chemin", on 14 January 2003. The album proved to be an instant hit with the French public. Indeed, the phenomenal selling power of "Le Chemin" prompted Kyo’s label to re-release their neglected debut album and sales of both albums combined soon topped 1.5 million. Kyo rapidly established themselves as the kings of the French airwaves with their hit singles "Le Chemin" (featuring vocals by Dutch singer Sita which sold almost 600,000 copies), "Dernière danse" and "Je cours."

Given their newfound popularity, Kyo were soon inundated with requests from fellow French music stars. They went on to write the hit "Je veux t'oublier" for Jenifer (a young singer who appealed to the same mainstream teen fanbase as them).

Meanwhile, Kyo were increasingly busy on the road. In the summer of 2003, they topped the bill on the “Ricard Live Music” tour, sharing that honour with Calogero. Then, in the autumn of that year, Kyo performed an extensive tour in their own right, playing sell-out dates across France, Belgium and Switzerland. Jean-Louis Aubert’s bassplayer Pierre Guimard joined them live on stage for the duration of the tour.

By the beginning of the following year, Kyo’s fame had scaled new heights. After walking off with a trophy for Best French Group at the MTV Music Awards, held in Edinburgh, Scotland, in November 2003, Kyo went on to scoop no less than four NRJ Music Awards in Cannes in January 2004. Even more impressive were their three “Victoires de la musique” awards carried off on 28 February 2004. Given the band’s phenomenal popularity, it was hardly surprising that tickets for their two dates at the Olympia (9 and 10 February 2004) sold out well in advance.

2004: 300 lésions

In the spring of 2004, Kyo took a break from their live shows and award winning and shut themselves away in a house in Brittany to work on a series of new songs. The group rocketed back into the music news in June 2004 with their live DVD "Kyosphère." But the big Kyo story of 2004 was the release of the band’s new album, "300 Lésions", on 28 December. Needless to say, the group’s third album, recorded in the same melodic rock’n’pop vein as their previous work, shot straight to the top of the French charts preceded by the first single release, "Contact."