Quentin Elias

Biography

Quentin Elias (10 May 1974 – 25 February 2014) was a French singer, actor and model. Of Algerian heritage, he was the original lead singer of the French boy band Alliage with Steven Gunnell, Roman Lata Ares and Brian Torres from 1996 to 2000. After his departure from the group, he relocated to the United States where he developed a solo singing career singing in English and French, releasing a number of albums, EPs and singles through his company Quentin Elias Music and distribution by Electro Boy Inc Records. He also worked as a model, acted in a number of feature films, television series and on stage and was featured in a number of advertisements. He took part in documentaries notably The Adonis Factor appearing on the documentary's promotional cover. He was active in body training, tattooing, in photography and in active blogging of his progress, all the while releasing more materials online. He was briefly involved in solo adult appearances on the Randy Blue gay male site under the pseudonym Q. He made a comeback in France starting in 2011, appearing in a number of tours, made new releases for the French and European markets, including remakes of earlier Alliage hits and had a number of appearances on popular French reality television shows and on talk and entertainment shows talking candidly about his past. On 25 February 2014, Elias died at his home in New York City.

== Early life == Quentin Akacha Elias was born in Mende, Lozère, France (although some sources dispute this and cite Marseille as his place of birth) to Algerian immigrants. He was born to Algerian (father) and Malika Zeggour (mother) and had one sister Nina. After attending some of his sister's dance classes, Elias became interested in performing and was enrolled in classes where he studied tap, ballet and modern jazz. He also participated and competed in kick-boxing. After his father died in a car accident when Quentin was just 18, Elias left home and relocated to Paris, where he worked odd jobs while auditioning for singing and or dancing gigs.

== Career ==

=== Musical career ===

==== Alliage (1996-1999) ====

In 1996, Elias auditioned and was selected as a member of Alliage and became its lead singer. Alliage was composed of Quentin, Steven Gunnell, Roman Lata Ares and Brian Torres and they recorded two albums, Alliage, l'album in 1997 and Musics in 1998. The group had many singles in France including six singles that charted in the Top 5. The band's most famous singles included "Baïla" in 1996, "Lucy", "Le temps qui court" and "Te garder près de moi" (in collaboration with Boyzone) in 1997 and "Je sais" in 1998. Alliage also toured internationally, having additional success in other countries. However, later releases were lacklustre and Quentin left Alliage in 1999 to pursue a separate solo career. The band split up soon after in 2000, ending a four-year run.

==== Solo career (1999-2014) ====

Starting from 1999, after having left Alliage, Elias pursued a solo musical career. He tried collaborating with the French producers, the Nacash brothers. Greatly disappointed, he later on worked with Belgian producer Christian Moeyaert. In 2001, he won the European Diamond Award for "Best Male Promising Act" held on 17 November 2001 in Sportpaleis, Antwerp in Belgium. He later relocated to New York City and began working with music producers such as Ernie Lake and Junior Vasquez. Shortly after the 9-11 attacks Elias was introduced to producer Nile Rodgers by publicist Catherine P. Saxton who invited Elias to perform with several celebrities on a charitable single cover of Sister Sledge's "We Are Family" with Rodgers and Spike Lee. He relocated to New York in 2002 and released the single "Always the Last to Say Goodbye", produced by Christian Moeyaert. He also performed at local gay venues and events such as Splash Bar, and Tom of Finland events. Besides performing some original songs, Elias has recorded some covers, like Madonna's song "Holiday", and "Shattered Dreams" by British pop group Johnny Hates Jazz. Continuing to perform and record, Elias released a maxi single "Serve It Up" in 2005 and a solo album "What If I?" In September 2005, he started his own corporation Quentin Elias Music, Inc.. After a return to French audiences after years of residing the States, he engaged in a comeback tour in 2011 and 2012, that included dates various European francophone venues under the title "Quentin Elias (Re Invented)" promoting his new release and remakes of old hits. A year later he returned with the Justify 2013 Tour.