ELAM JAY

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ELAM JAY
CoverElamJayHeroina.png CoverElamJayHeroina.png Cover of the latest single Heroina
Born	Raouf Youssef (1974-10-31) October 31, 1974 Casablanca, Morocco
🏫 Education	College Calvin, Geneva, Switzerland
💼 Occupation	Singer songwriter record producer director choreographer businessman
📆 Years active	1995–present
👩 Spouse(s)	Mirela Jay (m. 2000)
👶 Children	Ameerah Jay (2005) , Nawrah Jay (2011)

Raouf Youssef (born October 31, 1974) known as Elam Jay, is a Swiss-Moroccan 100% self-taught singer, songwriter, producer, director and businessman. He began his career as a dancer winning the big prize on the Michael Jackson impersonating contest that took place in Paris-Bercy in 1992.

Signed with Flarenash / Island Records, in 1996, he released his first song "Return to freedom" in France, featuring with Dorian. In 1998, the artist signed with Sony Entertainment and released the single "Wanna be free" that he wrote, composed and arranged himself.

In 2004, Elam sang "Maghribia", the official anthem song for Morocco's application to host the FIFA World Cup 2010, singing featuring Mohamed Derham from Jil Jilala band, and Mirela Jay, his wife.

Same year Elam partnered with Coca-Cola being the first Moroccan spokesman in the Middle East North African region and released "Morena", which became an international hit.

In 2005 Elam signed with Alam El Phan for the album Ah Ya lil released in the Middle-East.

In 2006 Elam Jay released "Inchallah", a song like a prayer, inspired by the birth of his first daughter Ameerah.

In 2007 the artist collaborated with Inwi one of the leading telecomunications companies in Morocco and released "Gnawitone" featuring Mohamed Derham , song that encountered a big success.

In 2014 the song "Sunshine" reached number 1 in Hit Radio's top 30, for 6 consecutive weeks.

In 2015 Elam released "Hayganini" featuring Mohamed Rifi, song that became a hit in the Arab world.

Early life

Elam was born Youssef Raouf on October 31, 1974, in Casablanca, Morocco in a mid-class neighborhood called Bournazil. He grew up without his biological father, in a large family, with his grandparents and his mother's brothers and sisters who were also his first audience when singing Sabah Fakhri, Abdel Halim Hafez or Umm Kulthum. His grandfather, a skilled carpenter and cabinetmaker, was a big inspiration for him as a child. Influenced by artists such as James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and the multitalented performers Prince and Michael Jackson, Elam was singing and dancing for friends and family since the age of 4. He studied in a public Arabic school in Casablanca, and early on produced himself during the school's festivities.

He moved with his mom to Geneva in 1988 at the age of 14, where he integrated the city's top rated high school, College Calvin, studying science. He once said, "When I went to Switzerland to study, I believed that I had to be better than the others by studying harder. Especially coming with a different mentality, from another country and a different mother language, which is Arabic. I felt I needed to work harder. I studied in a school where everything was structured in French, English and Italian, so it was very complicated for me at the time. I was just twelve years old."

At 16 years old Elam gave dance classes to kids and teenagers, in a fitness center and aged 17 Elam founded his own Dance school, teaching also Michael Jackson's choreographies.

In 1992, at the age of 18, he won the big prize of Black and white Michael Jackson impersonating contest that took place in Paris-Bercy. From the need to create specific music and sounds for the choreographies during his dancing shows, Elam debuted as a producer. Same year, he dropped out of his scientific studies in Geneva, in order to dedicate himself to his career as a dancer and producer.

Career

Musical career beginnings

Elam began writing and composing, singing, and recording his own music in 1995 in a studio in Geneva. In 1996 the artist signed his first recording contract with Flarenash / Island records and released in France his first single, "Return to freedom", under the stage name ILLAM derived from his sister's name Ilham (inspiration in Arabic) born that same year.

In 1998 Elam Jay signed a recording contract with Sony Entertainment and released Wanna be free, which created a presence for the artist in the European market. After the completion of his contract, willing to extend his music to a more international market, Elam moved to the US, learning about the American entertainment industry. The scene name ILLAM changed then to Elam Jay as he is known today, because it makes for easier reading.

Elam wrote, composed and produced songs for other artists from different countries and cultures, which gave him the reputation of an eclectic and versatile producer, hard to fit in one specific music style.

2004: breakthrough success

Important business opportunities, determined his sudden moving back to Morocco, in 2003. Elam returned to his origins, as a founder of the music label Platinum Music, owner of the Universal Music licensee for the Moroccan territory, with the vision of launching the music industry in the African continent. Pioneer in his field, Elam revolutionized the Moroccan music scene at that moment, launching a new generation of artists seeking modernity.

In 2004 Elam composed and produced "Maghribia", the official anthem song forMorocco's application to host the FIFA World Cup 2010, singing featuring Mohamed Derham from Jil Jilala band, and Mirela Jay, his wife.

In the same time Elam Jay partnered with Coca Cola for their North African territories campaign, becoming the first Moroccan spokesman for the company. The partnership gathered him critical acclaim with the song,"Morena", which became an international hit Middle East North African territory and many communities in Europe and United States. This partnership allowed him to tour with Coca-Cola, performing in concerts around Morocco and Egypt.

The same year Elam has been featured as a jury on the singing contest show Studio 2M and was appointed to produce songs and direct music videos for the winners Hatim Ammor, Mona Roukachi, and Laila Kouli.

2005–2007: popularity rising

In 2005 Elam signed with Alam El Phan for the album Ah Ya lil released in the Middle-East.

In 2007, the artist collaborated with Inwi, a leading telecommunication company in Morocco, who incorporated Elam's "Gnawitone" hit song in their successful launching marketing campaign reaching over 40 million people.

The same year Elam performed, organized and produced The Marrakech Show, a 6 concerts tour in Morocco, which gathered an audience of over 320,000 people.

2014–2016: the first comeback

After a long break of his career, Elam released "Sunshine", an uplifting remake of Bill Withers's Ain't No Sunshine, that reached number 1 in Hit Radio's top 30, for 6 consecutive weeks.

In 2015 Elam Jay released "Hayganini" featuring Mohamed Rifi, winner of the 2013 edition of the X Factor Arabia. The song became a great hit in Egypt and Morocco.

The same year, Elam released "Aoulailah" featuring the regretted Rajae Belmlih, song that has been recorded few months before her passing.

In 2016, Elam released "Angelina" featuring his wife Mirela Jay. The song won't be promoted and Elam decided to pause his career in order to accompany his wife diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer during her treatment.

2022: the second comeback

Elam Jay is preparing his comeback in the music industry, planning to release "Heroina" on July 15. The challenge that the crossover artist took with this song is to mix for the first time Darija with English and Spanish, on rhythms of trap with Spanish flavors. The artist wrote, composed and produced an entire album for his daughter Ameerah Jay, who inherited the singing talent of her both parents, album that is ready to come out as well.

Personal life

Elam met the singer Mirela Jay in 1999, and collaborated with her as a producer on her first album. They became engaged on October 10, 2000 and were married on January 14, 2002. They collaborated on several songs, the most renowned being "Maghrybia, Morena, and Angelina. The couple has two daughters, Ameerah born on September 17, 2005 and Nawrah, on October 14, 2011.

Other businesses

Elam developed other businesses over time, in completely different sectors like Real Estates, concierge luxury services as owner of the international franchise Quintessentially, or events.

While getting ready for his comeback in Morocco, he founded JayVibe Records, in 2018, a US music label based in Atlanta. Consequently, when the number of the international signed artists grew significantly, Elam set up his own offices and recording studios, in Miami, creating a new music catalog, a mixture of influences and styles. Willing to help others talented artists succeed, Elam implemented and developed audio and film infrastructures in Morocco and trained teams of professionals under the project Marrakech Media Village, home for Rise the nation, a major music label in Africa.

Discography

• Return to freedom (1996)
• Wanna be free (1998
• Maghribia (2004
• Morena (2004
• Ah Ya Lil (2005
• Inchallah (2005)
• Gnawitone (2007
• Sunshine (2014)

* Hayganini     (2015)

• Aoulaylla (2016)
• Angelina (2016)
• Heroina (2022)

External links

• Official website

This article "Elam Jay" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Elam Jay. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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