Enrico Macias (; born Gaston Ghrenassia December 11, 1938) is an Algerian-born French Jewish singer. He was born in Constantine, Algeria and played the guitar since childhood. His father was a violinist in an orchestra that played primarily maalouf, Andalo-Arabic music. Gaston started playing with the orchestra at 15, and soon replaced the bandleader, Cheick Raymond. He pursued a career as a school teacher, but continued practicing the guitar. In 1961, Cheick Raymond was killed. That same year, the Algerian War of Independence was raging, and the situation became untenable for the Jewish residents of Constantine. Gaston (Macias) went into "exile" in France with his wife, Suzy, the daughter of Cheick Raymond. Arriving in Paris, he decided to pursue a career in music. At first, he tried translating the maalouf numbers that he already knew into French. This was not very successful, and he developed a new