Born in Paris, Dave MARTIAL spent his childhood between France and the West Indies. As a teenager, he moved to Guadeloupe, where he discovered new influences: zouk, gwo ka and Caribbean music in general. His cousin gave him a casiotone, which was to be the open-hearted description of his hidden passion.
. He began his artistic career in 1990 as part of the ZEPISS group with Christian LEON, a former member of Les Aiglons. It was also on this project that he met and worked with Gilles FLORO. At the same time he met Cédric, Grégory and Roland LOUIS.
After secondary school, he tried his luck in Canada, where he successfully passed the entrance exam to UQAM for collective teaching of music.
In 1995, he returned to Paris to continue his studies and at the same time joined the Conservatoire de Musique. In his spare time, he learned the trade of studio backing singer. He refined and affirmed his style in MAO programming at Jack LOMON's KAS studio and worked with a number of artists including Jim RAMA, Patrick ANDRE and Georges PLONQUITTE.
He has worked with Claudine PENNONT, Klod FOSTIN, Frédérick CARACAS, Guy N'SANGUE, Stéphane CASTRY, his friend Basse-terrien, Dominique GENGOUL, Thierry DELANNAY, Philipe SLOMENSKI, Alan HOIST, Freddy HOVSEPIAN, Les sœurs TRIBORE, Christiane OBYDOL (Zouk machine), Thierry DOUMERGUE, Franck CURIER, Alex PATINO, Dominique LORTE... to name but a few.
He released his first solo album, Rêvons, in 1997. It was the year of consecration for him, as he composed the hit "Mansonj" by Ruddy BRADA for Henri DEBS. In 1998, he wrote the song "Espoir" with Christian LEON, performed by Franck SAXEMARD, which stayed in the charts for more than 3 months. He also produced the album Black Sound with the singer Roxanne and Jack LOMON. He returned to Guadeloupe in 1999 to work for Productions DEBS. He played with the best West Indian groups, K'RAVAN and Panik, and established himself as one of the best keyboardists and singers on the island.
He paid tribute to his friend Gilles FLORO at the 40 Drums Against Violence show, performing alongside Tanya St VAL, Pascal VALLOT, KWEBBE (Patrice HULMAN, Medhi CUSTOS...), Katherine TELAMON and Georges DECIMUS, with whom he toured ANGOLA with Jacob DESVARIEUX and the late Jean ZENARRE's group Chiktay.
In October 2000, he released his second album with Henri DEBS, featuring a magnificent duet with Marika FOSTIN in tribute to the late Gilles FLORO. Dave continued to compose hits for a number of artists including Dominique PANOL, N'JIE, Rudy BRADA... He continued to work as a backing singer, while performing on stage. He joined the group MIFLE with Pascal VALLOT, performing at the Odéon theatre in 2001. In 2002, he toured with Tanya St VAL as a backing singer with Patrice HULMAN and released his third album, Noir caraïbe, with Henri DEBS. It was at this point that he met Dominique BEROSE and Nathalie JEANLYS, for whom he formed an unfailing friendship.
In 2003, he joined the group BANBIYO, with whom he sang at the Caribean festival in Dominica and in Saint Lucia. He then set up his own studio and added a touch of fantasy to his inspiration. He met Jerry and Fabian CHARBONNIER from the group Zouk look when they were replacing him as pianist. He became friends with Jerry, with whom he produced the ZLK album "Tou sa nou viv". Thanks to their mutual collaboration, it was only natural that he should join the group's live line-up. For four years, he shared the stage with Enide and Rémy CABBARUS as part of Gwadloup Bébélé.
In 2004 Jerry and Dave produced two albums together, including the Etnik Zouk et Chobôdé project with the support of Jean-Marc DULICE and Arnaud HOTTE. He composed two albums for Dominique PANOL in 2006 and 2007, and went on to produce a series of works in his studio.
In 2010, he produced the singlee Patrice HULMAN's "Baby mwen pépa" and Rosan MONZA's gwo ka album, both of which won SACEM awards. In 2011, he will produce Patrice HULMAN's album "On nonm", as well as the album So n'Do BEROSE, on which he will perform the track Parcours. Dave was nominated for the SACEM Martinique prize in the male vocal performance category.
In 2012, Dave directed the 1er K'KOUSTIK album, and the collaboration continues to this day.
In 2015, he produced the album Gwo ka de 7son@to, which scored a hit with the track Péyi Dèwò. This was followed by a series of Gwo ka albums featuring Nou la, Yves THOLE and his Konvwa Ka, Rosan MONZA, Jean-michel SAMBA, Jéwòm FLÉREAU, Tiko... The Màs spirit is also present with KOZEIKA, Mas ka klé, Voukoum...
Since 2016, Dave MARTIAL has been recording the Académie Guadeloupe's "Le temps des poètes" with all the schools, collèges and lycées in Guadeloupe.
In 2016, Dave also became the artistic director of the ANABELLA association for the respect and emancipation of women.
In 2010, Dave MARTIAL began producing music under the Eben' disc label. The label will produce artists such as So n' Do (Bérose), Patrice HULMAN, Enide CABARRUS, Indy DUFOUR, Jimmy DEVARIEUX, Jean-marc FERDINAND, Dave MARTIAL and the very young STL.
Impossible in such a short summary to talk about all the many encounters that have been
In 2010, Dave decided to return to the forefront of the music scene, and after an 11-year absence from the recording front, he returned with a new opus, "A fleur de mots", featuring songwriters such as Gérard Thadey, Fred Deshayes and Lucile Kancel, to be officially released in 2024. To date, Dave has produced or contributed to more than 130 albums throughout his career.
