Michel Martelly

In 1987, Martelly married his then-girlfriend, Sophia Saint-Remy, in Miami, Florida. The couple has four children: Olivier, Sandro, Yani, and Malaika.

Michel Martelly was born on 12 February 1961 born in Port-au-Prince, to a middle-class family. His father was an executive for the Shell Oil company and his maternal grandfather was a comic troubadour who wrote political protest songs as well as apolitical music.

Martelly graduated from the Saint Louis de Gonzague high school and then enrolled at the Haitian Military Academy, though he was promptly expelled.

In 1984, Martelly moved to Miami, Florida, where he attended college and worked in construction.

In 1986, having completed just one semester of university, he returned to Haiti for one year, around the time of President Jean-Claude Duvalier’s exile.

After one more stint in Miami, Martelly again returned to Haiti in 1988. Around this time, he began playing keyboard in Port-au-Prince.

In 1988, Martelly recorded his first single, ‘Ooo La La’, which became a nationwide hit.

In 1991, following the Haitian coup d’etat, Martelly continued playing in Port-au-Prince suburbs such as Petonville and Kenscoff, gaining many supporters for his music among the coup’s proponents.

In March 2012, Martelly was awarded the Grand Cross with Gold Breast Star of the Dominican Republic’s Order of Merit of Duarte, Sanchez and Mella.