M. Pokora

Matthieu Tota (born 26 September 1985), commonly known as M. Pokora or Matt Pokora, is a French singer and songwriter.

Early life

Matthieu Tota is the son of professional footballer André Tota and Brigitte Tota. His parents divorced in 1998 when he was 13 years old. As a child, he studied in an elementary school in Hohberg, and later at Collège Paul-Émile Victor in Mundolsheim, and Lycée Aristide Briand in Schiltigheim near Strasbourg. When he was younger, football was his first ambition and he wanted to become a professional player. However, he later opted for music.

Matthieu Tota explained the origin of his stage name Matt Pokora in an interview during the documentary Mise à jour broadcast on 26 August 2010 on NRJ 12 TV channel. He said he was searching for an artistic name and happened to be talking to his grandmother of Polish origin and the importance of humility came up. He asked her "how do we say 'humility' in Polish language," and she said "pokora". Tota immediately decided to adopt the word as his stage name, and shortened his first name to Matt.

M. Pokora (album)

M. Pokora originally titled Matt Pokora is the debut album of French R&B singer M. Pokora, released November 2, 2004.

M. Pokora was forced to change the title to M. Pokora after a lawsuit from French Guadeloupan artist Matt Houston, who alleged using the name Matt by Matt Pokora would create confusion and was infringement on his own rights to the name.

Track listing

References