Olivia Blanc (born 1 January 1980), known as Olivia Ruiz, is a French pop singer of partial Spanish descent belonging to the nouvelle chanson genre. She gained fame after reaching the semi-finals of the French Star Academy series in 2001. Biography Ruiz was born 1 January 1980 in Carcassonne (France), daughter of musician Didier Blanc, though later taking her grandmother's maiden name, Ruiz. Her family on her mother's side is Spanish and fled Nationalist Spain to go to Marseillette, in the village's concert hall (subject of her second album). She has a brother, Anthony, born in 1985. He is a rap composer known by the nickname Toan. She studied in Carcassonne but went to college in Montpellier, where she studied performing arts, before changing to a BTS in communication. At the age of 15, Ruiz started getting involved in music. She left her parents' house to live with her aunt in Narbonne, where she took theater and dance classes with her friends from Comigne, the band Rock Five. Together, they did some opening acts in order to make some money by singing the Cranberries’ or Lenny Kravitz's songs. She also took dance classes at the Pelizzon School in Carcassonne and Trèbes. She entered the Médiévales de Carcassonne, a group of small artists, for their summer show. She started performing in different bars, along with Frank Marty (from the bands THC, Les Croquants and La Varda) a multi-instrumentalist from Narbonne. They mainly performed songs from old artists like Fréhel, Yves Montand and Gilbert Bécaud, but also songs from the new generation and Spanish standards. In 2001, she was a prominent contestant in the first French edition of Star Academy, a popular TV reality show and musical contest. She was defeated in the semi-final by eventual winner Jenifer Bartoli but according to an interview on Europe 1 she claimed that she never wanted to win and, following a post-series tour, worked to distance herself from the Star Ac image. For her second studio album La Femme Chocolat, Olivia Ruiz was recognised by the Victoires de la Musique as the Female Artist of the Year in 2007. For the live performances accompanying the record, she also received the prize in the category of Musical Show, Tour or Concert of the Year. The album topped the French chart and was certified as a diamond record for selling more than 750,000 copies in France and