[citation needed] At the lycée Saint-Genès, he met Denis Barthe, Serge Teyssot-Gay, and Frédéric Vidalenc, who soon became members of his band.

On 26 July of that year, Cantat and Trintignant got in a fight in a hotel room in Vilnius, Lithuania, following a dispute over a text message.

[12] In March 2004, Cantat was sentenced by Vilnius Regional Court under Article 129 of the Lithuanian Criminal Code to eight years in prison for murder, committed with indirect intent (dolus eventualis).

[18] Accused by Yael Mellul,[19] magistrates in Bordeaux investigated Cantat in connection with Rády's suicide, but ultimately decided not to press charges.

[20] In October 2010, three months after his probational status of release was lifted and his sentence declared completed, Cantat resumed his musical career with a gig in Bordeaux.

[citation needed] In early 2011, Canadian Lebanese playwright Wajdi Mouawad chose Cantat to sing in his production in Montreal of a Sophocles cycle, entitled Chœurs.

[citation needed] In April 2011, the artistic director of Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Lorraine Pintal, announced that Cantat would not be performing in Chœurs.

[23] Wajdi Mouawad responded to the controversy by publishing an open letter to his three-year-old daughter Aimee in the newspaper Le Devoir, in which he argued for Cantat's right to full reintegration into society.

[24] In November 2011, Cantat released the album Chœurs, composed for Mouawad's namesake production with musicians Pascal Humbert, Bernard Falaise, and Alexander MacSween.

[citation needed] In November 2013 Cantat released the album Horizons credited to his duo Détroit with Pascal Humbert on Barclay Records label.