Gaston Ghrenassia (born 11 December 1938), known by his stage name Enrico Macias, is a French singer, songwriter and musician.

His father, Sylvain Ghrenassia (1914–2004),[1] was a violinist in an orchestra that played primarily malouf, Andalusian classical music.

The assassination in 1961 of his father-in-law and musician Cheikh Raymond Leyris by the National Liberation Front (FLN) was of immense effect on Gaston Ghrenassia, and appears to have been due to his opposition to the independence of Algeria from France and pro-Israel stance.

[3] Gaston left Algeria with his wife, Suzy, on 29 July 1961, eleven months before the end of the Algerian War of Independence, and went into exile in mainland France.

He adopted the stage name Enrico Macias and made his first recording in 1962 after a meeting with Raymond Bernard of Pathé.

In 1965, he was awarded the Prix Vincent Scotto, and the following year he sang before 120,000 people at the Dinamo Stadium in Moscow, performing concerts in more than 40 other Soviet cities.

In 1971, he returned to the Paris Olympia, then went to the Royal Albert Hall in London, and back to Japan, Canada, Italy and Spain.

After Sadat's assassination, he wrote a song dedicated to the late president entitled "Un berger vient de tomber".

He has sung in many languages including French, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew, Turkish, Greek, English, Armenian, Arabic and many of its dialects, and recently in Yiddish.

After the cancellation of a proposed tour in Algeria in 2000, he wrote a book Mon Algérie (Editions Plon in October 2001) marketed as a "veritable love story between one man and his homeland".