After his presidency, Martelly returned to his former band and sang a carnival méringue entitled "Bal Bannann nan" (Give Her the Banana), as a mocking response to Liliane Pierre Paul, a famous Haitian female journalist in Port-au-Prince.

In 1995, after Aristide had been restored to office, Martelly's name appeared on a hit list of coup supporters, and he stayed away from Haiti for almost a year.

During this time, he released a song, "Prezidan" (on the album Pa Manyen), "an exuberant ditty that called for a president who played compas".

Martelly had come in third in the first round of the election, until the Organization of American States forced Jude Célestin to withdraw due to alleged fraud.

[6] On 20 August 2024, the United States sanctioned the former president for trafficking drugs, including cocaine, destined for the US, and for sponsoring multiple Haiti-based gangs.

[7] For the political scientist Frédéric Thomas, the accession to power of Michel Martelly in 2011 marked the beginning of a "form of legal banditry" and constitutes a key step in the process of decay of the Haitian state.

[9][10][2][11] On his mother's side, his grandfather Auguste de Pradines was a troubadour[12] who wrote comic protest songs against the 1915–34 United States occupation of Haiti.

[5] Upon his return to Haiti, Martelly had his first breakthrough in the music industry when he began playing keyboard as a fill-in musician in local venues in Pétion-Ville and Kenscoff, upscale suburbs of Port-au-Prince.

[5][15] Martelly "sang playful, romantic numbers over a slow méringue beat called compas, the only music allowed under the Duvaliers.

Martelly, a keyboardist and the self-proclaimed "President of Compas," popularized a nouvelle génération, or "new generation" style, of smaller bands with few members that relied predominantly on synthesizers and electronic instruments to reproduce a fuller sound.

Although he is the most recognized musician and public personality in Haiti, Martelly's performance style has sometimes ignited controversy throughout Haitian communities.

According to Sabine Lamour, the protection of politicians accused of rape and abuse Martelly's presidential administration was a mirror of the culture of toxic masculinity and misogyny in street gangs, whose members embodied the "Legal Bandit" he celebrated in his 2008 album Bandi Légal.

[16] By 1988, Martelly's musical talent, stage craft, and his pattering style of compas had gained tremendous popularity at El Rancho Hotel and Casino and The Florville, another local venues.

During the period of about 1988–2008 Martelly, using his stage name Sweet Micky, recorded fourteen studio albums and a number of live CDs.

In 1992, Martelly played for free at a protest against the arrival of a UN representative charged with negotiating the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide after the 1991 Haitian coup d'état.

[19] On 4 April 2011, a senior official announced that Martelly had won the presidential run-off election against candidate Mirlande Manigat with more than 60% of the vote.

[23] In September 2011, Martelly formed an advisory board that included business executives, bankers, and politicians such as former U.S. President Bill Clinton, which he hoped would improve the economy.

Between March and April 2012, Martelly was accused of corruption, with allegations that during and after the 2010 earthquake and presidential election, he had accepted $2.6 million in bribes to ensure that a Dominican Republic construction company would continue to receive contracts under his presidency.

[25] Companies owned or controlled by Félix Bautista had received no-bid contracts worth $200 million, awarded by former Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.

They were again postponed on 26 October 2014—the day they were due to be held—because of an ongoing stalemate between the government and a group of opposition senators over an electoral law.

On 13 January 2015, the parliament was dissolved after its term expired and four days later, thousands of protesters in Port-au-Prince again demanded the president's resignation.

Martelly urged protesters to respect public order and said he had reached a deal with the opposition to form a consensus government within the next 48 hours.

In the capital, groups of young men ripped up paper ballots as heavily armed police shot into the air to re-establish order.

Local media reported the closure of numerous polling places in other parts of the country and scattered arrests of people accused of voting more than once.

[33] According to preliminary results posted by the Provisional Electoral Council, Jovenel Moïse obtained 32.81% of the preferences, and Jude Célestin won 25.27%.

[37][38] Amid allegations of fraud in the 2015 elections, Privert created a month-long verification commission to restore legitimacy to the electoral process.

[44] On 17 November 2022, the Government of Canada imposed joint sanctions against Martelly and former Prime Ministers Laurent Lamothe and Jean Henry Ceant.

[45][46][47] A "tormented" Martelly was seen returning to Haiti from Miami 24 hours before the sanctions were publicly announced, traveling with nine pieces of luggage.

[48] A press release by the office of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Martelly is "suspected of protecting and enabling the illegal activities of armed criminal gangs.