Jean Jules Simlien alias “TOTO NÉCESSITÉ” was born on August 18, 1945. He comes from the north of Haiti, more precisely from Port Margot. Coming from a modest family, he grew up with his grandparents. When he was young he was very fond of music and his passion prompted him to master the guitar quickly. Towards the end of the 60s more precisely in 1966, he made appearances on Radio MBC and he received his first walkabout by ensuring with his friend Rodrigue the first parts of the comic group of Alcibiades in Port au Prince by interpreting songs Troubadour in raising the curtains at the Rex Theater and also at Magic Ciné with the orchestra Les Loups Noirs. His talent for the interpretation, as an imitator, was very quickly recognized and made him famous in the group of Alcibiades by playing the part Odié Benito from which the nickname of Toto will come.
His meeting with Rodrigue MILIEN was no accident, according to Toto, it was fate itself that bound them. In the early 1970s, having left the group of Alcibiades, the two accomplices, Toto and Rodrigue, formed a musical group that bore their names. In 1973, they recorded their first album with the “HIT” of the era “NÉCESSITÉ” from which comes the nickname “TOTO NÉCESSITÉ”. This “Necessity” record, which has now become a great classic of Haitian popular music, paved the way for Rodrigue and Toto’s success for many years to come.
The new notoriety of these two artists allowed them to travel to New York where in March 1974 they recorded the album “Lougarou / La Trinite” at a time when the music scene was dominated by the great Skah Shah No 1. This new album was going conquer the overseas and diaspora music market.
In Malibu, one of the popular clubs of the time, the Combite Creole by Toto and Rodrigue won the day, more than a thousand participants in this great milestone event. It was a huge success but like Rodrigue who decided to return to Haiti, Toto stayed in New York where he hosted several unforgettable dance evenings with his new group. Since then, Toto mania has spread quickly; everywhere his refrains were in the front page of the pavements and salons of the Haitian community abroad and in the country.
In 1977 he released the Atlanta album “An Ba Besmint”. This opus confirmed that Toto could go it alone and continue his musical career without Rodrigue. Toto was so popular that during the same year Mini Records chose him as the lead singer of the first Mini All Stars project where he sang the following hits “Ce Péché”, “Débrouillé” and “I am Laughing” very much aroused at the time in the West Indies. The incredible success of this album encouraged this label to subsequently produce a multitude of Mini All Stars albums where various renowned singers will stand out.
In 1978, Toto Necessité released the album “Thank You Africa” with the mega hit “Coq La Chanté”. He had become so much of a star that in 1979 Toto released two new records with two different labels of the time: “Tripotage” with the hit “L’Hopital” and “Tout Ce Vanité” with the hit “Rose Enfer”.
In the early 1980s, at the height of his popularity, Toto decided to travel to Haiti for a tour that would last for several months as long as the artist was in demand. In 1982, he did it again by releasing two albums again during the same year and with different labels: “Azoumounou” and “Ti Pouchon”. The song “Ti Pouchon” remains one of the artist’s most popular songs to this day.
In 1985 Toto and Rodrigue met at the recording studio preparing the CD “Moun Pa Mele”. Then it was the album “Tout Moun Sou Bloff”. In 1986 it was the release of “Hommage au Superstar” which was a tribute to Ti Manno.
In 1987, it was the album “Revelation” about which, on November 1 of that same year, the Miami Herald newspaper paid tribute to him for his song “If I Were President.”
In the years that followed, Toto continued to enjoy legendary success; more than twenty albums to his credit, tours that have led to Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Nassau Bahamas, Turks & Caicos Island, Aruba, Montreal, St Martin, Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse or he won the trophy of the West Indian Youth Association in 1982; in Los Angeles he received the “Paradise Club and Caribbean” Award in 1990; in Miami the Julie Cup Restaurant at the Studio 183 club in 1992; in New York the Gold Plate Mini records for its title “Coq la chanté”, in Atlanta Underground the Le Castel Haiti Observateur Prize. On June 26, 2001, he represented Haitian music at the “FAU” (Florida Atlantic University). In 2002, it was the album “Message” with the hit single “Agase Matlot” followed in 2004 by “Louange A Dieu”.
Since November 2, 2006, Toto continues his career in a completely different register. He chose another path, that of the church because he sings exclusively to the glory of God. Toto went from “a popular singer who denounces the faults of society with a very strong touch of humor …” to one who praises the Lord and shows the benevolence grace of God in his favor. “My conversion to Christian music was aimed at balancing my life by putting the material and the spiritual in their place according to the Will of God. The word of God advises us to seek his kingdom first and the rest will be given to us in addition, “he said!
In 2010, the converted singer released “Kontra La Te Fini” and in 2011 “Bon Dye’m Nan Bon” in which we find the two daughters of Toto, Gayenne and Beatrice Similien.
On April 24, 2011, at “Compas On Broadway” held at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, Toto in duet with Réginald Cangé gave a memorable performance with a great ovation where they performed the song “Ti Pouchon” title which allowed Réginald Cangé to spawn a path on the Konpa stage with his group Fasil. On April 8, 2012 Rodrigue and Toto shared the stage for the last time together performing their song “Necessity” at Brooklynn College in New York accompanied by a live orchestra and to the applause of a conquered public.
Today, Toto Necéssité presents its new album “Tounen Lakay” produced by Kreyol Music, Inc. to commemorate his fifty years in the service of Haitian music. It contains the following titles: “Taxi Moto” featuring Sabine Francoeur, “Bel Nana” a spicy troubadour, “Tounen Lakay” which describes the nostalgic aspect of the artist, “Menaj Papi” a duet with Princess Georgy, “Souvni Toto” which makes you relive all the great hits of the artist, “Kwa Sou Bouch” a portrait of social reality in Haiti, “Kanpe La” and “Ti Pouchon An Twoubadou”.
Toto Necéssité is indeed a native native singer and a legend of the modern Haitian Troubadour. His name will be remembered for a long time to come as one of the symbolic voices of the Troubadour, the street music carried today in large concert halls. With stripping humor, he has a mania for describing the vices, marginal attitudes and disturbing, sickly mentalities of the Haitian man. He is a sociologist in his own way and who has his method. His inspirations with humor reflect the very reality of everyday life. The artist spends his life making fun of a brawl he had with his first wife in Brooklynn. Injured with a bladed weapon, deceived by his wife, Toto spent three days in a hospital in the USA. Back home, he composed “L’Hopital”, one of his hits. The fickle women, the complaints, the devil, the diaspora are among others the subjects treated by this incantatory voice. Can we not love Toto Necéssité? The originality of his texts constitutes his greatest wealth and his music is a faithful reflection of such diversity. The ability to say and predict makes Toto, a good host, a great “Audyansye”, a true griot of Haitian music.
