Musician. A native of La Tronche, France, Lemarchal was diagnosed with the genetic disease cystic fibrosis at a young age. Despite the disease, Lemarchal pursued a musical career, and soon became a rising star of both pop and rock music. In 1995, he was named France's Champion of Acrobatic Rock, and he participated in the local music talent show, "Graines de stars", in 1998. At the urging of a friend in June of 2004, Lemarchal decided to sign up for the fourth season of the popular singing reality television program, "Star Academy." The program featured on the TF1 television network was France's American Idol. The producers liked Lemarchal and he was chosen as their last male singer. On December 22, 2004, he was named the winner with a total of 80 percent of the vote, beating out some sixteen other competitors. He released his debut single, "Ecris l'histoire", a year later, and the song quickly rose to number two on the French singles chart by March 2005. His debut album, "Je deviens moi", released a month later on April 18, 2005, also had success. It entered at number one, and sold more then a million copies. In January 2006, Lemarchal was named "Breakthrough Artist of The Year by the NRJ Music Awards. During the rest of 2006, he embarked on his first solo nationwide tour, he released his second album, "Olympia 06", and recorded his next single, "What You're Made Of." The single, a duet with British singer Lucie Silvas landed at number two on the singles charts. In early 2007, Lemarchal's health began to deteriorate. He announced to his fans that instead of beginning work on his third album, that he would be taking a few months off to recuperate at the urging of his doctors. On April 30, 2007, while waiting for a much needed organ transplant, Lemarchal passed away from complications of the cystic fibrosis. He was just 23 years old. In the days that followed after Lemarchal's death over five thousand fans came to pay their last respects and to lay flowers. On May 4, 2007, a special broadcast commemorating his life was made in his memory on the TF1 network. The network also asked the viewers to make donations to go towards finding a cure for cystic fibrosis. To date more than 7.5 million euros has been raised for this.