Biography

Early Life

Born in Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti as Andrew Taylor, he was renamed Wyclef Jean by his adoptive father. His father was a pastor and re-named him after John Wycliffe^[1]. He moved with his family to Brooklyn, New York when he was nine, then to northern New Jersey, where he began playing the guitar and studying jazz in high school. At 14, Jean was shot^[2].

As a young adult, Jean worked as a cabdriver. In 1987, Jean, his friend Prakazrel Michel (whom Jean has called his cousin), and his classmate Lauryn Hill formed a hip hop group called the Tranzlator Crew before becoming The Fugees.

Marriage and Children

In 1994 he married Haitian-American fashion designer Marie Claudinette Perrre Jean. Marie is a former pre-med student at Montclair State University, New Jersey turned fashion designer. Marie, named after Haitian Beauty Queen "Claudinette Fushard ", launched her designs collection "Fusha".

They have daughter Angelina Claudinelle and another daughter that they adopted in March 2005.

Awards/Nominations

Jean was nominated for Best Hip-Hop Act at the 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards. In 2005, he earned a Golden Globe nomination for his track entitled "Million Voices" featured on the soundtrack to the film Hotel Rwanda.

Humanitarian Efforts

Jean has been active in his support of his native country and created the foundation Yéle Haïti to provide humanitarian aid and assistance to Haïti. He describes Yéle is a non-political organization intended to empower the people of Haïti and the Haïtian diaspora to rebuild their nation, saying, "The objective of Yéle Haïti is to restore pride and a reason to hope, and for the whole country to regain the deep spirit and strength that is part of our heritage".. Yele Haiti was created in January 13th 2005. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were present for the first anniversary in 2006.

In January 2007, Jean became a roving ambassador for Haiti, to help improve its image abroad.