Moriarty (band)  Moriarty is a French-American musical group formed in 1995. It is a musical collective of five artists of French, American, Swiss and Vietnamese origin, who were mostly born in France to American parents. The group was named Moriarty in reference to Dean Moriarty, the hero of "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. Initially, the group consisted of six members. Singer Charlène Dupuy, drummer Médéric de Vanssay and saxophonist Davide Woods left in its early years, while Rosemary Standley joined in 1999. The departures of the drummer and percussionists forced the five remaining members to play acoustically. This radical change opened up new musical territories for the band, giving them greater freedom in sound experimentation, and allowing them straightforward, stripped-down performances in places such as a prison in Normandy, a mental institution in central France, a ruined castle in Tuscany, and the streets of Paris and Dublin. The group won the Paris Young Talents Prize in 2005. In 2007, Moriarty released their first album, "Gee Whiz But This Is a Lonesome Town", recorded in eight days by American producer Bob Coke in the attic of a farmhouse in Brittany, near Merlin's tomb. Driven by the opening song "Jimmy", the album was very successful in France, and was released in the UK, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Australia. The group then began a long French tour which started in April 2008, followed by concerts in Switzerland, Canada, Spain, Germany and England. In 2008, Moriarty played for a second time at the Solidays music festival where they had already played three years before thanks to the City of Paris emerging talents prize. That same year, they also gave concerts at the Eurockéennes music festival in Belfort, Francofolies de La Rochelle, Montreux Jazz Festival, Festival Internacional de Benicassim and the Festival of the Humanities. They also performed in October 2008 at the Olympia theatre in Paris, to a sold-out audience. In March 2008, Moriarty recorded a cover of Depeche Mode's Enjoy the Silence for a compilation. Moriarty had previously recorded a cover of this song and performed it while on tour. Moriarty's urgent performance of the song, simple and stripped down, was played shortly after its release on French independent Radio Nova. In 2008, Moriarty was one of the 10 artists nominated for the Prix Constantin, and shortly after the band was also nominated for best emerging live act at the Victoires de la Musique French awards.