Wyclef Jean was born on October 17, 1969, in Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti. Wyclef Jean’s band, the Fugees, released their debut album, Blunted on Reality, in 1993. It was the group’s second album, The Score (1996), however, that catapulted the Fugees to stardom. The Score sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. After making several albums, in August 2010, Jean made headlines when he announced that he would be running the presidency of Haiti. Soon after his announcement, however, he was declared ineligible.

Maxwell — Gerald Maxwell Rivera, known as Maxwell is a Grammy award-winning American singer-songwriter, record producer and multi-instrumentalist. His music spans R&B, funk and soul, but he is best known as one of the exemplars of the subgenre neo-soul movement of the latter 1990s. while the neo-soul crooner was raised in Brooklyn, his mother was from Haiti. Maxwell was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of a Haitian mother and a Puerto Rican father. His mother grew up in a devout Baptist household in Haiti.Maxwell’s father died in a plane crash when Maxwell was three years old.

Regine Chassagne — The singer for indie-rock group Arcade Fire recently wrote a piece for The Observer about her ancestral ties to the island and how she is desperately trying to find out about friends and family. Régine Chassagne was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and grew up in St-Lambert, a suburb south of Montreal. Her parents, who were of Haitian origin, emigrated from Haiti during the dictatorship of François Duvalier, which is alluded to in the Arcade Fire song “Haiti”, in which she sings, Mes cousins jamais nés hantent les nuits de Duvalier (“My unborn cousins haunt Duvalier’s nights”). The line is in reference to the relatives who were killed during the Jérémie Vespers massacre. Chassagne attended the prestigious Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf before earning a B.A. in communication studies at Concordia University in 1998.

Jason Derulo was born to Haitian parents on September 21, 1989 in Miami. He started making performances since the age of five and wrote his first song, “Crush On You”, when he was eight. He recalled on from where he learned music, “I grew up as a huge Michael Jackson fan, studying his videos, copying all his moves. I’d practice singing Usher and Justin Timberlake songs while doing their moves.” He then moved to New York and studied American Musical and Dramatic Academy. At the age of twelve, he met his future manager Frank Harris who then helped him improve his basketball skill. Four years later, he began writing songs for big stars such as P. Diddy, Danity Kane, Donnie Klang, Sean Kingston, Cassie and Lil’ Mama.

Jean Michael-Basquiat – By combining elements of graffiti and African and Caribbean culture in his paintings, Basquiat brought street culture to high society in the ’80s. His father was Haitian and his mother was Puerto Rican. Although Basquiat died in 1988 of an overdose, Andy Warhol helped make the artist’s tortured work internationally famous. Celeb fans include Metallica’s Lars Ulrich and Russell Simmons.

Jonathan Polynice Vilma (born April 16, 1982) is an American football linebacker who is a free agent. He played college football at the University of Miami, and was drafted by the New York Jets in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft. Vilma has also played for the New Orleans Saints. He still has aunts and uncles who live in Haiti.

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