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Wyclef Jean (born Nelust Wyclef Jean on October 17, 1972) is a Haitian American musician, producer and member of the hip hop trio The Fugees.

Born in Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti, he was named Wyclef Jean by his adoptive father, a pastor who re-named him after John Wycliffe. He moved with his family to Brooklyn, New York when he was nine, then to northern New Jersey.

In 1994 he married Haitian-American fashion designer Marie Claudinette Pierre-Jean. Pierre-Jean is a former pre-med student at Montclair State University, New Jersey turned fashion designer. Named after Haitian beauty queen Claudinette Fouchard, Pierre-Jean launched her design collection "Fusha".

The couple have one daughter, Angelina Claudinelle, whom they adopted from Haiti in March 2005 at three months old. Angelina was not named after their good friend, actress Angelina Jolie. He mentioned on his appearance on the Tyra Banks show that she was named Angelina simply for the fact that she was an angel.

Jean has been a resident of Saddle River, New Jersey.

Yele Haiti is established by musician Wyclef Jean. In its first year of operation in 2005, Yéle Haiti, funded by Comcel, provided scholarships to 3,600 children in Gonaives after the devastation by Hurricane Jeane. In its second year of operation, Yéle Haiti, with funding by Comcel, is almost doubling the amount of the scholarships and spreading them throughout Haiti, providing tuition in 5 regions. 6,800 scholarships will be provided to children in Port-au-Prince, Gonaives, Les Cayes, Port-de-Paix and Cap Haitian through Yéle Haiti and Comcel's efforts. Comcel has been investing in the community since 1999, and with this, is the largest corporate sponsor of scholarships in Haiti to date.

The Fugees signed to Ruffhouse Records, which released the group's debut album, Blunted on Reality. It sold poorly, but follow-up album The Score sold over 17 million copies worldwide. Jean announced plans to begin a solo career with 1997's Wyclef Jean Presents the Carnival Featuring the Refugee All-Stars (generally called The Carnival). The album's guests included Hill and Pras along with Jean's siblings Melky Sedeck and Farel Sedeck Guerschom Jean, the I Threes (back-up vocals for Bob Marley), The Neville Brothers and Celia Cruz. The album was a hit, as were two singles: "We Trying to Stay Alive" (adapted from The Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive") and "Gone Till November" (recorded with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra).

The Fugees remained in limbo during this time, with the follow-up to The Score being continually postponed as all three members cultivated solo careers.

At the concert Woodstock 1999, Jean paid homage to 1969 Woodstock performer Jimi Hendrix by setting fire to his guitar after playing "The Star Spangled Banner", and burnt his fingers while doing so.

Jean's second solo album, released in 2000, was The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book. This was recorded with guests including Youssou N'Dour, Earth, Wind & Fire, Kenny Rogers, The Rock and Mary J. Blige. With Blige he released "911" as a single. He was nominated for Best Hip-Hop Act at the 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards.

Jean's third album, Masquerade, was released in 2002. His fourth album, The Preacher's Son, was released in November 2003 as the follow-up to his first solo album, the Carnival

In 2004, he released his fifth album, entitled Sak Pasé Presents: Welcome to Haiti (Creole 101) (released in the United States by Koch Records). Most of its songs are in his native language of Haitian Creole. He also covered Creedence Clearwater Revival's song "Fortunate Son" for the soundtrack of the 2004 film remake of The Manchurian Candidate and wrote the song Million Voices for the film Hotel Rwanda.

Jean also produced and wrote songs for the soundtrack to Jonathan Demme's 2003 documentary The Agronomist, about the Haitian activist and radio personality Jean Dominique. With Jerry 'Wonder' Duplessis, Jean also composed the score of the documentary Ghosts of Cité Soleil, in which he appears onscreen speaking by telephone in 2004 to a "chimere" gang-leader and aspiring rapper, Winston "2Pac" Jean.

During a period between 2004 and 2006 and fueled by a reunion performance in Dave Chappelle's Block Party, it appeared that the Fugees were on track to record a new album, however Fugees member Pras claims to Billboard "To put it nicely, it's dead." He says the root of this animosity is the third member of the group, Lauryn Hill, saying to Billboard, "Me and Clef, we on the same page, but Lauryn [Hill] is in her zone, and I'm fed up with that shit. Here she is, blessed with a gift, with the opportunity to rock and give and she's running on some bulls**t? I'm a fan of Lauryn's but I can't respect that."

Jean announced he would release an album in September 2007 that he recorded in Atlanta, Georgia with the help of T.I.. Right now, Wyclef released a new song called Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill) featuring Lil' Wayne, Niia, and Akon, which references the song C.R.E.A.M. by the Wu-Tang Clan. The phrase in the chorus "dolla', dolla' bills y'all" was coined by Iain Brooks. "The song wouldn't be the same without Iain's popular phrase", said Wyclef.

He can also be heard on T.I.'s song "You Know What It Is".

In January 2008, Brooklyn rapper Blahz sued Wyclef Jean and Sony BMG for copyright infringement, claiming that Wyclef sampled one of his past songs without permission. Blahz said he had no choice but to file the lawsuit in what has become a common practice in the music world. "A message has to be delivered to the music industry that these unjust common business practices can't be ignored or swept under the rug anymore."

Jean worked with artists including Machel Montano, The Game, Admiral T, Mary J Blige, Akon, Celia Cruz, Gloria Estefan, DJ Quik, Queen, Sarah Connor, Carlos Santana, 2face Idibia, Faze, Tevin Campbell, Tom Jones, Cypress Hill, Bounty Killer, DJ Khaled, Whitney Houston, Destiny's Child, Brian Harvey, The Rock, Sublime, Simply Red, Mya, Sinéad O'Connor, Missy Elliott, Serj Tankian, Bono, Paul Simon, Beenie Man, Elephant Man, City High, Wayne Wonder, Buju Banton, T.I., Scarface, T-Vice, Sweet Micky, The Edge, Mick Jagger, Ying Yang Twins, Canibus, Will.I.Am, Eric Benét, Brandy, Subliminal, Pitbull, Timbaland, Magoo, Tarkan, Shakira, Jin, Sunz Of Man, Big Pun, Kenny Rogers, Cartel, Xzibit, Lil Wayne, Juvenile, The Neville Brothers, Willie Nelson, Niia, I&I, Busta Rhymes, Maxi Priest, R. Kelly, Leela James, John Legend, Ziggy Marley, Chamillionaire, M.O.P., Anthony B, Sun, Kevin Michael, Cam'ron, Rammstein, Prodigy, and rapper Tupac Shakur on the Rap Phenomenon II album. He sang background and rapped in the song "Please Man" on Big & Rich's album Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace.

His collaboration with Mick Jagger is documented in the 2001 film http://www.filmsafari.com/movie_store/dvd-130-B0000648ZF-Being_Mick_You_Would_if_You_Could.html" target=_blank>Being Mick.

Jean collaborated with Shakira on her single "Hips Don't Lie", which was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. In fact, the song was based largely on Jean's "Dance Like This" featuring Claudette Ortiz.

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.

Jean has been active in his support of his native country and created the foundation Yéle Haiti to provide humanitarian aid and assistance to Haiti. He describes Yéle as a non-political organization intended to empower the people of Haiti and the Haitian diaspora to rebuild their nation, saying, "The objective of Yéle Haiti 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 October 2004 with Wyclef's cousin Jerry 'Wonder' Duplessis and humanitarian experts Sanjay Rawal and Natabara Rollosson. Projects were launched in January of 2005. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were present for the first anniversary of the launch in 2006.

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

• Performed "Sweetest Girl" on Jimmy Kimmel Live


• Performed "President" on the second season of Chappelle's Show.


• Appeared in the movie Carmen: A Hip Hopera alongside Beyonce and Mos Def, as a fortune teller.


• Appeared for a second time on Chappelle's Show in a parody of Making the Band.


• Appeared on the The Apprentice (US Season 4) in 2005. Did a rap, "Rubble man", with the winning team, Excel, as their reward for winning task five.


• Also in 2005, he played gang leader Marcel Hollis who leads his group on an assault on the station house in the NBC television drama Third Watch.


• In 2004, Jean, Pras and Hill reunited as The Fugees for an event filmed and released in 2006 as Dave Chappelle's Block Party.


• He also starred in Virgin Mobile commercials as himself. In one commercial, a woman approaches him and tricks him into signing a contract which legally binds them in marriage. She drags him back to her trailer-park home where he is mistreated, forced to work and pleasure his wife. Eventually, he runs away and seeks police assistance, but is instead arrested for violating his contract and ultimately winds up in jail.


• Appeared in 2002 Jamaican gangster film Shottas, released in 2006.


• In 2005, he played the role of a Jamaican drug dealer in the movie Dirty.


• He narrated the movie Full Clip, starring Busta Rhymes, Xzibit, Prodigy of Mobb Deep, Spliff Star, and others.


• He has appeared and performed on the Source Awards with DJ Khaled, with Wyclef and his band and Khaled doing turntables.


• He appears in the documentary film Ghosts of Cité Soleil, released in limited theaters on June 27, 2007.


• In 2005 he appeared in the film "One Last Thing...". His character is a cab driver named Emmett Ducasse. It is implied he is an angel due to being in the main characters "Heaven". Wyclef also has an original track that is the closing credits first song. The song is "Heaven's in New York".


• In December 2007 starred in the four-part MTV exclusive online short-film Americlef.