Jean-Marc Natel studied art at the Beaux Arts in Toulon before he turned to poetry and had two volumes of his poems published. In 1968 he moved to Paris, where he met Alain Boublil who introduced him to songwriting with the daunting task of co-writing the lyrics for Les Misérables. He wrote songs for a variety of artists and some of his poetry was set to music by Franck Pourcel.