Michel Martelly construction and briefly attended a community college in Miami. In 1986, after one semester, he returned to Haiti just as Jean-Claude Duvalier, then president-for-life, was heading into exile. In 1987, Martelly returned to Miami with his then-girlfriend, Sophia Saint-Rémy, whom he later married in a small ceremony in Miami, Florida. They returned to Haiti in 1988. Upon his return to Haiti, Martelly had his first breakthrough in the music industry when he began playing keyboard as a fill-in musician in local venues in Pétion-Ville and Kenscoff, upscale suburbs of Port-au-Prince. Martelly "sang playful, romantic numbers over a slow méringue beat
Michel Martelly Haitian history that an incumbent president's peacefully transferred power to a member of the opposition. Following the day after the damaged-quake in last year, the incumbent Haitian Prime Minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, resigned to allow Martelly to choose his own Prime Minister. Martelly was quick to pledge reforms for the post-earthquake reconstruction process. In August 2011, Martelly announced a plan to reinstate the nation's military. This plan was met with controversy as many human rights activists were concerned about bringing back a military which had been responsible for many atrocities in the past. In September 2011, Martelly formed an advisory board