Born in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, Clerc grew up listening to classical music in his father Paul Leclerc's home, while his mother Évelyne Merlot introduced him to the music of such singers as Georges Brassens and Edith Piaf. He began to learn the piano at six, and by 13, started to play by ear everything he heard on the radio.[2]
During his secondary school and university days, he met Maurice Vallet and Etienne Roda-Gil, two of his main songwriters, and began to compose his first songs.[2] He changed his name to Julien Clerc upon signing a contract with Pathé Marconi, releasing his first album in May 1968.
The album went on to win the Académie Charles Cros Record Award. In 1969, Clerc went on the Olympia stage for the first time to open for Gilbert Becaud's concert. Despite having been in show business for only one year, his performance was a great success.[3] He would later return repeatedly to the Olympia for a series of concerts.
From May 1969 to February 1970, he starred in the highly successful Paris run of the musical Hair, which increased his profile.
By the age of 24, Clerc was a major star and had recorded numerous hits, many of which were sold abroad, translated and distributed in other languages.[3]
Julien Clerc in Amsterdam, 1976
In 1979, he took part in two new collaborative ventures, singing the title song of the children's musical, "Emilie Jolie" and participating in "36 Front Populaire", a double album musical about a turbulent historical period. Over the years, Clerc's repertoire has ranged from his own compositions to classic French songs like "Comme Hier" by Brassens and "L'hymne à l'amour" by Edith Piaf. He has performed in Africa, the Americas and Europe.[3]
In January 1999, Clerc went on stage at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and delivered an unplugged acoustic set that was a long way from the rock/pop-based shows that he had been giving his audience for some years.[3] In 2000, he appeared, along with many other artists, in a number of benefit concerts for Restaurants du Coeur, a winter food bank charity.
In 2003, Clerc recorded a new album of classic American "standards", in French. On another front, Clerc was named UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador[4] at a ceremony in Paris in November 2003 after working for nearly two years with the agency on various benevolent projects for refugees. In March 2004, he undertook his first field mission to meet with refugees and aid workers in Chad. His mission was documented by Envoyé spécial and was broadcast on a national French TV channel in April 2004.
Family
Clerc has five children: daughters Angèle (adopted) and Jeanne Herry with French actress Miou-Miou; daughter Vanille and son Barnabé with then-wife Virginie Coupérie;[5] and son Léonard with Hélène Grémillon, whom he married in 2012.[6]
Gaston Ghrenassia , known by his stage name Enrico Macias, is a French singer, songwriter and musician of Algerian Jewish descent.
Gilbert Montagné is a French singer, musician, pianist and organist from the Ménilmontant neighbourhood of Paris and Bourbonnais historical region of central France. Blind since shortly after birth, he is best remembered for his international hit "The Fool" which was a number 1 single across Europe and South America in 1971, as well as his songs "On va s'aimer" (1983) and "Les Sunlights des tropiques" (1984). In France, he is still a popular albums and concert artist, having toured and sung with the likes of Johnny Hallyday and Kool & the Gang.
Hélène Ségara, is a French singer of Armenian and Italian descent, who came to prominence playing the role of Esmeralda in the French musical Notre Dame de Paris. She has sold over 10 million records.
Bruno Coquatrix was a French record producer, the owner and manager of Olympia in Paris from 1954 until his death in 1979.
La Caravane des Enfoirés is an album performed by Les Enfoirés, released in 2007. It was recorded during the show at Le Zénith in Nantes, on 27 January 2007.
Frédéric François, is a French-speaking singer-composer living in Belgium.
Charles Gaston Dumont was a French singer and composer. Dumont is best remembered for writing or co-writing more than 30 of the most well-known songs recorded by singer Édith Piaf, including "Non, je ne regrette rien".
Erick Benzi is a French musician, songwriter, composer, and record producer from Marseille.
Yves Mirande (Bagneux was a French screenwriter, director, actor, and producer.
Julien Boisselier is a French actor.
Annie Villeneuve is a French-Canadian pop singer-songwriter. She participated at the first season of Star Académie in 2003. She also sang the French and the bilingual official song of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, I Believe/J'imagine.
Henri Betti, born Ange Betti, was a French composer and a pianist.
Salut les copains is a series of albums released through Universal Music France to commemorate the best of music featured in French scene as sponsored by the "Salut les copains" radio program in France and the French Salut les copains magazine. The tracks include French original singles, French-language covers of known hits as well as European and American hits popular in France. The track list is a representative wide selection of the "Yé-yé" generation of French music.
Daniel Bevilacqua, better known by the stage name Christophe, was a French singer and songwriter. He was born in the Paris suburb of Juvisy-sur-Orge, to an Italian father.
Marcel Amont was a French singer of the 1960s and 1970s. Amont also recorded in Occitan and promoted Bearn culture from the 1950s.
Yann Benoist is a French session guitarist, performer, singer, composer, conductor, and arranger.
"Fais-moi une place" is a 1989 pop song recorded by French singer Julien Clerc. Written by Françoise Hardy with a music composed by Clerc, it was the first single from his 15th studio album Fais-moi une place, on which it appears as the seventh track, and was released in January 1990. It achieved success in France where it was a top ten hit and won the category "Song of the year" at the 1991 Victoires de la Musique.
"Ce n'est rien" is a song by French singer-songwriter Julien Clerc. It was released as the first single from his 1971 album Niagara.
"Mélissa" is a song by French singer-songwriter Julien Clerc. It was released as a single from his 1984 album Aime-moi.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
