Olivier Toussaint | |
---|---|
Origin | Paris, France |
Genres | Instrumental pop Classical Easy listening |
Occupation(s) | Composer, arranger Singer, recording producer |
Instrument(s) | Guitar piano |
Years active | 1968–present |
Labels | Delphine Records AZ |
Olivier Toussaint is a French composer, pop singer, orchestra arranger, company manager, and record producer. He also represented Monaco in the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest.
He was born in Paris, in a family of classical musicians. His great-grandfather, Gilbert Duprez was a very well known opera singer. His grandparents were both opera singers, and his mother was a concert pianist who played in big orchestras in France.
At the insistence of his mother, he studied economics and social sciences at University in Paris. But as soon as he graduated, he was back making music. He worked professionally as a singer and musician, playing guitar. At the same time he was involved in writing music for television and the cinema.
Classical music was a part of his life due to his family background, but it did not fit to his musical expectations. Other than classical music, he was very interested in jazz, easy listening, semi-classical, and pop music.
He started a partnership with the French composer, Paul de Senneville in 1968. Soon after, they started to compose many songs together. Their collaboration got well known immediately, and their compositions were recorded by major French singers such as Michel Polnareff, Christophe, Dalida, Petula Clark, Claude François and Mireille Mathieu. They internationally sold more than 100 million records.
Olivier Toussaint and Paul de Senneville also got involved in music production business and started up the group "Pop Concerto Orchestra". In this group, Toussaint was a lead singer. Then they launched a second rock and roll group "Anarchic System". Over a period of 5 years, both of the groups sold several millions of records.
1975 was the major breakthrough for both Paul de Senneville and Olivier Toussaint with the triumph of "Dolannes Melodie" which launched the trumpet player Jean-Claude Borelly. They collaborated with the French composer/arranger Gérard Salesses, in arranging many of titles for Jean-Claude Borelly.
In 1976, Paul de Senneville and Olivier Tousaint set up their own record label, Delphine (named after de Senneville's first daughter). Delphine is one of the leading French music exporters to the world market. Soon after in 1976, they discovered Richard Clayderman, and established him as the top French record seller worldwide more than 65 million LPs sold. "Ballade pour Adeline", composed by Paul de Senneville and Olivier Tousaint, was the first song recorded by Richard Clayderman at Delphine studio, and it sold over 22 million singles in 38 countries through the years 1977 to 1979.
In 1977 the synthesizer project By the Savers (Olivier Toussaint together with French musicians Roland Romanelli and Jean Baudlot) released one single Help Me across Europe which didn't chart anywhere.
The year 1978 was Olivier Toussaint's big success, attending in Monégasque entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978, and performing the duet "Les jardins de Monaco" ("The Gardens of Monaco") with the female singer "Caline" (pseudonym of Corinne Sauvage). It was succeeded as Monegasque representative at the 1979 Contest by Laurent Vaguener (pseudonym of Jean Baudlot) with "Notre vie c'est la musique".
In 1983, with the song "Eden is a magic world" (composed by Paul de Senneville), Olivier Toussaint got No.1 in the charts in France, Switzerland and Wallonia, the French speaking part of Belgium.
Since then, Olivier Toussaint has been the main manager to Delphine company, looking after over 40 employees and artists. Delphine company is nowadays several groups representing 15 companies dealing with various activities. Besides producing and recording music for several international instrumentalists such as Richard Clayderman, Nicolas de Angelis, and Ocarina group, Delphine activities is in instrumental an advertising film and clip production.
Olivier Toussaint is still passionately involved with Richard Clayderman's career; managing his worldwide tours, producing his albums, etc.
Richard Clayderman is a French pianist who has released numerous albums including the compositions of Paul de Senneville, Olivier Toussaint and Marc Minier, instrumental renditions of popular music, rearrangements of movie soundtracks, ethnic music, and easy-listening arrangements of popular works of classical music.
Monaco has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 24 times since its debut in 1959. The country's only win in the contest came in 1971, with "Un banc, un arbre, une rue" performed by Séverine. As a result, Monaco was expected to host the contest in 1972, but it ultimately declined. The Monégasque participant broadcaster in the contest was Télé Monte-Carlo (TMC). Monaco is the only microstate to have won the contest to date.
"Tom Pillibi" is a song recorded by French singer Jacqueline Boyer with music composed by André Popp and French lyrics written by Pierre Cour. It was released as a single on 10 April 1960. It represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 held in London, winning the contest. It was covered by several artists including Julie Andrews.
"Nous les amoureux" is a song recorded by French singer Jean-Claude Pascal with music composed by Jacques Datin and French lyrics written by Maurice Vidalin. It represented Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961 held in Cannes, resulting in the country's first ever win at the contest.
"Un banc, un arbre, une rue" is a song recorded by French singer Séverine, with music composed by Jean-Pierre Bourtayre and French lyrics written by Yves Dessca. It represented Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest 1971 held in Dublin, resulting in the country's only ever win in the contest.
"L'Oiseau et l'Enfant" is a song recording by French singer Marie Myriam with music composed by Jean-Paul Cara and French lyrics written by Joe Gracy. It represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977 held in London, resulting in the country's last win to date at the contest.
"Charlie Chaplin" is a song recorded by Greek singer Tania Tsanaklidou with music composed by Sakis Tsilikis and Greek lyrics written by Yiannis Xantoulis. It represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978, held in Paris.
"L'amour s'en va" is a song composed, written, and performed by French singer-songwriter and actress Françoise Hardy. It represented Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963, she recorded it in other languages, gained chart success in Belgium, won France's prestigious award Grand Prix du Disque, and over time it has become one of Hardy's signature songs.
Raymond Lefèvre was a French easy listening orchestra leader, arranger and composer.
"Ballade pour Adeline" is a 1977 instrumental by Richard Clayderman, composed by Paul de Senneville. Paul de Senneville composed the piece as a tribute to his newborn daughter, Adeline. As of 2020, worldwide sales of the recording have reached 22 million copies in 38 countries. It remains Clayderman's signature hit.
Anarchic System was a French pop group formed in the early 1970s.
"Song of Ocarina" is a 1991 song recorded by the musicians Jean-Philippe Audin and Diego Modena. It is entirely instrumental and is played on ocarina by Modena and cello by Audin. Released as the first single from the album Ocarina, it achieved a huge success in France where it topped the chart and remained in the top 100 for almost eight months.
Danielle Licari is a French singer who was active in the 1960s and 1970s. She's now remembered primarily as the vocalist in Concerto pour une Voix.
Jean-Claude Borelly is a French trumpeter and composer.
Delphine Records or Delphine Productions is a French record label, founded in 1974 by French composer Paul de Senneville and his partner Olivier Toussaint.
Paul de Senneville was a French composer and music producer.
Jean Baudlot was a French music composer, most notable for composing music for videogames in the 1980s and 1990s and collaborations with Richard Clayderman, Nicolas de Angelis, Michèle Torr and Joe Dassin. He also represented Monaco in the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest under the pseudonym Laurent Vaguener.
Thierry Joseph-Louis Escaich is a French organist and composer.
Hervé Roy was a French musician, singer, composer, and record producer.
Sophie Hecquet, often credited mononymously as Sophie, was a French pop singer and radio and television presenter. In 1975, she represented Monaco at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Une chanson c’est une lettre".