Daniel Balavoine
Encyclopedia
Daniel Balavoine was a French singer and songwriter. He was hugely popular in the French-speaking world, and inspired many singers in the 1980s, such as Jean-Jacques Goldman
, and Michel Berger
, his closest friend. He took part in French political life, and is known for a 1980 televised verbal confrontation with François Mitterrand
.
In the French music-business, Balavoine earned his own spot with both his powerful voice, his wide range and his lyrics, which were full of sadness and revolt. He was emphatic, and his songs for the most part talked about despair, pain, and death. Hope was present as a theme as well.
. This latter offered Balavoine the opportunity to record a song on one of his albums, a break that enabled him to be noticed as a singer-songwriter by Léo Missir, artistic director at Barclay Records
, with whom he formed a very strong bond.
It is the title track on his third album, Le Chanteur (1978), which brought Balavoine to the general public's attention. The same year, his participation in Michel Berger
and Luc Plamondon
's rock opera, Starmania
increased his notoriety with a slightly rough image in "Quand on arrive en ville".
His successive hits, creative talent, alto voice and catchy tunes stood out and quickly put him on the same artistic footing as Michel Polnareff
and Michel Berger
. Just before Mitterrand
was elected French President
in 1981, Balavoine became a voice for French youth.
In the Eighties, Daniel Balavoine asserted himself quickly as the King of French synthesized pop music (aka Electropop). A musical pioneer, he was one of the first in France to acquire, at considerable expense, in 1984, a Fairlight
sampler, a kind of computer-assisted synthesizer which would shape the music of the 1980s. At the beginning of the decade, he accused a majority of established French artists of making "Music Hall" music, disconnected from the aspirations of youth, who were turning increasingly towards English language music. His music was characterized by detailed melodies, elaborate percussions, and the use of predominantly sustained synthetic sounds resembling the violin and the organ, the whole mingled with various sound effects.
Being an accomplished composer-songwriter with an endearing baby-face made him the audio-visual colossus of the Eighties. His principal strengths were a popular yet avant-garde musical taste and clever and engaging lyrics, which depicted various facets of society (fame, divorce, childhood, money and social success, work, wars, politics, love, tolerance and racism, humanitarian dramas, life and death, etc.). Above all, Balavoine had a unique and inimitable voice, if a little bit rough at the edges, and a range spanning practically three octaves. He was able to hit and sustain very high notes. In this sense, his voice is similar to that of Freddie Mercury
. In 1984, with other French singers, he contributed to ABBACADABRA, a musical for children using songs of Swedish group ABBA. On "Belle", a song based on the music of ABBA's track "Arrival", he performed a duet with ABBA brunette Anni-Frid Lyngstad
.
in 1982. Four years later, on 14 January 1986, while flying over the rally, Balavoine died, along with Thierry Sabine
and three other people, when their helicopter crashed into a dune in Mali.
", "Sauver l'amour
", "Aimer est plus fort que d'être aimé", and "Tous les cris, les SOS" (1985), comparing Balavoine favourably to English language groups like Eurythmics
, Queen
and Depeche Mode
.
Balavoine’s songs have been interpreted by many artists, for example Catherine Ferry
for whom he wrote near 20 songs, Jeanne Mas, Liane Foly
, Frida Lyngstad
, Lena Ka, Johnny Hallyday
, Pascal Obispo
, Patrick Fiori
, Florent Pagny
, Grégory Lemarchal
, as well as Marie Denise Pelletier
(from Quebec
) who had an enormous success with her own rendition of the song "Tous les cris, les SOS" in 1987.
In 1986, Belgian francophone artist Lara Fabian
released her first single, "L'Aziza est en pleurs" (composed by Marc Lercs) in honour of Balavoine.
In 2006, to mark the 20th anniversary of the singer's death, Barclay Records
released his complete recorded works as a boxed set entitled "Balavoine sans frontières".
Jean-Jacques Goldman
Jean-Jacques Goldman is a Grammy Awards-winning French singer-songwriter. He is hugely popular in the French-speaking world, and since 2003 was the second-highest-grossing French living pop singer, after Johnny Hallyday.- Biography :...
, and Michel Berger
Michel Berger
Michel Berger , born Michel Jean Hamburger, was a very successful French singer and songwriter. He was a central figure of France's pop music scene for two decades both as a singer and as a songwriter for well-known French artists like his wife France Gall, Françoise Hardy and Johnny Hallyday...
, his closest friend. He took part in French political life, and is known for a 1980 televised verbal confrontation with François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
.
In the French music-business, Balavoine earned his own spot with both his powerful voice, his wide range and his lyrics, which were full of sadness and revolt. He was emphatic, and his songs for the most part talked about despair, pain, and death. Hope was present as a theme as well.
Musical career
In the 1970s, Daniel Balavoine took part as a chorus-singer in the musical La Révolution française, then as a backing singer at the concerts of Patrick JuvetPatrick Juvet
Patrick Juvet is a former model turned singer-songwriter, who had a string of hit records in France...
. This latter offered Balavoine the opportunity to record a song on one of his albums, a break that enabled him to be noticed as a singer-songwriter by Léo Missir, artistic director at Barclay Records
Barclay Records
Barclay Records is a French record label founded in the mid-1950s by Eddie Barclay under the alias, Edouard Ruault. Eddie Barclay also founded the Riviera label in the early-1950s....
, with whom he formed a very strong bond.
It is the title track on his third album, Le Chanteur (1978), which brought Balavoine to the general public's attention. The same year, his participation in Michel Berger
Michel Berger
Michel Berger , born Michel Jean Hamburger, was a very successful French singer and songwriter. He was a central figure of France's pop music scene for two decades both as a singer and as a songwriter for well-known French artists like his wife France Gall, Françoise Hardy and Johnny Hallyday...
and Luc Plamondon
Luc Plamondon
Luc Plamondon, OC, CQ is a French-Canadian lyricist.-Career:Plamondon has written for many artists, notably the Québécois singers Bruno Pelletier, Diane Dufresne, Robert Charlebois, Céline Dion, Ginette Reno, Fabienne Thibeault, Martine St. Clair, and Garou, as well as the French singers Julien...
's rock opera, Starmania
Starmania
Starmania is a French/Québécois rock opera written in 1976 with music by Michel Berger and lyrics by Luc Plamondon. Some of its songs have passed into mainstream Francophone pop culture.-Genesis:...
increased his notoriety with a slightly rough image in "Quand on arrive en ville".
His successive hits, creative talent, alto voice and catchy tunes stood out and quickly put him on the same artistic footing as Michel Polnareff
Michel Polnareff
Michel Polnareff, born in Nérac on 3 July 1944, is a French singer-songwriter who was very popular from the mid-1960s until the early 1980s...
and Michel Berger
Michel Berger
Michel Berger , born Michel Jean Hamburger, was a very successful French singer and songwriter. He was a central figure of France's pop music scene for two decades both as a singer and as a songwriter for well-known French artists like his wife France Gall, Françoise Hardy and Johnny Hallyday...
. Just before Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
was elected French President
President of the French Republic
The President of the French Republic colloquially referred to in English as the President of France, is France's elected Head of State....
in 1981, Balavoine became a voice for French youth.
Fairlight
Fairlight is a digital audio company based in Sydney, Australia. In 1979 they created the Fairlight CMI, the first digital audio sampler, quickly used by artists such as Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, and Jean Michel Jarre. They are now a manufacturer of media solutions tools such as digital audio...
sampler, a kind of computer-assisted synthesizer which would shape the music of the 1980s. At the beginning of the decade, he accused a majority of established French artists of making "Music Hall" music, disconnected from the aspirations of youth, who were turning increasingly towards English language music. His music was characterized by detailed melodies, elaborate percussions, and the use of predominantly sustained synthetic sounds resembling the violin and the organ, the whole mingled with various sound effects.
Being an accomplished composer-songwriter with an endearing baby-face made him the audio-visual colossus of the Eighties. His principal strengths were a popular yet avant-garde musical taste and clever and engaging lyrics, which depicted various facets of society (fame, divorce, childhood, money and social success, work, wars, politics, love, tolerance and racism, humanitarian dramas, life and death, etc.). Above all, Balavoine had a unique and inimitable voice, if a little bit rough at the edges, and a range spanning practically three octaves. He was able to hit and sustain very high notes. In this sense, his voice is similar to that of Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
. In 1984, with other French singers, he contributed to ABBACADABRA, a musical for children using songs of Swedish group ABBA. On "Belle", a song based on the music of ABBA's track "Arrival", he performed a duet with ABBA brunette Anni-Frid Lyngstad
Anni-Frid Lyngstad
Anni-Frid Prinzessin Reuss von Plauen , is a Norwegian-born Swedish pop singer...
.
Death
In the 1980s, Balavoine fell in love with Africa and started using his fame to fund the building of water wells for the Sahel. He participated in his first Paris-Dakar motor rallyDakar Rally
The Dakar Rally is an annual rally raid type of off-road automobile race, organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation...
in 1982. Four years later, on 14 January 1986, while flying over the rally, Balavoine died, along with Thierry Sabine
Thierry Sabine
Thierry Sabine was a French wrangler, motorcycle racer, and founder and main organizer of Paris Dakar....
and three other people, when their helicopter crashed into a dune in Mali.
Balavoine's legacy
The French public look proudly upon songs like "Vivre ou survivre" (1982), "Dieu que c'est beau" (1984), "L'AzizaL'Aziza
"L'Aziza" is the name of a 1985 song recorded by French singer Daniel Balavoine and released as a single from his album Sauver l'amour on November 1985...
", "Sauver l'amour
Sauver l'amour
"Sauver l'amour" is a 1985 song recorded by French singer Daniel Balavoine. It was the second single off his eighth and last album of the same name and was released in April 1986...
", "Aimer est plus fort que d'être aimé", and "Tous les cris, les SOS" (1985), comparing Balavoine favourably to English language groups like Eurythmics
Eurythmics
Eurythmics were a British pop rock duo, formed in 1980, currently disbanded, but known to reunite from time to time. Consisting of members Annie Lennox and David A...
, Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
and Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
.
Balavoine’s songs have been interpreted by many artists, for example Catherine Ferry
Catherine Ferry (singer)
Catherine Ferry is a French singer.In 1976, at the Eurovision Song Contest, Catherine Ferry represented France with the song "1,2,3 " . She ranked second in the contest...
for whom he wrote near 20 songs, Jeanne Mas, Liane Foly
Liane Foly
Liane Foly, is an popular French blues and jazz singer, actress, presenter and impressionist.-Early years:Foly was born the 16 December 1962 in the 7th arrondissement of Lyon. Her parents, a merchant family in French Algeria, returned to France in 1962 with the Pied-Noir community and moved to...
, Frida Lyngstad
Anni-Frid Lyngstad
Anni-Frid Prinzessin Reuss von Plauen , is a Norwegian-born Swedish pop singer...
, Lena Ka, Johnny Hallyday
Johnny Hallyday
Johnny Hallyday is a French singer and actor. An icon in the French-speaking world since the beginning of his career, he was considered by some to have been the French Elvis Presley. He was married for 15 years to one of the most popular French female singers: Sylvie Vartan...
, Pascal Obispo
Pascal Obispo
Pascal Michel Obispo is a French singer/songwriter.Pascal Obispo started singing in 1980. He got his first record deal in 1990, Le long du fleuve. With his second album, Plus que tout au monde, selling over 2 million albums, his songs became a popular success...
, Patrick Fiori
Patrick Fiori
Patrick Fiori is a French singer.-Biography:Fiori was born to an Armenian father and a Corsican mother in Marseille, France. When he was only 12 years old, he was offered his first role in the musical La légende des santonniers...
, Florent Pagny
Florent Pagny
Florent Pagny is a French musician. He has also acted in many French films. He records work in French, Italian, Spanish and English, and his greatest hits include "N'importe quoi", "Savoir aimer", "Ma Liberté de penser" and "Caruso" .As of 2008, he has sold 4,268,980 copies of singles,...
, Grégory Lemarchal
Grégory Lemarchal
Grégory Jean-Paul Lemarchal was a French singer who rose to fame by winning the fourth series of the reality TV programme Star Academy France, broadcast on the TF1 television network....
, as well as Marie Denise Pelletier
Marie Denise Pelletier
-External links:* *...
(from Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
) who had an enormous success with her own rendition of the song "Tous les cris, les SOS" in 1987.
In 1986, Belgian francophone artist Lara Fabian
Lara Fabian
Lara Fabian is a Belgian-Italian international singer who also holds Canadian citizenship. Multilingual, she sings in French, Italian and English....
released her first single, "L'Aziza est en pleurs" (composed by Marc Lercs) in honour of Balavoine.
In 2006, to mark the 20th anniversary of the singer's death, Barclay Records
Barclay Records
Barclay Records is a French record label founded in the mid-1950s by Eddie Barclay under the alias, Edouard Ruault. Eddie Barclay also founded the Riviera label in the early-1950s....
released his complete recorded works as a boxed set entitled "Balavoine sans frontières".
Studio albums
- De vous à elle en passant par moi (1975)
- Les aventures de Simon et Gunther... Stein (1977)
- Le chanteur (1978)
- Face amour / Face amère (1979)
- Un autre monde (1980)
- Vendeurs de larmes (1982)
- Loin des yeux de l'Occident (1983)
- Sauver l'amour (1985)
Compilations
- Ses 7 premières compositions (1986)
- L'essentiel (1999)
- Sans frontières (2005) (a 12-CD box set containing all of his recorded works, studio and live)
Other projects
- Starmania (1978) (sings 5 songs)
- Chrysalide, of Patrick JuvetPatrick JuvetPatrick Juvet is a former model turned singer-songwriter, who had a string of hit records in France...
(1974) - Patrick Juvet vous raconte son rêve (1973)
- Catherine Ferry "Vivre avec la musique" - producer and composer (1984) WEA
- Abbacadabra (1983) – a children Musical based on songs of Swedish group ABBA
Filmography
- Alors... Heureux ? (1980)
- Qu'est-ce qui fait craquer les filles... (1982)
External links
- Official website of the association Daniel Balavoine
- Biography at Radio France InternationaleRadio France InternationaleRadio France Internationale was created in 1975 as part of Radio France by the Government of France, and replaced the Poste Colonial , Paris Mondial , Radio Paris , RTF Radio Paris and ORTF Radio Paris...
(in English)