Paul Mauriat was a French orchestra leader, specializing in light music. He is best known in the United States for his million selling remake of André Popp

André Popp

André Charles Jean Popp is a French composer, arranger and screenwriter.Born in Fontenay-le-Comte, Vendée, he started his career as a church organist, filling the place of his father who had been called up to serve in World War II in 1939. Popp studied music at the Saint Joseph Institute...

's "Love is Blue", which was #1 for 5 weeks in 1968. Other recordings for which he is known include El Bimbo, "Toccata" and "Penelope."
Mauriat was born and grew up in Marseille

Marseille

Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. His father was a postal inspector who loved to play classical piano and violin.