Claude François’ mother was very musical and had her son take piano and violin lessons. On his own, the boy learned to play the drums. As a result of the 1956 Suez Crisis, the family returned to live in Monaco, where they struggled financially after Claude’s father fell ill and could not work. A young Claude found a job as a bank clerk and at night earned extra money playing drums with an orchestra at the luxury hotels along the French Riviera. With a good but untested singing voice, he was offered a chance to sing at a hotel in the fashionable Mediterranean resort town of Juan-les-Pins. His show was well received and eventually he began to perform at the glamorous night-clubs along the Côte d’Azur. While working the clubs, he met Janet Woolcoot, an English dancer whom he married in 1960.
Ambitious, Claude François moved to Paris, where there were many more opportunities to pursue his career. At the time, American Rock and Roll was taking hold in France and he took a job as part of a singing group in order to make a living. With the goal of eventually making it as a solo act, he paid the cost to record a 45rpm. Trying to capitalize on the American dance craze « The Twist », Claude François recorded a song titled « Nabout Twist » that proved a resounding failure. Undaunted, in 1962 he recorded a cover version in French of an Everly Brothers song, « Made to Love » (aka Girls Girls Girls). Written by Phil Everly, it had been only a minor hit in America, but Claude François’ rendition titled « Belles Belles Belles » rocked to the top of the French charts, selling close to two million copies and making him an overnight star.
Under a new manager, Claude François’ career continued to blossom. In 1963 he followed the first success with another French adaptation of an American song. This time, doing Trini Lopez’s « If I Had a Hammer » in French as « Si j’avais un marteau ». Claude François met Michel Bourdais who was working for the well-known French magazine “Salut les Copains” in English as « Hi Buddies ». He liked the rigor and the precision of Michel’s drawings and asked him to draw his portrait. This drawing has remained very famous until now. Capitalizing on his blond good looks, he mimicked Elvis Presley’s stage style as well as the slicked-back hair. Performing in sequined suits, François gave high-energy stage performances that had hordes of adoring teenage fans racing to the music shops to purchase his latest record or lining up to buy a ticket for his shows.
In 1964 he headlined at the Paris Olympia, a sign that he had arrived. At the end of that year Claude François created original new dance steps and Michel Bourdais drew them. For the first time, they brought up the idea of setting-up a show with female dancers. In January 1965, while returning from a trip to Las Vegas, Claude Francois fascinated by the American shows decided to take them as a model and eventually the project of performing on the stage with a female dancer band became clear in his mind.
A dedicated professional, Claude François worked hard to achieve success producing a string of massively popular hit songs and touring constantly. With the onslaught of Beatlemania, he covered their hits in French, adjusted the hair style a little and kept his success moving ahead. But his talent extended beyond copying the works others had made famous, and he wrote songs for himself and displayed a melodic voice doing romantic ballads.
In 1966, François created a complete new stage act using four female dancers as backup. Named « Les Clodettes, » the sexy girls danced in the background while François did his own energetic work center stage. In a return to the Paris Olympia he added eight musicians and a full orchestra to his backup dancers, putting on a spectacular show that filled every seat in the large theater and left fans standing in the street for lack of tickets.
Divorced from his wife, in 1967 he began a relationship with France Gall, another famous French singer. Their affair was short lived and he soon met Isabelle Forêt, with whom he had two sons in two years. Flushed with enormous success and confidence, he established his own record company. In 1968, he and Jacques Revaux wrote a song in French called Comme d’habitude, which became a hit in francophone countries. The song was inspired by his recent break-up with France Gall. Canadian singing star Paul Anka reworked it for the English-speaking public into the now legendary hit most famously sung by Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra as « My Way ». Although Claude François continued his successful formula of adapting English and American rock and roll hits for the French market, by the 1970s the market had changed and the disco craze that swept North America took root in France. For the versatile François, this was not a problem. He simply re-invented himself as the king of French disco, recording « La plus belle des choses, » a French version of a Bee Gees hit record.
He worked non-stop, touring across Europe, Africa and at major venues in Quebec in Canada. However, his workload caught up with him in 1971 when he collapsed on stage from exhaustion. After a brief period off, he returned to the recording studios, releasing several best-selling hits throughout the early 1970s. He expanded from owning his own record company to acquiring a celebrity magazine and a modeling agency. Although driven to achieve financial success, in 1974 he organized a concert to raise funds for a charity for handicapped children and the following year he participated in a Paris concert to raise funds for medical research. By the mid-1970s he was single again, dating several well-known European stars. He continued to perform while overseeing his numerous business interests. In 1975, while in London, he narrowly escaped death when an IRA bomb exploded and two years later a fan tried to shoot him. In 1977 and 1978, more than 15 years after his first hit record, he was still topping the musical charts with multi-million sales from hits such as « Alexandrie Alexandra » and performing to large audiences.
After working in Switzerland, on Saturday, March 11, 1978 he returned to his Paris apartment in order to appear the next day on « Rendez-vous du Dimanche » with TV host Michel Drucker. His demise was caused by his obsession with cleanliness and order. He was accidentally electrocuted when he tried to fix a broken light bulb while standing in a filled bathtub. At only 39 years of age, his early death brought a wave of public sympathy for a national French star.
Claude François owned a home near the village of Dannemois in the Essonne departement about 35 miles south of Paris. It was a place where he liked to escape to relax in the quiet countryside and it was there that he was interred in the local cemetery.
On March 11, 2000, on the 22nd anniversary of his death, Place Claude-François in Paris was named in his memory, right in front of the building where he died.
In 2004 the movie 'Podium' was released. It's a story about a Claude François impersonator (played by Benoît Poelvoorde).
His hits include Alexandrie, Alexandra; Cette Année-la; Je vais à Rio.
Bélinda
Claude François Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Une étoile filante qui m'a quitté
Vous pouvez m'aider à la trouver
Elle a les yeux bleus Belinda
Elle a le front blond Belinda
Ça fait dix fois qu'elle s'en va et qu'elle revient
Si vous la voyez
Vous la reconnaitrez
Elle a les yeux bleus Belinda
Elle a le front blond Belinda
Je devrais en avoir l'habitude
Et l'attendre comme je l'ai fait souvent
Mais j'entends crier ma solitude
Je l'appelle et ma voix tombe dans le vent
Elle est dans mon sommeil comme une fleur
Un soleil sans soleil et sans chaleur
Vous pouvez m'aider à la trouver
Elle a les yeux bleus Belinda
Elle a le front blond Belinda
Elle a les yeux bleus Belinda
Elle a le front blond Belinda
Elle a les yeux bleus Belinda
Elle a le front blond Belinda
In Claude François's song "Belinda," the lyrics describe a man desperately searching for a woman named Belinda who has left him multiple times. The singer pleas with his audience to help him find her, describing her physical appearance with her blue eyes and blonde hair. He confesses that he should be used to her leaving and returning by now, but his loneliness calls out to Belinda. He compares her to a flower and a sun without warmth, and once again begs for help in finding her.
The lyrics of "Belinda" showcase a man's vulnerability and helplessness in trying to find a woman who constantly leaves him. He is clearly still in love with her and cannot move on without her. The repetition of her physical description emphasizes the image of her in his mind and contributes to the desperation of his search. The song ends with a final repetition of her name and physical features, leaving the listener with a sense of the singer's longing.
Line by Line Meaning
Il faut que je vous chante pour oublier
I need to sing to you to forget
Une étoile filante qui m'a quitté
A shooting star that left me
Vous pouvez m'aider à la trouver
You can help me find her
Elle a les yeux bleus Belinda
She has blue eyes, Belinda
Elle a le front blond Belinda
She has blonde hair, Belinda
Ça fait dix fois qu'elle s'en va et qu'elle revient
It's been ten times she leaves and comes back
C'est elle qui fait mon cœur et qui défait mon cœur de ses mains
She's the one who makes and breaks my heart
Si vous la voyez
If you see her
Vous la reconnaitrez
You'll recognize her
Je devrais en avoir l'habitude
I should be used to it
Et l'attendre comme je l'ai fait souvent
And wait for her like I have done often
Mais j'entends crier ma solitude
But I hear my loneliness scream
Je l'appelle et ma voix tombe dans le vent
I call her and my voice falls into the wind
Elle est dans mon sommeil comme une fleur
She's in my dreams like a flower
Un soleil sans soleil et sans chaleur
A sun without heat or warmth
Vous pouvez m'aider à la trouver
You can help me find her
Elle a les yeux bleus Belinda
She has blue eyes, Belinda
Elle a le front blond Belinda
She has blonde hair, Belinda
Elle a les yeux bleus Belinda
She has blue eyes, Belinda
Elle a le front blond Belinda
She has blonde hair, Belinda
Contributed by Jonathan H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Anthony Lafontaine
Il faut que je vous chante pour oublier
Une étoile filante qui m'a quitté
Vous pouvez m'aidez à la trouver
Elle a les yeux bleus Belinda
Elle a le front blond Belinda
Ça fait dix fois qu'elle s'en va et qu'elle revient
C'est elle qui fait mon cœur et qui défait mon cœur de ses mains
Si vous la voyer
Vous la reconnaitrez
Elle a les yeux bleus Belinda
Elle a le front blond Belinda
Je devrais en avoir l'habitude
Et l'attendre comme je l'ai fait souvent
Mais j'entends crier ma solitude
Je l'appelle et ma voix tombe dans le vent
Elle est dans mon sommeil comme une fleur
Un soleil sans soleil et sans chaleur
Vous pouvez m'aider à la trouver
Elle a les yeux bleus Belinda
Elle a le front blond Belinda
Elle a les yeux bleus Belinda
Elle a le front blond Belinda
Elle a les yeux bleus Belinda
Elle a le front blond Belinda
Jean-Gabriel Annœullin
Je l’adore celle-là ! Les instruments, le rythme, la joie qu’elle diffuse ..!
karijo1979
Claude François je t'adore tu garderas toujours une place dans notre cœur avec des chansons si merveilleuse
Gendre Karl
UN de mes grands regrets est d'avoir été trop jeune pour connaître Claude François... Vous avez eu de la chance les vieux ^^'
MCKEYNA
Je serai toujours fan de cloclo et ses clodettes ❤️❤️❤️ un homme orchestre c’était quelqu’un oui 🙌🏼 dans les années 70 j’avais 7 ans lorsque j’ai commencé à écouter et apprécier cloclo REST IN PEACE 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼❤️❤️❤️
karijo1979
Pareil
Laurette Bertrand
Vu en privé
Mariam Sushs
😂😂
Emmaelysa music
@Chachou _ oui c'est ça
Jean Atlan
Toute une époque...
Travail, rigueur, créativité et beaucoup beaucoup de talent. Si il avait vécu, il se serait adapté aux années '80, '90, 2 000 sans aucun problème.
Un monument de la chanson français.
Trop la classe ce Cloclo !
mae darre
A part si il l'a volé comme cette année là