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.
Cette Année-Là
Claude François Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Je chantais pour la première fois
Le public ne me connaissait pas
Oh! Quelle année, cette année-là
Cette année-là
Le rock'n'roll venait d'ouvrir ses ailes
Et dans mon coin je chantais "Belles! Belles! Belles!"
Déjà (aah)
Les Beatles étaient quatre garçons dans le vent
Et moi ma chanson disait "marche tout droit"
Cette année-là
Quelle joie d'être l'idole des jeunes
Pour des fans qui cassaient les fauteuils
Plus j'y pense et moins j'oublie
Oh!
J'ai découvert mon premier mon dernier amour
Le seul, le grand, l'unique et pour toujours le public
Cette année-là
Dans le ciel passait une musique
Un oiseau qu'on appelait Spoutnik
Oh! Quelle année cette année-là
C'est là qu'on a dit adieu à Marilyn au cœur d'or
Tandis que West Side battait tous les records
Cette année-là
Les guitares tiraient sur les violons
On croyait qu'une révolution
Arrivait cette année-là
Oh! C'était hier, mais aujourd'hui rien n'a changé
C'est le même métier qui ce soir recommence encore
C'était l'année
Soixante-deux
C'était l'année
Soixante-deux
C'était l'année
Soixante-deux
Oui, c'était l'année
Oh! Soixante-deux
The lyrics to Claude Françoise's "Cette année-là" is a reflection on the artist's rise to fame in 1962 when rock 'n' roll was gaining popularity. He reminisces on how he sang "Belles! Belles! Belles!" and the public loved it. He talks about his experience being the "idole des jeunes" (idol of the youth) and how exciting it was to have fans who would break chairs in excitement. He feels nostalgic about how he discovered his first and last love, which was the public.
Claude also talks about the events that happened in 1962 – how the Beatles were the new boys in town, and he sang about walking straight. He remembers how Marilyn Monroe, with a heart of gold, passed away, and West Side Story was breaking all the records. The guitars were competing with violins. He feels like a revolution is coming, but nothing has changed; it's the same business which is starting again this evening.
In conclusion, "Cette année-là" is a tribute to the year 1962 when rock 'n' roll was just starting to emerge, and Claude Francois was making his first appearance before the public. It's a nostalgic remembrance of a period of time that remains forever etched in his mind.
Line by Line Meaning
Cette année-là
The singer reminisces about a specific year
Je chantais pour la première fois
The first time the singer performed onstage
Le public ne me connaissait pas
The audience was unfamiliar with the singer’s work
Oh! Quelle année, cette année-là
The year was unforgettable
Le rock'n'roll venait d'ouvrir ses ailes
Rock and roll was just beginning to take off
Et dans mon coin je chantais "Belles! Belles! Belles!"
The singer performed the song "Belles! Belles! Belles!" in a small venue
Et le public aimait ça
The audience enjoyed the performance
Les Beatles étaient quatre garçons dans le vent
The Beatles had just entered the music scene
Et moi ma chanson disait "marche tout droit"
The singer's song advised people to keep moving forward
Quelle joie d'être l'idole des jeunes
The singer was thrilled to be the young people's idol
Pour des fans qui cassaient les fauteuils
The fans were so excited during performances that they broke chairs
Plus j'y pense et moins j'oublie
As time goes on, the singer remembers more and more about that year
J'ai découvert mon premier mon dernier amour
The singer's audience was their true love
Le seul, le grand, l'unique et pour toujours le public
The audience was the only, great, and unique love the singer had
Dans le ciel passait une musique
In the sky, music was everywhere
Un oiseau qu'on appelait Spoutnik
The bird called Spoutnik was present in the sky
Oh! Quelle année cette année-là
The year was unforgettable
C'est là qu'on a dit adieu à Marilyn au cœur d'or
Marilyn Monroe died that year
Tandis que West Side battait tous les records
The musical "West Side Story" was very successful in that year
Les guitares tiraient sur les violons
Rock and roll was competing with classical music
On croyait qu'une révolution
It seemed like a revolution was happening
Arrivait cette année-là
The presumed revolution was expected to take place in that year
Oh! C'était hier, mais aujourd'hui rien n'a changé
The singer contemplates how time has passed, but little has changed
C'est le même métier qui ce soir recommence encore
The singer still performs the same job today
C'était l'année
It was the year
Soixante-deux
1962
Oui, c'était l'année
Yes, it was the year
Oh! Soixante-deux
Oh, 1962
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Bob Gaudio, Judy Parker
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@alexispalacios9039
Cette année-là
Je chantais pour la première fois
Le public ne me connaissait pas
Oh quelle année cette année-là
Cette année-là
Le rock'n'roll venait d'ouvrir ses ailes
Et dans mon coin je chantais belle, belle, belle
Et le public aimait ça
Déjà, aaaah
Les Beatles étaient quatre garçons dans le vent
Et moi ma chanson disait marche tout droit
Cette année-là
Quelle joie d'être l'idole des jeunes
Pour des fans qui cassaient les fauteuils
Plus j'y pense et moins j'oublie
J'ai découvert mon premier mon dernier amour
Le seul le grand l'unique et pour toujours le public
Cette année-là
Dans le ciel passait une musique
Un oiseau qu'on appelait Spoutnik
Oh quelle année cette année-là
C'est là qu'on a dit adieu à Marilyn au cœur d'or
Tandis que West Side battait tous les records
Cette année-là
Les guitares tiraient sur les violons
On croyait qu'une révolution arrivait
Cette année-là
C'était hier, mais aujourd'hui rien n'a changé
C'est le même métier qui ce soir recommence encore
C'était l'année...soixante deux
C'était l'année...soixante deux
C'était l'année...soixante deux
C'était l'année...soixante deux
C'était l'année...soixante deux
@mybitch8740
2024 qui est là 🎉🥳🎉
@martytan6977
Moi
@kanashisaik4219
Moi!!!!!
@Exortiny
Meeee
@lalagamer2377
Moi
@arnaqueprank8884
moi
@borisdassi1559
Les années n'ont pas d'effet sur ce son...
Un plaisir pour les oreilles 😁
@legrognard2238
RESPECT à toi Claude François 🇫🇷👍
@Rene-Guenon
Original c'est Oh what a night
@karijo1979
Clos tu es magnifique et tu garderas toujours une place dans notre cœur avec tes belles chansons ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️