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.
Le Mal Aimé
Claude François Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Mais personne ne comprend
Ce que j'espère et que j'attends
Qui pourrait me dire qui je suis ?
Et j'ai bien peur
Toute ma vie d'etre incompris
Car aujourd'hui : je me sens mal aimé
Les gens me connaissent
Tel que je veux me montrer
Mais ont-ils cherché à savoir
D'où me viennent mes joies ?
Et pourquoi ce désespoir
Caché au fond de moi
Si les apparences
Sont quelquefois contre moi
Je ne suis pas ce que l'on croit
Contre l'aventure de chaque jour
J'échangerais demain la joie d'un seul amour
Mais je suis là comme avant mal aimé
Car je suis mal aimé
(refrain x2)
In Claude François's song "Le Mal Aimé," the singer expresses his yearning for love and acceptance while simultaneously feeling misunderstood and unloved. He asserts that no one truly comprehends his hopes and dreams, leaving him feeling isolated and unappreciated. The singer fears that he will live his entire life feeling this way, and these emotions culminate in the chorus where he declares himself to be "The Mal Aimé," or the unloved one. Though the people in his life may think they know him, the singer suggests that they have not taken the time to truly understand him or the sources of his happiness and despair.
The lyrics convey a sense of emotional intensity and depth as the singer grapples with feelings of loneliness and isolation. The repetition of the phrase "mal aimé" emphasizes the singer's sense of being unloved and sets a melancholic tone for the song. The questions posed throughout the song suggest that the singer is still searching for answers about himself and his place in the world. Ultimately, the singer seems to resign himself to his fate, declaring that he will remain the mal aimé and that he would give up the possibility of love for the adventure of everyday life.
Overall, "Le Mal Aimé" portrays a complex emotional state that many people can probably relate to at some point in their lives. The song speaks to the universal human desire for love and belonging, while also acknowledging the challenges and difficulties that can come with feeling misunderstood and unappreciated.
Line by Line Meaning
J'ai besoin qu'on m'aime
I need to be loved
Mais personne ne comprend
But no one understands
Ce que j'espère et que j'attends
What I hope for and what I wait for
Qui pourrait me dire qui je suis ?
Who could tell me who I am?
Et j'ai bien peur
And I'm really afraid
Toute ma vie d'être incompris
That I'll be misunderstood my whole life
Car aujourd'hui: je me sens mal aimé
Because today: I feel unloved
Je suis le mal aimé
I am the unloved one
Les gens me connaissent
People know me
Tel que je veux me montrer
As I want to show myself
Mais ont-ils cherché à savoir
But have they looked to find out
D'où me viennent mes joies ?
Where my joys come from?
Et pourquoi ce désespoir
And why this despair
Caché au fond de moi
Hidden deep inside me
Si les apparences
If appearances
Sont quelquefois contre moi
Are sometimes against me
Je ne suis pas ce que l'on croit
I am not what they think
Contre l'aventure de chaque jour
Against the adventure of each day
J'échangerais demain la joie d'un seul amour
I would exchange tomorrow the joy of one love
Mais je suis là comme avant mal aimé
But I am here as before, unloved
Car je suis mal aimé
Because I am unloved
(refrain x2)
(Chorus repeated twice)
Lyrics © ANGELA MUSIC
Written by: Eddy Marnay, Terry Dempsey
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@LauraEcaterina
J'ai besoin qu'on m'aime
Mais personne ne comprend
Ce que j'espère et que j'attends
Qui pourrait me dire qui je suis ?
Et j'ai bien peur
Toute ma vie d'etre incompris
Car aujourd'hui : je me sens mal aimé
Je suis le mal aimé
Les gens me connaissent
Tel que je veux me montrer
Mais ont-ils cherché à savoir
D'où me viennent mes joies ?
Et pourquoi ce désespoir
Caché au fond de moi
Si les apparences
Sont quelquefois contre moi
Je ne suis pas ce que l'on croit
Contre l'aventure de chaque jour
J'échangerais demain la joie d'un seul amour
Mais je suis là comme avant mal aimé
Car je suis mal aimé
@simonbeauchamp1555
Intemporel et indémodable, tu garderas toujours une place dans nos coeurs, quand je passe à Dannemois, je me recueille sur sa tombe, que ton repos soit bon comme tu fût bon sur terre, repose en paix avec les anges au paradis blanc
@francelegal8702
On ne l oubliera jamais, il était un vrai chanteur, et des chansons de la vie réelle.
Merci à toi Claude.
@lacommubelges
Et un pédophile aussi
@elton3891
Quelle véritable souvenir de mon enfance, je l'écoutais cette musique à la radio.
Moment nostalgique ! Très beau talent Claude François.❤️❤️🔥🇨🇵❤️❤️
@vivelachansonfrancaise1988
Bruno Gilbert doit l'avoir dans ses tiroirs, dans le studio de nostalgie en oui😂😂❤❤
@mariamanuela2839
Muito charme e linda voz descanse em paz
@renaultmarseille6692
For ever Claude François
@karijo1979
Claude François tu garderas toujours une place dans notre cœur je ne te quitterai jamais avec tes belles chansons
@henriettemaille4120
Très 🙏 chanson j'adore merci beaucoup à vous pour le partage 🙏❤️😭
@LauraEcaterina
J'ai besoin qu'on m'aime
Mais personne ne comprend
Ce que j'espère et que j'attends
Qui pourrait me dire qui je suis ?
Et j'ai bien peur
Toute ma vie d'etre incompris
Car aujourd'hui : je me sens mal aimé
Je suis le mal aimé
Les gens me connaissent
Tel que je veux me montrer
Mais ont-ils cherché à savoir
D'où me viennent mes joies ?
Et pourquoi ce désespoir
Caché au fond de moi
Si les apparences
Sont quelquefois contre moi
Je ne suis pas ce que l'on croit
Contre l'aventure de chaque jour
J'échangerais demain la joie d'un seul amour
Mais je suis là comme avant mal aimé
Car je suis mal aimé