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 chanteur malheureux
Claude François Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Et je me demande si ton coeur est au nord
Si tu fais l'amour le soir quand tu t'endors
Et toutes ces choses !
Mais pour moi rien n'a changé, je t'ai gardée
Et je me demande qui touche tes cheveux
Et je me demande si tu es près d'un feu
Et toutes ces choses !
Mais pendant que j'y pense, toi tu m'oublies
Comme un chanteur malheureux
Que l'on écoute plus
Comme un chanteur malheureux
Que les gens n'aiment plus
Meme si tu n'es plus là
Je chante encore pour toi
Et je me demande si tu m'entendras
Et je me demande si l'on se reverra
Et je me demande si tu te souviendras
Si nous deviendrons simplement des amis
Et toutes ces choses !
Mais tu as dû oublier qu'on s'est aimés
Comme un chanteur malheureux
Que l'on écoute plus
Comme un chanteur malheureux
Que les gens n'aiment plus
Meme si tu n'es plus là
Je chante encore pour toi
Et je me demande si tu m'entendras
Comme un chanteur malheureux
Que l'on écoute plus
Comme un chanteur malheureux
Que les gens n'aiment plus
Meme si tu n'es plus là
Je chante encore pour toi
Et je me demande si tu m'entendras
In “Le Chanteur Malheureux”, Claude François sings about his thoughts and emotions regarding a past love. The song is structured around his musings, as he wonders whether she still exists and what kind of life she's been leading since they parted ways. He wonders if her heart is still with him, and whether she still remembers their love.
The lyrics are full of nostalgia, regret, and longing, as the singer ponders whether their paths will cross again, and whether they can just be friends. He sings about himself as a "chanteur malheureux", meaning an "unhappy singer", who is no longer popular and whose music no longer resonates with the public - a metaphor for his own love story that is now in the past.
The repeated line "mais pour moi rien n'a changé, je t'ai gardée" ("but for me nothing has changed, I have kept you") is a declaration of his uncompromising love and that, despite the fact that they are apart, he has not been able to move on.
Overall, "Le Chanteur Malheureux" is a deeply emotional song about lost love, nostalgia, and regret. Claude François's powerful vocals and the poignant lyrics make it a timeless classic that continues to resonate with listeners today.
Line by Line Meaning
Et je me demande si tu existes encore
I wonder if you still exist
Et je me demande si ton coeur est au nord
I wonder if your heart is in the north
Si tu fais l'amour le soir quand tu t'endors
If you make love in the evening when you fall asleep
Et toutes ces choses !
And all these things!
Mais pour moi rien n'a changé, je t'ai gardée
But for me nothing has changed, I've kept you
Et je me demande qui touche tes cheveux
I wonder who touches your hair
Et je me demande si tu es près d'un feu
I wonder if you're near a fire
Si tu lui as dis les mots que tu m'as dis
If you told him the words you told me
Mais pendant que j'y pense, toi tu m'oublies
But while I think about it, you forget about me
Comme un chanteur malheureux
Like an unhappy singer
Que l'on écoute plus
Who is no longer listened to
Que les gens n'aiment plus
That people no longer love
Meme si tu n'es plus là
Even if you're not here anymore
Je chante encore pour toi
I still sing for you
Et je me demande si tu m'entendras
And I wonder if you will hear me
Et je me demande si l'on se reverra
And I wonder if we will see each other again
Et je me demande si tu te souviendras
And I wonder if you will remember
Si nous deviendrons simplement des amis
If we will simply become friends
Mais tu as dû oublier qu'on s'est aimés
But you must have forgotten that we loved each other
Lyrics © WARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC FRANCE
Written by: JEAN-PIERRE HENRI EUGENE BOURTAYRE, MARTIAL CARCELES, MICHEL PIERRE GERARD RENARD, JEAN-MICHEL FRANCK RIVAT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@passionraid8877
Aimer cette chanson c est avoir du gout, seul les gens avec une grandeur d ame peuvent apprécier, j ai 38 ans j ai découvert cette prouesse musicale il y a peu, j était du genre a me fouttre des gens qui écouter du cloclo mais l ayant écouter a plusieurs reprises je trouve que c est une des plus belles musiques qui soit respect a toi claude repose en paix.
@christianbraud3496
Ce n'est pas des goûts de vieux, ce sont des goûts superbes.. Bravo
@victoriadu9534
Merci enfin une personne qui a du gout de chanson francaise moi jecoute tout les chansons francaise charle Aznavour mike brant tout sa et il y a mon entourage ki me dit chui vieille tout sa parce ke jecoute des musique de vieux et je leur dit cash vous avez pas de gout les parou daujourdhui ne veut rien dire
@lafloavril827
J ai grandie avec lui grâce à ma cousine Isabelle on écoutait en boucle les chansons ❤️
@denisjory7885
La plus belle chanson de Claude. Je l'ai écouté des milliers de fois
@Ethan_401
Son corps est mort mais son esprit et ses chansons sont encore vivant
@Georges2021
C'est la chanson que je prefere de claude françois , une chanson forte en émotion et superbement interpréter ....merci cloclo
@sattapaul556
La plus belle chanson de Claude François un trésor de nostalgie c'est très
beau...Le texte les paroles sont profondes c'est magnifique. Les années 70
c'était vraiment le top j'ai eu la chance de grandir dans ces formidables années
j'en garde une énorme Nostalgie....
@liseliloo7272
40 ans aujourd'hui que tu es parti .😭 On t'écoute toujours et danse toujours sur tes chansons .Bravo Cloclo .Tes chansons traverse toujours les époques.
@quintepmu
Tu a dû oublier que l'ont c'était aimé