Hallyday's father, Léon Smet (1908–1989), was Belgian; his mother, Huguette Clerc (1920–2007), was French. Born in Paris, Hallyday took his stage name from his aunt Desta's husband and dance partner Lee Hallyday, a pseudonym for Lee Ketcham, an expatriate Oklahoman, performer, and MC at the Café de Paris where Johnny began his singing career. Johnny was raised by Desta and Lee from a very young age, with Lee being his first manager. Johnny was always very loyal to Lee and secured him a permanent job as a producer and A&R man with his label, Philips Records until Lee's retirement and relocation back to Oklahoma.
His debut single, "Laisse les filles" was released on the Vogue label in March 1960. His first album, Hello Johnny, was released in 1960. In 1961 his cover of "Let's Twist Again" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. It topped almost every European chart, although the track did not appear in the UK Singles Chart. He appeared on the American The Ed Sullivan Show with American singing star Connie Francis in a show that was taped at the Moulin Rouge nightclub in Paris. He also staged many appearances in the Paris Olympia under the management of the late Bruno Coquatrix. For their first concert, The Jimi Hendrix Experience opened for Johnny Hallyday in Évreux on 13 October 1966. Black-and-white footage, also from October 1966, exists of Hallyday partying with Hendrix, his manager Chas Chandler and others. There also is a widely published monochrome photograph of Hallyday walking somewhere in Paris in late May 1966 with Bob Dylan.
At the end of the 1960s, Hallyday made a string of albums with Mick Jones and Tommy Brown as musical directors, and Big Jim Sullivan, Bobby Graham and Jimmy Page as session musicians. These are Jeune Homme, Rivière... Ouvre ton Lit (a.k.a. Je suis né dans la rue) and Vie. On Je suis né dans la rue, Hallyday also hired both Peter Frampton and the Small Faces. Amongst their contributions are the songs Amen (Bang Bang), Reclamation (News Report), and Regarde Pour Moi (What You Will), which are variations of Small Faces and Humble Pie (Frampton's band) songs—tracks and they all play on the album. Often forgotten is Hallyday's non-LP single and EP track Que Je T'aime from the same sessions. By 1969 alone, his sales of records exceeded twelve million.
One of Hallyday's later concerts, 100% Johnny: Live à La Tour Eiffel in 2000, attracted an audience of 500,000 and 9.5 million television viewers (the show was broadcast live on French TV). In December 2005, Hallyday had his third number-one single in France, "Mon Plus Beau Noël" (after "Tous ensemble" and "Marie"), dedicated to his adopted daughter Jade. Shortly before announcing his retirement from touring, he released a blues-flavored album, Le Cœur d'un homme, on 12 November 2007. The album hit No. 1 in both France and French-speaking Belgium. In addition to the lead single "Always", Le Cœur d'un homme features "T'aimer si mal", a duet with bluesman Taj Mahal and "I Am the Blues", an English-language song written for Hallyday by U2's lead singer Bono. His next album, Ça ne finira jamais, released in 2008, another No. 1 on the French album chart, and its lead single, "Ça n'finira jamais", also reached No. 1. In 2008 he recorded a series of acoustic songs with French musician Drexl Jonez. Hallyday's most recent album, also a No. 1 hit in France, is Tour 66: Stade de France 2009, a live set recorded at Stade de France during his farewell tour with appearances by Drexl Jonez on the guitar.
French movie producers Michèle and Laurent Pétin introduced Johnny Hallyday to Hong Kong film director Johnnie To. Hallyday was cast as the main role of To's Vengeance after meeting with the director in early 2008. The shooting began in November 2008 and concluded in February 2009.
He was married for 15 years to popular Bulgarian-French singer Sylvie Vartan and the two were considered a "golden couple" for 20 years.
Hallyday completed 181 tours, had 18 platinum albums, and sold more than 110 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling artists of all time.
Hallyday remains largely unknown outside the Francophone world, thus earning the nickname "the biggest rock star you've never heard of" in English-speaking countries.
On December 5th, 2017 Hallyday died, at age 74, in Marnes-la-Coquette, France.
Ne me quitte pas
Johnny Hallyday Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Il faut oublier
Tout peut s'oublier
Qui s'enfuit déjà
Oublier le temps
Des malentendus
Et le temps perdu
Oublier ces heures
Qui tuaient parfois
À coups de pourquoi
Le cœur du bonheur
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Non, ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Moi je t'offrirai
Des perles de pluie
Venues d'un pays
Où il ne pleut pas
Je creuserai la terre
Jusqu'après ma mort
Pour couvrir ton corps d'or et de lumière
Je ferai un domaine
Où l'amour sera roi
Où l'amour sera loi, où tu seras reine
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Je t'inventerai
Des mots insensés
Que tu comprendras
Je te parlerai
De ces amants-là
Qui ont vu deux fois leurs cœurs s'embraser
Je te raconterai
L'histoire de ce roi
Mort de n'avoir pas pu
Pas pu te rencontrer
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Non, ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
On a vu souvent
Rejaillir le feu
D'un ancien volcan
Qu'on croyait trop vieux
Il est paraît-il
Des terres brûlées
Donnant plus de blé qu'un meilleur avril
Et quand vient le soir
Pour qu'un ciel flamboie, le rouge et le noir
Ne s'épousent-ils pas?
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Je ne vais plus pleurer
Oh, je ne veux plus parler
Je me cacherai là
À te regarder
Danser et sourire
Et à t'écouter chanter
Chanter et puis rire
Oh, laisse-moi devenir
L'ombre de ton ombre
L'ombre de ta main
L'ombre de ton chien
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Non, ne me quitte pas
The lyrics of Johnny Hallyday's "Ne Me Quitte Pas" express a strong plea to a loved one not to leave the singer, as they try to forget the misunderstandings and wasted time that may have led to this moment. The song speaks to a longing to preserve love and create a beautiful dream world filled with love where happiness reigns. The singer promises to offer "pearls of rain" and to dig the earth for eternity just to cover the other person's body in gold and light.
The song builds on the idea that love, like a dormant volcano, can rekindle after seeming to have died, and that burnt lands might give more harvest than a fertile April. The lyrics allude to the potential strength that can be born out of suffering and pain, and end with a desperate plea, "don't leave me." The song elegantly captures the emotions of clinging to a love that seems to be slipping away and the frustration of trying to make things right.
Line by Line Meaning
Ne me quitte pas
Don't leave me
Il faut oublier
We must forget
Tout peut s'oublier
Everything can be forgotten
Qui s'enfuit déjà
That which is already fleeing
Oublier le temps
Forget the time
Des malentendus
The misunderstandings
Et le temps perdu
And the time wasted
À savoir comment
Trying to figure out how
Oublier ces heures
Forget those hours
Qui tuaient parfois
That sometimes killed
À coups de pourquoi
With endless whys
Le cœur du bonheur
The heart of happiness
Moi je t'offrirai
I will offer you
Des perles de pluie
Rain pearls
Venues d'un pays
From a land
Où il ne pleut pas
Where it never rains
Je creuserai la terre
I will dig the earth
Jusqu'après ma mort
Even after my death
Pour couvrir ton corps d'or et de lumière
To cover your body with gold and light
Je ferai un domaine
I will make a domain
Où l'amour sera roi
Where love will be king
Où l'amour sera loi, où tu seras reine
Where love will be the law, and you will be queen
Je t'inventerai
I will invent for you
Des mots insensés
Nonsensical words
Que tu comprendras
That you will understand
Je te parlerai
I will speak to you
De ces amants-là
Of those lovers
Qui ont vu deux fois leurs cœurs s'embraser
Who saw their hearts ignite twice
Je te raconterai
I will tell you
L'histoire de ce roi
The story of the king
Mort de n'avoir pas pu
Who died because he couldn't
Pas pu te rencontrer
Couldn't meet you
On a vu souvent
We have often seen
Rejaillir le feu
The fire rekindled
D'un ancien volcan
From an old volcano
Qu'on croyait trop vieux
That was thought to be too old
Il est paraît-il
It seems there is
Des terres brûlées
Burnt lands
Donnant plus de blé qu'un meilleur avril
That yield more grain than the best April
Et quand vient le soir
And when the evening comes
Pour qu'un ciel flamboie, le rouge et le noir
So that the sky will blaze, red and black
Ne s'épousent-ils pas?
Don't they become one?
Je ne vais plus pleurer
I will not cry anymore
Oh, je ne veux plus parler
Oh, I don't want to talk anymore
Je me cacherai là
I will hide here
À te regarder
Watching you
Danser et sourire
Dancing and smiling
Et à t'écouter chanter
And listening to you sing
Chanter et puis rire
Singing and then laughing
Oh, laisse-moi devenir
Oh, let me become
L'ombre de ton ombre
The shadow of your shadow
L'ombre de ta main
The shadow of your hand
L'ombre de ton chien
The shadow of your dog
Lyrics © Tratore, WARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC FRANCE
Written by: Jacques Brel
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Leonie Klein
irremplaçable, tu es le plus grand Johnny ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Amandine CLARAZ
Johnny dans mon coeur pour toujours
Sep68
Le boss 💪 . Depuis qu'il est plus la Rien ne vas plus ds ce pays 🇲🇫 on a perdu notre tour Eiffel notre fondation .... Rip Johnny Hallyday pour toujours le meilleur
Brigitte Chantreuil
C'est vrai les gens n'aime plus
johnny DOS-REIS
🙏rien ne sera plus jamais pareil repose en paix johnny
ben disdonc
C'est vrai. Depuis que Johnny est parti, il y a de plus en plus de migrants et de racailles.
Hhsb Llfb
Vous exagérez quand même. Mais respect pour Johnny 🙏
Joe Lm
Johnny sera toujours là pour moi. Tu ne m à pas quitté
Je t ai aimé. Pendant 60 ans
Tu ete et tu restera l unique.
marie rincon
♥️
MEDITATION TAROT Eric Bachet
Nous ne te quitterons pas ! 🙏🙏🙏