Étienne Daho

Étienne Daho (* 14. January 1956 in Oran , Algeria ) is a French pop - singer and composer . He is also active as a music producer and actor .

Childhood and youth

Étienne Daho lived in Oran in Algeria until he was eight , where his carefree life by the sea alternated with war experiences . Abandoned by his father, he spent many months under artillery fire before coming to Rennes in France in September 1964 and spending his youth there. The passion for music was sparked by the purchase of two records: The Velvet Underground and Nico and Pink Floyd's first album ( The Piper at the Gates of Dawn ), which Syd Barrett discovered. He began to be very interested in rock music. In addition to these bands, his musical universe also includes Serge Gainsbourg and The Beach Boys . He studied English and spent a lot of time in London and Manchester , where he stayed during the semester break to satisfy his passion for music. There he discovered the punk scene in 1976 and began to write songs.

During his student days, Etienne Daho founded the association “Terrapin” in homage to a song by Syd Barrett, in order to organize a concert by Stinky Toys for her birthday. At this concert the two met and became steadfast friends. Encouraged by his friends from the Marquis de Sade and Stinky Toys, he made his debut on the stage of the Transmusicales de Rennes with the group Entre les deux fils dénudés de la dynamo . He recorded a demo with ten of his compositions with the help of the photographer Richard Dumas , then Franck Darcel and with the musicians of the Marquis de Sade group and rattled off the record houses. Eventually he got a recording deal with Virgin Records .

Career

The recording of his first album, Mythomane (1981), took place in Paris with the musicians of Marquis de Sade and Jacno as producers. The album received good reviews, but it was not commercially successful, and it was only 15 years later that the record received gold status.

For the second album La Notte La Notte, Franck Darcel was the producer. It came out in March 1984, illustrated with a portrait of Pierre & Gilles . Two electro-pop singles, Sortir Ce Soir and especially Week-End à Rome , were his first successes. Etienne Daho played on April 18, 1985 for the first time at the Olympia to a sold out house. The program Enfants du rock dedicated a portrait to him in which he sang in a duo with Françoise Hardy , with whom he is friends. He was named Rock Artist of the Year 1985 by the Bus d'Acier .

In the same year, Étienne Daho published the maxi single Tombés pour la France , the clip for it was shot by Jean-Pierre Jeunet . He recorded his third album, Pop Satori (1986) in London with the group Torch Song by William Orbit , the single Duel au soleil reached number 17 in the top 50. At that time he was considered one of the leading actors on the French pop scene, in the press there was even talk of a "Dahomania". Etienne Daho subsequently starred in films by Olivier Assayas and Virginia Thevenet and founded his own label to produce other artists.

He confirmed his success with the album Pour nos vies martiennes (1988) whose cover is illustrated by Guy Peellaert . The following tour was concluded with a concert at the Marquee Club in London. At the same time the first live album Live ED was released as well as a film Tant pis pour l'Idahoe , on which a duet with Chris Isaak can be seen. The next album, Paris ailleur, in 1991, was recorded in New York and illustrated by Nick Knight . Five singles were released, the tour leads through 14 countries. In 1993 he was number 4 in the singles chart with a cover version of Édith Piafs Mon manège à moi , which was recorded for the compilation Piaf-Fréhel, ma grand-mère est une rockeuse .

At the beginning of 1995 a rumor spread that Étienne Daho fell ill with AIDS or even died. In 1992 he had participated in the Urgences campaign for AIDS research with a Brigitte Fontaine cover Dommage que tu sois mort . In response to this rumor he took in 1995, the EP Reserection (Resurrection) along with the English group Saint Etienne under the group name St. Etienne Daho on: Etienne Daho adapted in Saint Etienne titles with French texts, his own Hit Week-end à Rome is to He's on the phone . He reached number 11 in the UK charts , which gave Étienne Daho the opportunity to appear on the well-known British television program Top of the Pops .

On his album Eden you can hear new musical influences from groove, jungle and bossa nova. The album was recorded in London, where he lived at the time. There is the duet Les Bords de Seine with Astrud Gilberto . During his “Kaleidoscope tour” he gave a concert in London's ICA. From his first best-of album, the single Le premier jour was released in 1998 , originally a song by Sarah Cracknell . He wrote L'autre moi for Jane Birkin and sang in a duo with Vanessa Paradis Dis-lui toi que je t'aime on the French television program La soirée des Enfoirés .

His next album Corps et armes came out in 2000 and was recorded in London with the band Les Valentins . It is his first album at number 1 on the album charts. Musically it is a contrast to the previous electronic album Eden, with strings and closer to the chanson. During his tour Le tour de l'été sans fin played a week at the Paris Olympia and performed with Vanessa Daou .

In 2002 Etienne Daho was awarded the National Order of Merit ( Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite ). A year later came out his ninth studio album Réévolution. On the album are the tracks If , a duo with Charlotte Gainsbourg , which he had already recorded solo in the album Ginger Ale, the duo Les lis d'Eros with Marianne Faithfull and Retour à toi , a homage to Phil Spector .

Twenty years after the release of Pop Satori, in 2006, Capitol Records put the album back on and Étienne Daho played the entire album again at the Olympia at the Festival des Inrockuptibles . In 2007 the record L'invitation was released, which was awarded the Victoires de la Musique as the best rock / pop album of 2008. A year later the tribute album Tombé pour Daho was published, in which Benjamin Biolay participated , among others .

His album Les Chansons de l'innocence retrouvée, which was released in 2013, received good reviews again, with Nile Rodgers , Dominique A and Debbie Harry among others .

In his career, Étienne Daho has worked a lot with other musicians in the studio and on stage, including Brigitte Fontaine , Arthur Baker , Air , Working Week , the band Comateens , Jane Birkin , Marianne Faithfull , Françoise Hardy , Charlotte Gainsbourg , Vanessa Paradis , Jacques Dutronc and Dani . He has also worked as a producer himself on records by Daniel Darc , Bill Pritchard and other artists.

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
year	title	CH	UK	FR	BE ^W	BE ^F	Remarks
1981	Mythomaniac	-	-	-	-	-	First published: November 1981
1984	La notte, la notte	-	-	FR- × 2 Double gold FR	-	-	First published: March 3, 1984 Sales: + 200,000
1985	Tombé pour la France	-	-	-	-	-	Mini-album first release: March 4th, 1985
1986	Pop satori	-	-	FR- platinum FR	-	-	First published: April 1, 1986 Sales: + 400,000
1988	Pour nos vies martiennes	-	-	FR- platinum FR	-	-	First published: June 1, 1988 Sales: + 300,000
1991	Paris ailleurs	-	-	FR- platinum FR	-	-	First published: December 6, 1991 Sales: + 300,000
1996	Eden	-	-	FR7th gold (12 weeks)FR	BE ^W8 (6 weeks) BE ^W	-	First published: November 19, 1996 Sales: + 100,000
2000	Corps et arms	CH64 (4 weeks) CH	-	FR1 gold (12 weeks)FR	BE ^W3 (24 weeks) BE ^W	-	First published: March 18, 2000 Sales: + 100,000
2003	Réévolution	CH56 (2 weeks) CH	-	FR5 gold (39 weeks)FR	BE ^W2 (31 weeks) BE ^W	-	First published: November 3, 2003 Sales: + 100,000
2007	L'invitation	CH51 (4 weeks) CH	-	FR2 platinum (52 weeks)FR	BE ^W9 (19 weeks) BE ^W	-	First published: November 2nd, 2007 Sales: + 100,000
2013	Les chansons de l'innocence retrouvée	CH34 (3 weeks) CH	-	FR3 platinum (33 weeks)FR	BE ^W6 (48 weeks) BE ^W	BE ^F120 (1 week) BE ^F	First published: November 15, 2013 Sales: + 100,000
2014	Discönoir	-	-	FR53 (6 weeks) FR	BE ^W54 (11 weeks) BE ^W	-	First published: November 24, 2014
2015	L'homme qui marche	CH76 (1 week) CH	-	FR14 (12 weeks) FR	BE ^W17 (34 weeks) BE ^W	-	First published: November 6, 2015
2017	lightning	CH23 (3 weeks) CH	-	FR6 (16 weeks) FR	BE ^W5 (35 weeks) BE ^W	-	First published: November 17, 2017