Gilbert Bécaud

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Gilbert Bécaud in October 1965

Gilbert Bécaud (born October 24, 1927 in Toulon , France , † December 18, 2001 in Paris ; actually François Gilbert Léopold Silly ) was a French chansonnier . He was also called "Monsieur 100,000 volts" because of his temperament. One of his trademarks was his white polka dot tie with a blue suit.

Life

Bécaud learned to play the piano as a young boy. After the Second World War , Bécaud toured through elegant night clubs on the Rive Droite in Paris and from 1950 to 1952 went on tour of America as a piano accompanist for Jacques Pills . During this time he composed his first chansons, for which Pills wrote the lyrics that soon became famous and were written by singers such as Dalida ( Le jour où la pluie viendra / On the day when the rain came ), Frank Sinatra , Elvis Presley ( Let It Be Me ), Marlene Dietrich ( Marie Marie ) and many others. Even Edith Piaf noticed him and asked Bécaud her a song to write.

In 1953, Bécaud had his first major success. Like Jacques Brel , he had his breakthrough in the Paris Olympics , where he appeared 33 times, most recently in 1999.

Gilbert Bécaud in the Hamburg Music Hall , 1971

From 1955 Bécaud also worked as an actor - among other things, he was seen alongside Caterina Valente in the music film Casino de Paris in 1957 - and composed film scores . Since Bécaud could sing and compose better than write lyrics, he cooperated with the French lyricists Pierre Delanoë , Louis Amade and Vidalin. From the end of the 1950s, Bécaud appeared on concert tours around the world. At the beginning of a concert tour through West Germany, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit First Class by Federal President Gustav Heinemann in early October 1973 . The last major world tour took him to Canada in 1998 . Becauds L'opéra d'Aran ( The opera from the island of Aran. Drame lyrique in two acts ; libretto by Jacques Emmanuel based on Louis Amade and Pierre Delanoë) came under the musical direction on October 25, 1962 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris by Georges Prêtre for the world premiere.

Becaud's song Le jour où la pluie viendra became a number one hit in the UK as The Day the Rains Came by Jane Morgan and in Germany as On the Day when the Rain Came by Dalida.

He released new albums regularly until the late 1990s. He sang some of his greatest hits, including Nathalie , in German.

Grave in the Pere Lachaise cemetery , 2006

Bécaud gave his last concerts on March 24, 2001 in Lille and on July 15, 2001 in Freiburg im Breisgau . Bécaud was on stage for more than 50 years before he died of lung cancer on December 18, 2001 on his houseboat "Aran" on the Seine in Paris . He was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery. After his death, his son Gaya released two albums with previously unreleased titles and new versions of well-known Bécaud titles.

From 2001 onwards, a number of best-of collections were published. In 2011 EMI published Le coffret essentiel , a box with twelve original albums and an extensive booklet. The German best-of with the title Immortal - his best chansons - also appeared on EMI . In 2012 Sony Music also brought a best-of onto the market: three CDs with many live recordings from the 1990s as well as several studio recordings.

His wife Kitty Bécaud published her husband's biography in 2011 entitled Bécaud - La première idole .

His greatest successes

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Gilbert Becaud '66
  DE 37 06/15/1966 (4 weeks)
Gilbert Bécaud '67
  DE 18th 04/15/1967 (24 weeks)
Monsieur 100,000 volts
  DE 15th 05/15/1967 (12 weeks)
Big successes, big chansons
  DE 79 01/21/2002 (3 weeks)
Singles
Nathalie
  DE 17th 09/01/1965 (22 weeks)
A little luck and tenderness
  DE 47 02/04/1974 (1 week)
A Little Love and Understanding
  UK 10 March 29, 1975 (12 weeks)
  • Mes mains (1953)
  • Je t'appartiens (1955)
  • Les marches de provence (1957)
  • Et maintenant (1961)
  • Le jour où la pluie viendra (1957)
  • Dimanche à Orly (1963)
  • Au revoir (1963)
  • Nathalie (1964)
  • L'Orange (1964)
  • T'es venu de loin (1964)
  • Quand il est mort le poète (1965)
  • Seul sur son étoile (1966)
  • L'important c'est la rose (1967)
  • Je reviens te chercher (1967)
  • Monsieur Winter Go Home (1969)
  • La solitude ça n'existe pas (1970)
  • La maison sous les arbres (1971)
  • Un peu d'amour et d'amitié (1972)
  • L'indifférence (1977)
  • C'est en septembre (1978)
  • Désirée (1982)
  • Le retour (1987)
  • Avec vingt ans de moins (1989)
  • Fais-moi signe (1989)
  • Il est à moi (l'Olympia) (1993)
  • De only you à maintenant (1995)
  • Ensemble (1996)
  • Faut faire avec (1999)
  • Je partirai (2002)
  • On marche (2002)
  • C'est quoi le temps (2005)

Web links

Commons : Gilbert Bécaud  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ David Roberts: British Hit Singles & Albums . Ed .: Guinness World Records Limited. 19th edition. London 2006, ISBN 1-904994-10-5 , pp. 50 .
  2. ↑ Music business: popular is good . In: Der Spiegel . No. 16 , 1974 ( online - 15 April 1974 ).
  3. ↑ The German version of the song reached number 17 in the German singles charts in 1965. Ehnert, Günter (Ed.): Hit balance sheet. German Chart Singles 1956–1980 , Taurus Press, Hamburg 1990, p. 25.
  4. ↑ Charts DE Charts UK
personal data
SURNAME Bécaud, Gilbert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Silly, François Gilbert (real name); Mister 100,000 volts
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French chansonnier
DATE OF BIRTH October 24, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Toulon , France
DATE OF DEATH December 18, 2001
Place of death Paris