Jean Ferrat

Jean Ferrat (right) with Guy Thomas, who wrote numerous songs for him.

Jean Ferrat (actually Jean Tenenbaum ; born December 26, 1930 in Vaucresson , Seine-et-Oise , now Hauts-de-Seine ; † March 13, 2010 in Aubenas , Ardèche ) was a French singer and composer.

Career

Jean Ferrat was the youngest of four children from a Jewish family. His father, Mnacha (Menachem) Tenenbaum, emigrated from Russia in 1906 before anti-Semitism grew there. Jean Ferrat was 11 years old when his father was deported from Vichy France and murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp . Jean only survived thanks to the help of communist resistance fighters .

Ferrat initially composed love songs with which he performed at Cabaret La Colombe in Paris in the mid-1950s , but also for the singer Zizi Jeanmaire , who discovered him. He later developed into a committed singer who was a companion of the French Communist Party , but without being a member. His recordings include political songs as well as love songs. Just as the songs of Georges Brassens fared, his songs - found too daring and too critical - were not broadcast on French radio for years. Ferrat also dealt with less critical topics such as the rural exodus in his song La Montagne , composed and written by him , of which five million pieces were sold.

Most recently he lived in Antraigues , a small town in southern France. In 1972, despite great success, he ended his active stage career, but found a successor in the person of the singer Alain Hivert, who presented his songs in France.

In Germany his songs are performed by the German-Belgian singer Didier Caesar accompanied by the German-French guitarist Stéphane Bazire - both in the French version and in the broadcasts by Didier Caesar. There are now seventeen titles, including the setting of poems by Louis Aragon .

Jean Ferrat died of cancer in March 2010 in Aubenas hospital. His funeral in Antraigues-sur-Volane, which was broadcast live on several French channels, was attended by over 5000 people who had traveled from all over France.

Awards for music sales

Golden record  France 1995: for the video album Ferrat 91 En Public 1995: for the album Jean Ferrat Vol. 2 1995: for the video album Public  Switzerland 1994: for the album 16 nouveaux poemes d'Aragon 2 × gold record  France 1995: for the album Les Annees Barclay 1995: for the album Jean Ferrat Vol. 1 1998: for the album Master Series Vol. 2

Platinum record  Belgium 2012: for the album Best Of 3 CD  France 1995: for the album Ferrat 95 1998: for the album Master Serie Vol. 1 Diamond record  France 2010: for the album Best Of 3 CD

Country / Region	gold	platinum	diamond	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Belgium (BEA)	-	platinum1	-	30,000	ultratop.be
France (SNEP)	9 × gold9	2 × platinum2	diamond1	1,820,000	snepmusique.com
Switzerland (IFPI)	gold1	-	-	25,000	hitparade.ch
All in all	10 × gold10	3 × platinum3	diamond1

Web links

Commons : Jean Ferrat  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• In memory of Jean Ferrat. Communist, artist and darling of the public (trend online newspaper)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jean Ferrat est mort. Obituary from Artistik Rezo on March 13, 2010.
2. ↑ Chanteur engagé et poète discret, Jean Ferrat est décédé en Ardèche. ( Memento of the original from March 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Day sheet. Fir Lëtzebuerg newspaper , March 14, 2010. / Jean Ferrat s'est tu L'Humanité , accessed on March 14, 2010.