Michel Polnareff

Michel Polnareff (2007)

Michel Polnareff (born July 3, 1944 in Nérac in the Lot-et-Garonne department ) is a French chansonnier , composer and lyricist.

Life

Early years

Polnareff's father, the composer and jazz pianist Léo Poll was a Russian exile, his mother Simone Lane, a dancer, Breton. His parents recognized the child's musical talent at an early age and from the age of 4 put everything on a classical education with a focus on the piano. In his autobiography, published in 2004, Polnareff describes his childhood under the despotism of a flogging father who demanded that he be the best everywhere but did not take any account of his child's needs.

Polnareff attended the Conservatoire National de Région de Paris , where he won first prize in music studies at the age of eleven. After graduating from high school, Polnareff first tried to please his father and did his military service in Montluçon for seven months , where he played timpani in the orchestra. He then worked for an insurance company and a bank. Nonetheless, tensions increased until Polnareff turned his back on his parents' house in 1964. In Montmartre he joined the beatniks , switched from piano to guitar and became a street musician. The initial spark was a competition in the locomotive club that was popular at the time , which was won by Polnareff. However , Polnareff was not interested in the prospect of a record deal with the well-known Barclay label . He saw himself as a composer, not a chansonnier. Only the advice of Noel "Paul" Stookey, a member of the American trio Peter, Paul and Mary , made him interpret his songs himself.

Years of success

Polnareff (1967)

It was thanks to his classmate Gérard Woog that he made contact with Lucien Morisse , the program manager of the radio station Europe 1 , who got him to sign a contract with the record publisher Disc'AZ . Morisse became his manager and enabled him to make his first record. La poupée qui fait non was published in 1966 and was his first great success. Polnareff rejected the proposal to change his name for the English-speaking market. In addition, he insisted - because of the technical possibilities - on a recording studio in London . There he met Jimmy Page , John Paul Jones and Big Jim Sullivan, among others .

In the same year his second single was released , which begins with an overly long, classic piano intro: Love me, please love me . The B-side of the recording attracted a lot more attention. L'amour avec toi was only played by radio stations after 10 p.m., because at that time it was considered a taboo to openly address sexuality.

In 1967, Polnareff stood together with Big Jim Sullivan as the opening act for the Beach Boys for the first time on the stage of the legendary Paris Olympia . In Germany he opened Marianne Faithfull's concerts , through which he met Mick Jagger . In Belgium , Polnareff performed with Jeff Beck . That year other titles were created such as Âme Câline , whose melody he allegedly listened to a bird. In 1968, Polnareff did not take part in the student protests. The result was the neo-romantic ballad Le Bal des Laze (stylistically similar did Procol Harum and The Moody Blues ) and the groovy country and western piece Y'a qu'un cheveu . At the same time, the French director Jean-Louis Barrault Polnareff asked for music for his Rabelais play . In the same year, Polnareff met producer Annie Fargue, who had brought the musical Hair to Paris. She became his mentor and remained his business partner until her death in 2011. In 1970 he performed his own show on the Olympia stage and then went on tour through France. In Rueil-Malmaison, he was physically assaulted on stage on June 4th, which plunged him into a severe depression . On September 11, 1970, his manager Lucien Morisse committed suicide. He dedicated the chanson Qui a tué Grand 'Maman? With his song Je suis un homme , Polnareff confidently and humorously countered the rumors that were circulating that he was homosexual.

Years of exile in Los Angeles

Until the 1970s, Polnareff sold several million records. In 1973 he moved to the USA because of considerable tax debts . Polnareff had transferred the financial side of his career to a manager and was believed to have been cheated. After years of litigation in French courts, he was ultimately acquitted.

In 1985 he returned to France for a few years, first to the small village of Fontenay-Trésigny ( Département Seine-et-Marne ), then to the Paris hotel Le Royal Monceau , where he produced his album Kama-Sutra . A comeback attempt with the album Incognito was relatively unsuccessful.

In 2004, the singer was found near Los Angeles by reporters from the French magazine Paris Match . He lived there secluded and anonymously, but appeared in 1995 at the legendary The Roxy in Los Angeles. A recording of this concert is available.

present

Polnareff is still musically active, produces and is also in private contact with well-known musicians: As he himself writes, in the earlier years he was a center-forward in a hobby soccer team in Los Angeles , which also included Rod Stewart and Elton John played along. The French artist Pascal Obispo recorded a double CD (studio and live) dedicated to Polnareff in 2003, entitled Fan , which contained cover versions of well-known Polnareff songs. In 2006, Star Academy , the French equivalent of Deutschland sucht den Superstar , released a CD with 14 Polnareff titles.

In 2007, after 34 years of absence, Polnareff made a comeback with a sold out tour through France and Belgium. On December 7, 2007, a recording of a concert in Bercy was released. The CD climbed to number 13 on the French charts. In 2010 it became known that he had recorded a new album again. In December 2010, Polnareff became a father for the first time. He and his long-time girlfriend Danyellah had a son. In February 2011, however, Polnareff confessed that the child was not his.

In addition to the curly hairstyle, the trademark of Michel Polnareff is wearing white sunglasses. The glasses had initially become necessary because of his severe eye problems, but then developed into Polnareff's trademark. It wasn't until 1994 that he underwent an operation that saved his eyesight.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		FR	BE W	DE	CH
1966	Michel Polnareff	-	-	DE5 (12 weeks) DE	-
1996	Live At The Roxy	FR1 platinum (36 weeks)FR	BE W11 (14 weeks) BE W	-	-
1972	Polish Revolution	-	BE W140 (2 weeks) BE W	-	-	Chart entry in BEW only in 2014
2001	Nos (maux) mots d'amour	-	BE W156 (1 week) BE W	-	-	Chart entry in BEW only in 2014
2003	Passé présent	FR182 × 2 Double platinum (1 week)FR	BE W4 (68 weeks) BE W	-	CH96 (1 week) CH	Chart entry in FR only in 2016 Best of with 41 newly mixed titles, 2 CDs
2004	Passé simple	FR96 (8 weeks) FR	BE W172 (2 weeks) BE W	-	-	Chart entry in FR only in 2014, in BEW only in 2012 Best of with 19 titles
2006	Les 100 plus belles chansons	-	BE W13 (30 weeks) BE W	-	-	Best of with a new song 'Ophélie flagrant des lits', 5 CDs
2007	Ze (Re) Tour 2007	FR13 gold (18 weeks)FR	BE W27 (15 weeks) BE W	-	CH69 (2 weeks) CH	Live, 2 CDs
2011	Triple Best Of	-	BE W85 (39 weeks) BE W	-	-
2016	À l'Olympia 2016	FR31 (10 weeks) FR	BE W20 (31 weeks) BE W	-	-
	Polabest	FR108 (4 weeks) FR	BE W34 (31 weeks) BE W	-	-
2017	Pop rock en stock	FR109 (1 week) FR	-	-	-
2018	Enfin!	FR4th gold (15 weeks)FR	BE W7 (13 weeks) BE W	-	CH29 (2 weeks) CH	Live, 2 CDs

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More albums

• 1968: Le bal des Laze
• 1969: Disques d'or des disque d'or (Best of)
• 1971: Polnareff’s
• 1971: La folie des grandeurs (Soundtrack)
• 1972: Disques d'or des disque dor No. 2 (Best of)
• 1974: Michel Polnareff (with 'I love you because', 'Tibili' ...)
• 1975: Fame à la mode (FR:gold)
• 1976: Lipstick (soundtrack)
• 1978: Coucou me revoilou (FR:gold)
• 1981: Bulles (FR:platinum)
• 1984: La vengeance du serpent à plumes (Soundtrack)
• 1985: Incognito (FR:gold)
• 1990: Kâma-Sûtra × (FR:× 2Double gold )
• 1999: Nos mots d'amour (Best of)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		FR	BE W	DE
1966	La poupée qui fait non Love Me, Please Love Me	-	-	DE15 (28 weeks) DE
	Love Me, Please Love Me Love Me, Please Love Me	FR127 (2 weeks) FR	-	DE21 (22 weeks) DE	Chart entry in FR only in 2014
	My doll says non	-	-	DE38 (2 weeks) DE	German version of La poupée qui fait non
	L'amour avec toi Love Me, Please Love Me	FR189 (1 week) FR	-	-	Chart entry in FR only in 2012
1967	Ta, ta, ta, ta Le bal des Laze	-	-	DE33 (6 weeks) DE
1968	Le bal des Laze Le bal des Laze	FR123 (1 week) FR	-	-	Chart entry in FR only in 2012
1969	In the maison vide	FR187 (1 week) FR	-	-	Chart entry in FR only in 2012
1970	Qui a tué Grand 'Maman? Polnareff's	FR194 (1 week) FR	-	-	Chart entry in FR only in 2012
1972	Holidays	FR159 (1 week) FR	-	-	Chart entry in FR only in 2012
1977	Lettre à France Coucou me revoilou	FR58 (9 weeks) FR	-	-	Chart entry in FR only in 2012
1989	Goodbye Marylou Kâma-Sûtra	FR16 (17 weeks) FR	-	-
1990	Toi et moi ... Kama-Sutra	FR45 (4 weeks) FR	-	-
	Kama-Sutra Kama-Sutra	FR47 (3 weeks) FR	-	-
1999	Je rêve d'un monde	FR20 (16 weeks) FR	BE W31 (3 weeks) BE W	-
2005	Ophélie flagrant des lits	FR28 (24 weeks) FR	-	-
2015	L'homme en rouge	FR74 (2 weeks) FR	BE W43 (1 week) BE W	-

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Filmography (selection)

• 1971: That only ever happens to the others (Ça n'arrive qu'aux autres)
• 1971: The stupid pranks of the rich (La folie des grandeurs)
• 1974: Three Glorious Musketeers (Les trois mousquetaires)
• 1976: A woman sees red (lipstick)

Awards for music sales

Golden record  France 1978: for the album Love Me Please Love Me 1991: for the album La Compilation

Platinum record  France 1996: for the album La Compilation 66/91

Diamond record  France 2008: for the video album Ze (re) tour 2007

Country / Region	gold	platinum	diamond	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
France (SNEP)	9 × gold9	5 × platinum5	diamond1	2,325,000	infodisc.fr snepmusique.com
All in all	9 × gold9	5 × platinum5	diamond1

literature

• Michel Polnareff: Polnareff par Polnareff. Autobiography. Grasset, Paris 2004.
• Christophe Lauga: Polnareffmania. Fan book. Éditions Scali, Paris 2004.
• Benoît Cachin: Polish cults. Michel Polnareff vu par ses auteurs et par lui-même. Mascara, or 0. 2007.
• Rémi Bouet: Polnareff. Au fond des yeux. Arthéléna Editions, o.0. 2007 (mainly photos).
• Philippe Margotin: Polnareff. Polnaréfernces. Editions de la Lagune, 2007 (presentation of the creation of the individual music titles).

Web links

• Michel Polnareff in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Fansite

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from February 26, 2011 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. 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: FR BEW DE CH