Michel Delpech

Jean-Michel Delpech (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ miʃɛl dɛlpɛʃ]; 26 January 1946 – 2 January 2016), known as Michel Delpech, was a French singer-songwriter and actor.

Family
Jean-Michel Bertrand Delpech was born the 26th January in 1946 in Courbevoie, a city located in the Parisian suburbs. Part of the baby boom, he was the son of Bertrand Charles Delpech, a chrome metal plater and Christiane Cécile Marie Josselin, a housewife. He had two younger sisters named Catherine and Martine.

His maternal family (Josselin) are winegrowers in Gyé-sur-Seine in the Aube department. His father's ancestral home is in Sologne, more specifically in Dhuizon, where his hairdresser grandfather lived and also in La Ferté-Saint-Cyr, where his uncles and cousins worked as grocers, loggers and farmers. The young Michel spent weekends and holidays with his provincial family, sometimes working in his aunt’s grocery store.

Career debuts
His parents having moved to Cormeilles-en-Parisis in Seine-et-Oise (today known as Val-d’Oise), Jean-Michel Delpech studied at the Chabanne college and in the Pontoise’s Camille-Pissarro high school between 1961 and 1964.

As a teenager, he became passionate about famous classic singers like Luis Mariano, and then great names from the 1950s like Gilbert Bécaud and Charles Aznavour. In 1963, while in high school, he created a little orchestra with his schoolmates.

Before taking his final exams, he left high school in January 1964 to focus on singing. He took a chance by attending an audition in Paris to join the disque Vogue record company. At age 18, he released his first record called Anatole, and met composer Roland Vincent. While going to Roland’s house based in Saint-Cloud for a working session, he rethinks about his high school years and about the café he used to go with his mates after the school day. On the train, between Saint Lazare and Saint Cloud train station, he writes the lyrics of Chez Laurette, for which Roland Vincent felt seduced and inspired and quickly found a melody. Released the 1st of May 1965, during the yé yé period, this nostalgic teenager music wasn't a success at its release, but thanks to the numerous radio streams, he started to experience a slight celebrity.

In 1965, Michel Delpech attended a musical comedy Copains-Clopant, which was featured for 6 months, before at the Michodière theater and then at the Gymnase Theater in Paris: the integration of the Chez Laurette Music helped him to be famous. During this musical comedy, Delpech meets Chantal Simon, who he sang a song with. Then he’ll marry her at the age of 20 in 1966.

The same year, under the Festival Label, he recorded its 2nd 45 laps : Inventaire 1966, new stepping stone towards the star status. As Jacques Prévert and as a tribute to the poetry, he compiles in the verse of the music, a list of news such as the Vietnam War, the miniskirt, the Courrèges boots, the Cacharel trend, the flower shirts, etc. Still in 1966, he made the first part during 38 shows of Jacques Brel who said goodbye to the Olympia.

Success
In 1967, Johnny Stark, Mireille Mathieu’s manager takes Michel Delpech in charge and helps him to build up his star image. As the opener of “La chanteuse d’Avignon”, he starts an international tour from West Germany, to USSR and United States. Same year, he quits the Festival record company and moves to Barclay.

In 1968, he receives the Grand prix of the French song award, for his song “Il y a des jours où on ferait mieux de rester au lit”,  (there are some days where you’d better stay in bed) written with Jean Jacques Debout.

It’s an ear of success, in France and abroad : Wight Is Wight (November 1969) (in memory of rock Festival of the Wight island, Et Paul chantait yesterday, (tribute to the Beatles who are breaking up), Pour un flirt (May 1971). Wight is wight, right in the Hippie era, is being sold at more than a million pieces in Europe.

The very romantic Pour un flirt is a hit in French speaking countries, and in the Netherlands. His German version is hitting the charts in West Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. In just 4 months, more than 4 millions units are being sold. The singer himself is surprised: “I didn’t expect the verses to have so much potential", he said.

In 1970, the singer leaves his manager Johnny Stark to benefit a much wider artistic liberty, and 2 years later, stops his collaboration with Rolland Vincent looking for other writers.

Now a big star, he’s playing at the Olympia, during 3 weeks in a row in January 1972.

In 1973, his breakup with Chantal Somin (who left him) and his co-writer Jean Michel Rivat break up with Christine Haas inspire him the song Les Divorcés, where he speaks about peaceful break up, whereas it’s actually really painful. As this songs contrasts with the usual breezy and happy tone of previous Michel  Delpech songs, Barclay company is afraid this song will have a negative impact on the singer, and they are very hesitant to release the song. They finally accept. Good for them, it’s a success with more than hundred of thousands sales. The impact of the lyrics on the society is so big that the mutual agreement divorce law will be adopted 3 years later.

From 1973, success after success, with Que Marianne était jolie, Le Chasseur (1974), or Quand j'étais chanteur (1975).

In 1977, he sings Le Loir-et-Cher, a song that speaks with tenderness and irony about Loire et Cher inhabitants, where he was born. "On dirait que ça te gêne de marcher dans la boue, on dirait que ca te gêne de dîner avec nous" (Looks like you don’t want to walk in the mud, looks like you don’t want to have dinner with us) is an illustration of the sometime hard and difficult relationship between cities and country sides.

Career
He was born in Courbevoie, France. In 1963, Delpech released his debut hit "Anatole" on Disques Vogue. In 1964, Delpech met Roland Vincent, and a long singing songwriting partnership ensued, with Delpech being signed to Festival French record label.

In 1965, he took part in the music comedy Copains Clopant that had a six-month run and made him popular, particularly through his interpretation of "Chez Laurette". He was the opening act for Jacques Brel's goodbye concert at the Paris Olympia. In 1967, he collaborated with Johnny Stark. In 1968, he won the "Grand Prix du Disque" award for "Il y a des jours où on ferait mieux de rester au lit".

Then he left Vogue to sign with Barclay Records. At the peak of his success, he recorded "Wight Is Wight" in tribute to the Isle of Wight Festival, a famous rock festival on the Isle of Wight that became his best known song. It sold over one million copies in Europe, and was awarded gold disc status.

'Pour un Flirt' was a second smash hit. It charted in the French-speaking countries around the globe as well in the Netherlands, and a version in German brought him charts success in West Germany, Austria and Switzerland. An English translation, Flirt, made the Top 20 in the UK.

The early 1970s brought separation from Johnny Stark for two years, and the end of the long collaboration with Roland Vincent, his first-ever writer. He had some new releases but with limited success. In the 1980s, he enjoyed a comeback and released the album Loin d'ici. A compilation album followed in 1989. He continued releasing albums and making concerts. In December 2006, he released an album of duets Michel Delpech and that topped the French Albums Chart for one week (week of 21–27 January 2007). He also engaged on a French tour.

Personal life

 * In 1966, he met Chantal Simon whom he married. Later on the couple divorced, and Delpech suffered depression. He searched for relief in religions, mainly Buddhism and later the Catholic faith.
 * In the 1970s, there were also many rumours about attempted suicides, but he denied these rumours in a later biography.
 * In 1983, he met Geneviève Garnier-Fabre, a French artist and they married in 1985.
 * In 1990, he had a son, Emmanuel. He became a talented guitarist and joined his father in his concerts since 2007.
 * In 2007, Pascal Louvrier wrote a biography about him titled Michel Delpech - Mis à Nu published on Editions Perrin.
 * In 2011, he played the role of Françoit Gouriot in Beloved (French title: Les Bien-aimés)
 * In 2011, he was a guest of honor for the sixth season of Âge tendre et Têtes de bois broadcast in France, Belgium and Switzerland.

Death
Delpech had long been a heavy smoker, going through a pack of cigarettes daily starting at the age of 18 and quitting only after his diagnosis to throat cancer in 2013. He died at a hospital in Puteaux, France on 2 January 2016 at the age of 69.

Albums

 * Compilations


 * Live albums

Singles

 * Disques Vogue
 * Festival
 * Barclay
 * Pathé-Marconi / EMI / Charles Talar Records
 * Carrèr
 * Tréma