Born in Dreux on July 31, 1934, it was his birthplace that inspired the stage name of author, composer, guitarist and performer Jean-Paul Chapuisat. The son of a soldier, he spent his childhood between Mali, Guinea, Martinique and Marseille, and was destined for a career in sports, before choosing the path of song. When he made his debut in 1959 at the cabaret Le Tire-Bouchon, he met François Deguelt and took the stage name Gilles Dreu. He went on to perform at other Parisian venues such as L'Échelle de Jacob, Don Camilo, La Colombe and Villa d'Este. In 1963, the Riviera label commissioned her to record her first songs, alongside small film roles. With his first album for the Disc'AZ label in 1968, Pourquoi Bon Dieu, Gilles Dreu scored a major hit with the song "Alouette, alouette", which launched his career on a series of albums for La Compagnie and Barclay, and other chart-toppers such as "Ma mère me disait" and "Si le cœur vous en dit" (1969), "Moïse" in a duet with Nicole Croisille (1970) and "Descendez l'escalier" (1972). Gilles Dreu performs at the Olympia (1968) and Bobino (1970), singing the theme from the film Un aller simple (1970) and the theme song from the TV series Dans la montagne (1971), composed by François de Roubaix. Host of the TV show Jamais Dreu sans trois on Télé Monte-Carlo in 1973, the singer then embarked on a long tour of French-speaking countries, as far afield as Canada and Africa. Among other film roles, he appeared in Jean-François Davy's Chaussette surprise (1978) and Claude Chabrol's Le Cri du hibou (1987), without abandoning his singing career with the albums Desesperado (1978), Terre de Lumière (1993), Les Chansons de Mes Vingt Ans (1997) and Parcours (2003). From 2006 to 2008, he toured with the production Âge tendre et têtes de bois, then at the age of 80 recorded a previously unreleased song for the compilation of the same title, Quatre Fois 20 Ans (2014). He collaborated with Didier Barbelivien and in 2017 formed the trio Les Vieilles Fripouilles with Alain Turban and Jean Sarrus (Les Charlots), based on the Vieilles Canailles of Johnny Hallyday, Eddy Mitchell and Jacques Dutronc. In the same year, he took part in the Âge tendre tour, then recorded the album Le Comptoir des Amis (2020) to mark his sixty-year career. Retired to Vals-les-Bains in Ardèche, Gilles Dreu died of cancer on January 7, 2025, aged 90.
