Édouard Ruault, known as Eddie Barclay, was born in 1921 in Paris and became a French jazz pianist, composer, and music producer. After teaching himself to play the jazz hits he heard on the radio, he worked in his parents' café and became a bar pianist, then formed his own jazz group that played at clandestine gatherings during the Occupation with friends such as Django Reinhardt and Boris Vian. In 1949 he launched Blue Star and in 1954 founded Barclay Records. He signed and produced artists including Dalida, Henri Salvador, and The Poppys, with whom he created "Noël 70" and who sold 1.5 million 45s in the year that followed. Barclay worked with Quincy Jones and Michel Legrand, and wrote the soundtrack for Bob le flambeur (1955). After learning of the new 45 and 33 rpm microgroove records around 1950, he helped bring them to the French market, earning the nickname "empereur du microsillon." In November 1978 he sold a share of Barclay to Polygram and later retired to Saint-Tropez, and he died on 13 May 2005.
