Nicolas Peyrac

Born Jean-Jacques Tazartez on October 6, 1949 in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, Nicolas Peyrac grew up mainly in Brittany. He began studying medicine, to which he devoted six years, and at the same time became interested in music and writing. The singer then opted for a pseudonym, Nicolas Peyrac, under which he wrote his first compositions. After proposing them to others (Marie Laforêt, Gérard Lenorman and Patrick Juvet), Peyrac chose to perform his own songs, and enjoyed his first successes in 1975. Audiences were particularly seduced by "So Far Away From L.A." (1975), in which his guitar accompanies a text in French and English. The singer went on to record a string of hits, including "Et Mon Père" (1975), "Mississipi River" (1976) and "Je Pars" (1977), followed by albums such as " D'où Venez-Vous " (1975), " Jumbo " (1976) and " Et La Fête Est Finie ..." (1977), as well as concerts at the Olympia in 1979 and Bobino in 1981. Nicolas Peyrac became an important figure in French popular culture, appearing on the silver screen (for Serge Pénard's film Ils Sont Fous Ces Normands in 1981), and composing for some of the biggest names in French chanson, including Johnny Halliday's "Je N'Oublierai Jamais " (1982). The early 1990s saw Nicolas Peyrac halt his ascent, affected by depression and the death of his mother, before a comeback with Tempête Sur Ouessant (1993), the singer's thirteenth studio album, released in Montreal. The following year, he wrote his first novel, Qu'Importe Le Boulevard Où Tu M'Attends (1994), and returned to Paris to perform at the Casino de Paris in 1996 and again at Bobino in 1997. Nicolas Peyrac's dense productivity has made him a key figure on the French variété scene, and his thirty-year career was celebrated in 2005 with the compilation Ne Me Parlez Pas De Couleurs. Continuing his rich career as an artist, he unveils a twenty-second studio album in 2018, Suffit Que Tu Oses, and a fourth novel in 2022, Sans Oublier Qu'On S'est Aimés. Despite health problems, including a diagnosis of leukemia in 2013, the singer manages to maintain his productivity.