Julien Clerc

Julien Clerc, a singer who made his name in 1968 with the hippie musical Hair, has gone on to enjoy a successful career in French chanson, with numerous hits to his credit. Born Paul-Alain Leclerc in Paris on October 4, 1947, to a senior civil servant father and a Guadeloupean mother, he took classical piano lessons and abandoned his law and English studies to devote himself to song. He appeared on the airwaves in the middle of May-1968 with a song that accidentally resonated, entitled "La Cavalerie". His image as a singer with long, curly hair faded over the years, with albums and successes, to be replaced by that of a seducer, a faithful interpreter of lyricist Étienne Roda-Gil, whom he met in his early days. Over the next decade, Julien Clerc, sometimes caricatured by his drawling vibrato, established the image of a composer with an immutable style, with a repertoire studded with catchy hits. A companion of France Gall until 1974, he sang "Ce n'est rien" (1971), "Si on chantait"(1972), "Ma préférence" (1978) and "Émilie jolie" (1980). The following years saw him move towards more rhythmic music, with titles such as "Macumba" (1979), "Lily voulait aller danser" (1982), "Coeur de rocker" (1983), "La Fille aux bas nylons" and "Mélissa " (1984), but it was with the romantic "Femmes, je vous aime" (1982) that he achieved the greatest success of his career. From one album to the next, Julien Clerc multiplied his collaborations with new songwriters after Roda-Gil's death. Françoise Hardy, Alain Souchon, David McNeil, Maxime Le Forestier, Carla Bruni, Alex Beaupain and Calogero wrote tailor-made songs for him, while tour after tour followed, including Symphonique (2012), with a full orchestra. One of France's favorite singers sees his repertoire celebrated by all generations on the collective album Duos (2019), featuring Zaz, Katerine, Vianney, Soprano, Florent Pagny, Christophe Maé and Francis Cabrel. At the age of 73, he publishes his twenty-sixth album Terrien (2021), then offers a selection of covers in Les Jours Heureux. In 2023, he hosted a radio show called Jeudi c'est Julien on Nostalgie, then set to work on the album Une Vie (2025).