Johnny Hallyday rocks off with farewell tour

by Alison Hird

Article published on the 2009-07-31 Latest update 2009-07-31 18:05 TU

Johnny Hallyday in 2006
(Photo: AFP)

After nearly 50 years as France’s most loved rock icon, with some 400 tours under his belt and 100 million albums sold, Johnny Hallyday is currently on his farewell “Tour 66” and French fans are bracing themselves for life without their idol.

He’s been called the “French Elvis”. Yet he remains virtually unknown outside the Francophone zone.

So why does he command such devotion over here?

Film director Johnnie To with Johnny Hallyday at the Cannes film festival to present Vengeance which showcased Hallyday's acting skills
(Photo: Reuters)

His leathery face, chiselled cheekbones and piercing blue eyes look out from many a billboard, not just promoting yet another album - Ca Ne Finira Jamais (It Never Ends) is the latest of his 45 to date - but on the cover of celebrity magazines alongside his fifth wife and their two adopted children, or advertising spectacles: Johnny is Mr  “Optic 2000”.

A kind of musical “man of the people”, Johnny has performed for French troops on the Clemenceau aircraft carrier and to celebrate France winning the World Cup.

At President Sarkozy’s request, he recently gave a free concert as part of Bastille Day celebrations at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. It drew around 700,000 spectators, many camping out the night before to be sure they could feel the vibes of Johnny’s renowned tremolo.

Part institution, part rock icon, Johnny, as he’s affectionately known, is reaching new heights of popularity as he prepares to quit the stage in favour of more time on the silver screen and with his family.

When he made the announcement back in 2007 he said the main reason was to avoid disappointing his fans and looking “pathetic” on stage.

Love him or loathe him, Johnny is anything but pathetic. And this is perhaps the key to his success.

He’s a great showman, what the French call a bête de scene, a true showman, the only performer sure of packing out huge stadiums like the Stade de France. Eighty-thousand spectators attended each of the three concerts held there in May this year.

In a world where play-back is becoming common, where Madonna thinks it’s OK to perform for just an hour, where Britney struggles to remember which city she’s in, Johnny is one of the few remaining rock stars, along with Bruce Springsteen, to give 101 per cent on stage.

He regularly sweats it out for three hours non-stop against a backdrop of dry ice and fireworks. “Allumer le feu!” (Set this house on fire) has become his slogan, but he’ll equally get down on bended knee and croon into the mike with disarming sincerity. 

French fans care little if rock hits like Que je t’aime (How I love you) lose a little romanticism in translation.  “My body on your body, heavy like a dead horse,” is unlikely to win over even animal-loving Anglophone women.

But when Johnny belts it out, the French roar with delight.

After in Paris Johnny Lounge by Johnny Hallyday

And some songs like  Quelque chose de Tennessee by Michel Berger are just great. It’s not, as you might imagine, a homage to the hometown of Johnny’s idol  Elvis but a moving elegy to American writer Tennnesse Williams. 

On stage, Johnny never appears to be going through the motions. Rémi Bouet, president of the official Hallyday fan club, Limited Access, says the star also gives a lot off the stage, too.

“Club members regularly get to meet him in the flesh,” he explains. “They get a little extra, they’re not just a number.” 

One young member, Paul la Boulet, recently managed to get a ring to Johnny via his wife Laetitia and the star later came up and thanked him in person. Overwhelmed, the 20-year-old told RFI he was left speechless. He just cried.

Like that other French icon, Tintin, it’s often said Johnny appeals to everyone from seven to 77. In reality, it would seem his fan-base in even wider.

“Someone recently enrolled their baby,” says Bouet with a grin, and an 84-year-old reenrolled this year.”

He admits however the vast majority of the fan base are in their 50s and 60s, people who’ve grown up with him.

Like 60-something Fabienne who’s followed Johnny from his debut in 1959 aged just 16. Like many a devoted fan she’s lived a kind of parallel life.

“No other generation’s been lucky enough to have a singer going through the decades with you like that” she says. "We’ve shared his ups and downs. It’s like he’s part of the family."

And ups and downs there’ve been.

Hallyday arrives to inaugurate the Zenith concert hall of Saint-Etienne in 2008
(Photo: AFP)

Abandoned by both parents and brought up by an aunt, Johnny got off to a rough start. Married five times, he’s had a tumultuous love life.

He’s no stranger to depression either. In the late 60s he attempted suicide after his career started to flounder: a period that gave rise to a very bleak cover of the Los Bravos hit “Black is Black”. Noir, c’est Noir il n’y a plus d’espoir (Black is black, all hope is gone) became a huge hit.

In 1985 he collapsed on stage - and read reports of his death. But he continued his tour despite doctor’s orders.

Then in 2003, a former employee accused him of rape but no charges were ever brought.

He’s also battled with drink and drugs and has made no secret of an addiction to cocaine.

But none of this seems to have seriously tarnished his reputation. On the contrary, he’s seen as a survivor, a lovable rogue. He may be richissime, but he’s suffered.

Of course he has his detractors: the French intelligentsia tend to mock him as an ageing Anglo-Saxon rockabilly clone and the political left have denounced his move to avoid paying hefty French taxes by residing mainly in Switzerland.

One French website invites you to boycott Johnny, arguing he’s raking in the money, an estimated six million euros a year, thanks to his French fans while refusing to pay French taxes.

Such criticism seems only to render fans more ardent. 

“Leave Johnny alone,” you can read on the website “If you were earning that much, you’d  do the same”.

But will Johnny be able to continue his lavish lifestyle once his lucrative touring ends in November with a final concert in Clermont Ferrand? His farewell may be just an au revoir.