Adieu Bashung!

French music loses one of its biggest stars

Paris 

16/03/2009 - 

The French music star Alain Bashung died in Paris on Saturday 14 March. The singer, who was 61, had been suffering from lung cancer. Renowned for his dark, brooding melodies and intellectual lyrics, Bashung was a man possessed of great wit, great elegance and inimitable style. He ranked as one of the most fascinating artists the French music scene has produced to date although he remains little-known outside France.

On February 28 this year, Bashung appeared at the "Victoires de la musique" awards, cutting a frail, thin figure behind his dark glasses. He swept the board at the awards ceremony, carrying off trophies for 'Best Male Artist of the Year', 'Best Album' (for his latest opus Bleu pétrole) and 'Best Tour.' Despite the fact that his lung cancer was beginning to take an increasing toll, Bashung had battled on on the road in recent months, performing a series of show-stopping concerts charged with emotion.

As news of the singer's death spread and tributes flooded in from music stars and political figures, many a Bashung fan must have remembered the singer's immortal declaration on Angora: "J’crains plus la mandragore/ J’crains plus mon destin / J’crains plus rien" ("I no longer fear the mandrake/ I no longer fear my destiny/ I no longer fear anything.") Bashung was never a singer who sought glory and idolatry in the spotlight, never a man who ran after fame for fame's sake. He was a modest, shy and retiring artist who consistently trusted in his instinct, flying in the face of music trends and ignoring his fiercest critics. As a result, he forged one of the most interesting and atypical careers in French rock history.

Born in Paris on 1 December 1947, the young Alain was sent off to live with his grandparents in Alsace. The soundtrack of his childhood years was made up of local church music, German radio and French chanson classics. Bashung's first great music idols were Georges Brassens and Serge Gainsbourg. But when he returned to live in the Paris region at the age of thirteen he discovered the thrill of American rock 'n'roll via Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent and Elvis Presley. Their music had a powerful effect on the French teenager and, in 1962, young Alain formed his own band, playng a mix of rockabilly, country and American folk. The band toured the French provinces over the next couple of years, but once Alain had passed his accountancy exams he caved in to family pressure and went to work for Rhône-Poulenc. Bashung was not destined to sit at his desk plying his calculator for long, however.

Bashung moved back to Paris and started playing the bar circuit on an almost nightly basis with his band. In 1966, he released his first single, Pourquoi rêvez-vous des Etats-Unis, and this was swiftly backed up by T'as qu'à dire Yeah the following year. The singles failed to make any kind of impact, however, and the young singer found himself demoralised and playing to half-empty halls. Bashung hung on and his first minor breakthrough came in 1968 when his Chère petite chose made it to number 28 in the Salut les Copains hit-parade. Two years on, Bashung was introduced to Serge Gainsbourg's songwriter Boris Bergman and this influential encounter was to boost his career. In 1977, Bergman helped Bashung record a groundbreaking album under his own name. The tortured rock opus Roulette Russe spawned a hit single, Bijou Bijou. But it was in 1980 that Bashung's fortunes finally changed with the release of Gaby oh Gaby, a cult single that rocketed him onto the music mainstream and sold millions of copies. Thanks to the chart success of another hit single, Vertige de l'amour, Bashung's next album, Pizza, cemented his reputation in 1981.

Despite a series of falling-outs with Bergman, Bashung continued his rise to fame. In 1981, he packed out the legendary Parisian venue L'Olympia and collaborated with his idol Serge Gainsbourg on his next album, Play Blessures. Two years later, Bashung became a father for the first time and turned a corner in his personal life, breaking with his 'black years' of depression and drugs. Bashung teamed up with Bergman again in 1986 and headed off to the U.K. to record Passé le Rio Grande, a record which won him 'Best Album of the Year' at the "Victoires de la Musique" Awards in 1987. Meanwhile, Bashung also branched out in a new direction and made his name as a film actor. Time spent on set meant that fans had to wait until 1991 for a new Bashung album, Osez Joséphine, which won him a further three "Victoires de la musique" awards.

In 1998, Bashung was back at the forefront of the French music scene with Fantaisie militaire, a particularly personal opus on which the singer (who had just turned fifty) spoke more openly about private issues. Bashung's poetic sensibility, his sensitivity and his self-deprecatory lyrics impressed the critics once again and he walked off with another three trophies at the "Victoires de la musique" awards in 1999 including 'Best Male Artist of the Year.'

In June 2001, Bashung married Chloé Mons, an actress 26 years his junior with whom he had a second child. In 2003, husband and wife teamed up together in the studio to record the album Le Cantique des cantiques. Bashung also released a new solo offering, L'imprudence, a dark, brooding opus full of ultra-long tracks that many fans hailed as the best of his career.

Bashung made a major comeback on the recording front in March 2008 with a new album entitled Bleu pétrole. Breaking with his usual brooding poetry and mystery-laden songwriting, Bleu Pétrole appealed to a wider public, featuring more classic arrangements and more accessible lyrics. Once again, Bashung wrongfooted those who sought to pigeon-hole him and remained true to his artistic soul. While France mourns the loss of a music "prince", Bashung's impressive body of work is set to live on as a lasting legacy. 

Pauline Borde and Fleur De La Haye

Translation : Julie  Street