Author, composer, guitarist and performer born in Paris on April 25, 1948, Gilbert Laffaille studied modern literature at Nanterre and taught French at Saint-Cloud before turning definitively to song. After a few years as a tour guide in Asia, he presented his first songs in Parisian cabarets and wrote "Le Président et l'éléphant", the title of the first album released by the Festival label in 1977. Noted for this satirical piece, Gilbert Laffaille was invited to the 2nd Printemps de Bourges (1978) and signed with the Accord label, which released the album Nettoyage de Printemps... (1978), awarded the Prix de l'Académie Charles-Cros, followed by Kaléidoscope (1980), Live in Chatou (1981) and Folie Douce (1983). Awarded the Prix Raoul-Breton by the Sacem and the Grand Prix of the Spa Festival (Belgium) in 1980, the singer performed a series of concerts in France and toured throughout Europe, as well as the United States and Japan. He recorded the albums L'Année du Rat (1985), Travelling (1988) and Ici (1994), which won the Grand Prix de l'Académie Charles-Cros. While a number of performers took up his bittersweet repertoire, tinged with humor and poetry, Gilbert Laffaille published the collection of thoughts La Ballade des pendules (1994) and recorded the albums Tout M'Étonne (1996) and La Tête Ailleurs (1999), which gave its name to a second work prefaced in 2004 by an admirer, the writer Philippe Delerm, then Dimanche Après-Midi (2002) and Piano - Voix (2003). The death of his wife in 2005 led him to give up songwriting until a public collaboration with Nathalie Fortin. He writes lyrics for children's books, and in 2011 receives the Prix Jacques Douai, before returning to the stage in 2013, simultaneously with the release of the album Le Jour et la Nuit. An anthology of his early records, Les Beaux Débuts! featuring 69 songs, will be released in 2020.
