Jean Ferrat

Author, composer and performer as well known for his songs as for his political commitment, Jean Ferrat is considered one of the most important figures in French chanson. Born Jean Tennenbaum in Vaucresson, near Paris, on December 26, 1930, to a Russian father of the Jewish faith and a French mother from the Auvergne, he grew up in Versailles and then Paris, seeing his father deported to the Drancy camp and then to Auschwitz, where he was killed during the Second World War. After giving up his chemistry studies to work, he took drama classes and devoted himself to music, first as a guitarist in a jazz orchestra, then as a performer at the Parisian cabaret La Colombe. In addition to his first songs, he adapted Louis Aragon's poem Les Yeux d'Elsa for André Claveau, which was a hit in 1956. At the same time as he was scouring the cabarets of the Left Bank, he met Christine Sèvres, who was to become his wife and a career partner. Noticed by the Vogue label, he recorded his first album in 1958, then signed with Decca for his first hit, "Ma môme". He changed his pseudonyms from Jean Laroche and Noël Frank to Jean Ferrat, and befriended Eddie Barclay, who signed him to his label. From then on, his fame grew with the SACEM prize for the album Deux Enfants au Soleil (1961), followed by Nuit et Brouillard (1963), a grand-prix from the Académie Charles-Cros in which his political commitment is highlighted. In 1964, he released La Montagne and the song of the same name, which became his best-known title. Between sentimental songs and committed, sometimes censored lyrics such as "Potemkine" (1965), Jean Ferrat established himself as a leading songwriter and melodist, drawing large audiences to every concert. In 1971, he released one of his greatest hits, "Aimer à perdre la raison", from the album Ferrat Chante Aragon, before bidding farewell to the stage the following year. back on the recording front with La Femme Est l'Avenir de l'Homme (1975), he has since recorded for the Temey label, which he set up with music publisher Gérard Meys. In 1980, this friendship gave rise to a series of eleven albums of re-recorded old songs, while the original Ferrat 80 album brought him a new audience with the titles "Le Bilan" and "Oural ouralou". This was followed by the albums Je Ne Suis Qu'Un Cri in 1985, Dans la Jungle ou Dans le Zoo in 1991 and Ferrat 95, featuring only adaptations of Aragon's poems, between compilations such as L'Intégrale 1961-1991 and Ferrat/Aragon. Retired to his farm in Ardèche, Jean Ferrat died on March 13, 2010 at the age of 79.