Jacques Higelin

All Music Guide:

Jacques Higelin was born in Brou-sur-Chantereine, a working-class village east of Paris, on October 18, 1940. Jacques' father was both a railroad worker and a music enthusiast who supported his son's love of performing from a young age. Jacques' interests turned toward jazz, and he began singing at the cinemas and on radio competitions while still a boy. By his early teens, he had quit school and gotten work as a stunt man, earning small contracts at first, but soon performing full-time. His film work had him rubbing shoulders with people like Sidney Bechet and film composer Henri Crolla, who taught him guitar. After a brief stint at the René Simon School of Drama and two years of military service, Higelin went back to working in cinema and café-theater. By the mid-'60s, he had made a name for himself, and was offered his first opportunity to record. Douze Chansons d'Avant le Deluge was shortly followed by Quinze Chansons d'Avant le Deluge, both renderings of Boris Vian's songs recorded with Brigitte Fontaine. Higelin continued to turn even more attention toward music, using the medium to express his leftist political ideals. The early '70s found Higelin as a beloved native son of the Parisian artistic underground. In 1971 he released his first solo record, Jacques "Crabouif" Higelin, comprised entirely of his own compositions. He found a new voice in the mid-'70s rock era with his record BBH 75, followed by Irradie a few years later. Musical grit combined with a poet's attention to verse would come to characterize his career. Through the '80s and '90s and into the new millennium, Higelin has continued to write and record prolifically, releasing a new project every few years straight up to 2006's Amor Doloroso.

Wikipedia:

Jacques Joseph Victor Higelin (born 18 October 1940 in Brou-sur-Chantereine, Seine-et-Marne, France) is a French pop singer who rose to prominence in the early 1970s. Early in his career, many of Higelin's songs were effectively blacklisted from French radio because of his controversial left wing political beliefs, and his association with socialist groups. He and his wife, Kuelan, are the parent of actor Ken Higelin, he also has a daughter Izïa Higelin (singer) with Aziza and an elder son Arthur H (famous French singer) with Nicole Courtois.

Higelin's entertainment career began at age 14, when he left school to work as a stunt double. While playing a number of small roles in various motion pictures, Higelin was taught to play the guitar by Henri Crolla, an French-Italian jazz guitarist and film composer. By the early sixties, Higelin was attending the René Simon drama school, where he won the François Perier award.

For two years starting in 1961, Higelin served in the French military in various countries. Upon returning to France, he resumed his cinematic career, but increasingly began to focus on music over film. By the end of the decade, he was also very active in the artistic underground in Paris, and he began to channel his music towards radical militancy. He began attracting popular attention through his live concerts, typically held in smaller venues, and released his first solo album, in 1971. By the middle of the 1970s, Higelin had become one of France's most successful musicians, and he remains influential to this day. The CD featured performances by: Nina Hagen, Tore Kunda, Trio Esperança, Princess Erika, Spencer Davis, Amina, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Annette Austin, and a 72 voices of members of "The Genesis Choir" and "The Reverend Martin Luther King Choir" recorded at studio "Z", Sacramento, California. European performer's recorded at Ferber Studios, Paris France.