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All Music Guide:
Maxime le Forestier emerged in the wake of the student revolts of May 1968 to become one of France's most popular and acclaimed protest singers. In the years to follow, his music turned away from politics to tackle more personal subjects, but retained its signature honesty and authenticity. Born February 10, 1949, in Paris, le Forestier studied classical violin as a child, but at 15 he discovered pioneering chanson Georges Brassens and in response bought his first guitar. Le Forestier began his performing career at Chez Louisette, a café in the suburbs of Paris. Often he sang with his older sister Catherine as Cat et Maxime, and as their notoriety grew the duo graduated to the cabarets of the West Bank, recording a pair of singles for the Barclay label before Catherine resigned to back singer Georges Moustaki. In 1969 le Forestier was called to serve military duty. During his tenure as a parachutist, he continued his music career and made his solo debut with the Festival label release "Coeur de Pierre, Face de Lune." Upon earning his military discharge he settled briefly in Marseille, appearing in the musical comedy Oh! America before he and Catherine traveled to the U.S., living for a time in a San Francisco hippie commune. Le Forestier returned to France in 1971 and signed to the Polydor label to release the single "Mon Frère," soon followed by "San Francisco." In 1972, he issued his Bob Dylan-inspired debut LP, and in October of that year spent three weeks opening for Brassens in Paris. The attendant media attention vaulted le Forestier to the frontlines of a new generation of anti-establishment artists, and songs like "L'Education Sentimentale" were embraced by students and the working class with equal fervor.
At the end of 1974, le Forestier crowned his success with a series of sold-out appearances at the Théâtre de la Ville and at the Palais des Sports. His live shows were famous for their adherence to affordable ticket pricing, never exceeding ten francs even at the apex of his popularity. Le Forestier nevertheless courted controversy when he teamed with Léo Ferré to co-headline a benefit concert in support of Chilean political prisoners, and the 1975 LP Saltimbanque pressed so many political hot buttons that radio programmers were reluctant to add the album to playlists. In early 1976, he even mounted a 14-day tour of the Soviet Union. But in the months to follow le Forestier began to distance himself from his most polemical music, and in late 1976 he left Paris to spend a year in Canada, a journey that inspired his 1978 album n°5, a profoundly personal effort recorded in Quebec. The record fared poorly at retail, and the same fate befell its 1980 follow-up, Les Rendez-vous Manqués. Le Forestier further alienated his core audience in late 1983, when he played Paris backed by an arsenal of synthesizers. Subsequent LPs including Des Jours Meilleurs and Aftershave attracted scant attention, but in 1988 he returned to the charts with "Né Quelque Part," a hymn to racial equality featuring backing vocals by South African singer Aura. A series of sold-out concerts at Paris' Le Bataclan followed in early 1989, and a subsequent tour of the French provinces further solidified his return to commercial grace. Sales of the 1991 LP Sagesse du Fou were disappointing, although he remained a steady live draw, headlining Paris' legendary Olympia Theater in early 1992.
Le Forestier spent the next several years in relative seclusion, playing only a handful of live dates before resurfacing in mid-1995 with Passer Ma Route. Recorded in collaboration with acts spanning from pop diva Vanessa Paradis to gypsy ensemble Bratsch, the album's title cut earned Radio France Internationale's Octave de la Chanson Française award. A year later le Forestier returned with 12 Nouvelles de Brassens, a simple but heartfelt collection of Georges Brassens covers that he spent more than a year supporting on tour. His next collection of original material, L'Echo des Etoiles, did not appear until late 2000. Its centerpiece, "Les Chavaux Rebelles," was originally written for Algerian pop star Lounès Matoub, but when Matoub was assassinated before he could record the song, le Forestier cut his own version in tribute. After spending more than a year on tour with guitarist Jean-Félix Lalanne, he again dropped from sight until 2004, teaming with lyricist Elle Chouraqui to write the stage musical Gladiateur, which premiered in Paris that October.
Wikipedia:
Maxime Le Forestier (born 10 February 1949 as Bruno Le Forestier) is a French singer.
He was born in Paris to an English father and a French mother who had lived in England. He had two older sisters, Anne and Catherine.
His musical training started on the violin. He attended the Lycée Condorcet, where he studied literature.
In 1965, he formed a duo (Cat et Maxime) with his sister Catherine. Playing at cabaret venues on Paris' Left Bank, the pair met and formed a friendship with Georges Moustaki. They were amongst the first artists to cover a number of songs by Moustaki – including Ma Liberté and Ma Solitude. In 1968, Catherine joined Moustaki as a backing singer. Le Forestier began to focus on songwriting and composed Ballade pour un traître which was recorded and released by the French/Italian singer and actor, Serge Reggiani.
Le Forestier continued as part-time singer/songwriter during his military service (beginning 1969) with a parachute regiment (the inspiration for the song Parachutiste). He recorded two songs: Cœur de Pierre, Face de Lune, and La Petite Fugue.
His military service ending September 1970, Le Forestier refocused on his musical career. He developed a folksy style which was enormously popular in the 1970s and '80s. He and his sister spent the summer of 1971 living in the Castro District of San Francisco at the invitation of his friend, Luc Alexandre. The experience, and meeting Allen Ginsberg, was the inspiration of a popular song, San Francisco.
His first album Mon Frère, released in 1973, contains several pieces that have entered French folklore, including the title song Mon frère, San Francisco, Comme un arbre and Education sentimentale. He toured extensively, both in France and abroad. In 1976, he toured in 14 cities in the USSR. Recently he has gained particular acclaim for his reworkings of the songs of Georges Brassens.
C'est une maison bleue / It's a blue house
His most known song is called "San Francisco", starting with the line: "C'est une maison bleue adossée à la colline/It's a blue house backed to the hill". In 1971, the young singer was living in a hippie community, in a blue house at the following address: 3841 18th street, San Francisco. Since the summer 2011, the house is blue again, after years of painted light green (the new owners have agreed to have it repainted).
