TamTam Books News Friday, July 23, 2004: From the Guardian U.K. Sacha Distel Smooth-voiced entertainer who brought the charm of the chanson from Paris to London Patrick O'Connor Friday July 23, 2004 The Guardian The international entertainer Sacha Distel, who has died aged 71 after a long illness, provided the safe face of French masculine charm in the 1960s. While his countrymen Serge Gainsbourg and Johnny Hallyday appeared subversive and dangerous, Sacha - with his boyish grin and courteous charm - appealed not only across the generations but to audiences in Britain and America. His father, Léo Distel, was a White Russian soldier who fled the Bolshevik revolution in 1917 and walked all the way to Paris. He established himself in an engineering firm, and married Andrée Ventura, a talented pianist and sister of Ray Ventura, who, with his group Les Collégiens, was one of the top bandleaders in France before the second world war. Their son was born in Paris, and grew up in a world full of backstage gossip and music. The family was partly Jewish, and although Ray Ventura went to America during the war, his sister was not so fortunate. In 1942, she was arrested by the Gestapo and interned in a German camp. Although she survived, and was reunited with her family after the liberation of France in 1944, their son Sacha always said that this traumatic experience left him with a deep insecurity for the rest of his life. In 1948, he heard the jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie's first Paris concert, which proved a revelation - he promptly abandoned piano for the guitar. Ray Ventura's band had many of the best instrumentalists in France in its line-up, and in his teens Sacha started to take lessons with the famous guitarist and composer Henri Salvador (author of Rock And Rollmops and Le Blues Du Dentiste). In 1951, Sacha won first prize in a nationwide competition for guitar, and went on to hold the top place three years running. His first visit to New York, in 1952, proved another inspiration. The fusion of modern American jazz and the postwar style of French song - what became known as the Saint Germain sound - suited Distel's talents. He accompanied Juliette Gréco, the greatest chanteuse of the day, and also worked with Georges Brassens, for many the most inspired songwriter-singer of the 1950s. Distel made his first recordings as an instrumentalist in the middle of that decade, with Lionel Hampton (French New Sound) and the Modern Jazz Quartet (Afternoon In Paris). A shortlived romance with Brigitte Bardot in 1958 put his photograph on the cover of every French fan magazine, and shortly afterwards he began his career as a vocalist. One of his first singles was a tribute to Bardot, entitled Brigitte À Jamais. It was the French version of an American hit, Scoubidou, in 1959, that catapulted Distel to the top. The song became what one historian called "L'hymne de la jeunesse en France". Dozens of other songs followed, among them O Quelle Nuit, Personnalités, Mon Beau Chapeau, Le Boogie Du Bébé, Scandale Dans La Famille, Ces Mots Stupides and L'Incendie À Rio. In 1967, he recorded Stevie Wonder's You Are The Sunshine with Brigitte Bardot, as Le Soleil De Ma Vie. In 1963, Distel married the alpine ski champion Francine Bréaud, and the following year composed and recorded one of his greatest successes, La Bell e Vie. At first only the B-side of a 45rpm single, it was taken up by Frank Sinatra and others as The Good Life. In 1971, the French version of Burt Bacharach's Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head, a song featured in the film Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, became an international hit for Distel, and launched him on a second career as a television music-show host. He had already had a success in France with a TV programme, Guitares et Copains, but the Sacha show became a fixture for several years. During the 1970s, he spent more time abroad - especially in Britain - than in France, but as the fashions changed he returned to his first love, the guitar, and recorded Ma Premiere Guitare, and, in 1983, Ma Guitare And All That Jazz. Distel nursed an ambition to write a stage musical about the life of Maurice Chevalier, and although this was never achieved, his career resembled Chevalier's in some respects. Both developed a separate international persona, while holding on to a more specialised repertory and image for French viewers and listeners. In 2001, Distel appeared as the crooked lawyer Billy Flynn in the London production of Chicago, and last year he brought out two new CDs. True to form, one was a collection of American standards, in which he was joined by Liza Minnelli, the other a new set of French songs, which won him a final accolade from the French music industry. He was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1997. · Sacha Distel, singer and entertainer, born January 29 1933; died July 22 2004 Tosh // 12:59 AM ______________________ Comments: Post a Comment
From the Guardian U.K. Sacha Distel Smooth-voiced entertainer who brought the charm of the chanson from Paris to London Patrick O'Connor Friday July 23, 2004 The Guardian The international entertainer Sacha Distel, who has died aged 71 after a long illness, provided the safe face of French masculine charm in the 1960s. While his countrymen Serge Gainsbourg and Johnny Hallyday appeared subversive and dangerous, Sacha - with his boyish grin and courteous charm - appealed not only across the generations but to audiences in Britain and America. His father, Léo Distel, was a White Russian soldier who fled the Bolshevik revolution in 1917 and walked all the way to Paris. He established himself in an engineering firm, and married Andrée Ventura, a talented pianist and sister of Ray Ventura, who, with his group Les Collégiens, was one of the top bandleaders in France before the second world war. Their son was born in Paris, and grew up in a world full of backstage gossip and music. The family was partly Jewish, and although Ray Ventura went to America during the war, his sister was not so fortunate. In 1942, she was arrested by the Gestapo and interned in a German camp. Although she survived, and was reunited with her family after the liberation of France in 1944, their son Sacha always said that this traumatic experience left him with a deep insecurity for the rest of his life. In 1948, he heard the jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie's first Paris concert, which proved a revelation - he promptly abandoned piano for the guitar. Ray Ventura's band had many of the best instrumentalists in France in its line-up, and in his teens Sacha started to take lessons with the famous guitarist and composer Henri Salvador (author of Rock And Rollmops and Le Blues Du Dentiste). In 1951, Sacha won first prize in a nationwide competition for guitar, and went on to hold the top place three years running. His first visit to New York, in 1952, proved another inspiration. The fusion of modern American jazz and the postwar style of French song - what became known as the Saint Germain sound - suited Distel's talents. He accompanied Juliette Gréco, the greatest chanteuse of the day, and also worked with Georges Brassens, for many the most inspired songwriter-singer of the 1950s. Distel made his first recordings as an instrumentalist in the middle of that decade, with Lionel Hampton (French New Sound) and the Modern Jazz Quartet (Afternoon In Paris). A shortlived romance with Brigitte Bardot in 1958 put his photograph on the cover of every French fan magazine, and shortly afterwards he began his career as a vocalist. One of his first singles was a tribute to Bardot, entitled Brigitte À Jamais. It was the French version of an American hit, Scoubidou, in 1959, that catapulted Distel to the top. The song became what one historian called "L'hymne de la jeunesse en France". Dozens of other songs followed, among them O Quelle Nuit, Personnalités, Mon Beau Chapeau, Le Boogie Du Bébé, Scandale Dans La Famille, Ces Mots Stupides and L'Incendie À Rio. In 1967, he recorded Stevie Wonder's You Are The Sunshine with Brigitte Bardot, as Le Soleil De Ma Vie. In 1963, Distel married the alpine ski champion Francine Bréaud, and the following year composed and recorded one of his greatest successes, La Bell e Vie. At first only the B-side of a 45rpm single, it was taken up by Frank Sinatra and others as The Good Life. In 1971, the French version of Burt Bacharach's Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head, a song featured in the film Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, became an international hit for Distel, and launched him on a second career as a television music-show host. He had already had a success in France with a TV programme, Guitares et Copains, but the Sacha show became a fixture for several years. During the 1970s, he spent more time abroad - especially in Britain - than in France, but as the fashions changed he returned to his first love, the guitar, and recorded Ma Premiere Guitare, and, in 1983, Ma Guitare And All That Jazz. Distel nursed an ambition to write a stage musical about the life of Maurice Chevalier, and although this was never achieved, his career resembled Chevalier's in some respects. Both developed a separate international persona, while holding on to a more specialised repertory and image for French viewers and listeners. In 2001, Distel appeared as the crooked lawyer Billy Flynn in the London production of Chicago, and last year he brought out two new CDs. True to form, one was a collection of American standards, in which he was joined by Liza Minnelli, the other a new set of French songs, which won him a final accolade from the French music industry. He was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1997. · Sacha Distel, singer and entertainer, born January 29 1933; died July 22 2004 Tosh // 12:59 AM
