N°79 MICHEL DELPECH - POUR UN FLIRT

Jean-Michel Delpech, born in 1946 is a French chansonnier who belongs in the great French music history side by side with performers such as Patrick Bruel, Gilbert Bécaud, Gérard Lenorman, Serge Gainsbourg, Mylène Farmer or Charles Aznavour. I’m even forgetting some probably. Sorry about that form y French readers. For his stage name he dropped Jean in his first name and named himself simple Michel Delpech. Apart from being a singer he’s also a talented actor and writer.

His musical career was influenced through high school by the previous named artists Charles Aznavour and Gilbert Bécaud as Michel started a little band with some friends to cover their well known chanson hits. He’d continue his studies at a Paris conservatorium only to score his first song in 1963 at the age of 26. His first single was called Anatole. In 1967 he’s being asked to do the warm-up for Jacques Brel and he’s touring as Mireille Matthieu’s supporting act in the USA and the former Russian republic. They also do a few shows around Europe but in that tour he’s not always the main supporting act.

He also start to compose songs and these become hits as well. Everyone knows the song Wight is Wight by Sandie Shaw. Well Michel Delpech wrote it. He’s an active singer until the late seventies and in 1971 he’d have his biggest hit with Pour Un Flirt. Pour Un Flirt ties in the link since it’s also about flirting. Delpech breaks up with his composer Roland Vincent and instead of performing he starts to work as a song composer and writer himself. Apart from a little comeback in 1983 with Animeaux, Animeaux and the album Loin d’Ici he doesn’t create much for himself. 

Les vois du Brésil, his 1992 album is again written and produced by his old friend Roland Vincent and it appears tob e a pretty succesfull album in France. After this album Michel Delpech says goodbye to performing for 5 long years but suddenly he starts writing again and he’s releasing at an average of 1 album a year between 1997 and 2007. 

He’s always been very open about his personal life. Michel is assumed to be having troubles dealing with his early successes and his divorce in  the seventies from his first wife. He’s suffering with suicidal tendencies and depression at that time. He’d write about this period of his life in his autobiografie L'homme Qui Avait Bâti Sa Vie Sur Le Sable. Later in the eighties he’ll find happiness in love when marrying his second wife and adopting her daughter. Together with his second wife he’d write a novel in 2000 titled De Cendres et de Braises.

Now enjoy his biggest hit and the next one I can tell will be a singer who actually committed suicide. So many to choose from so who will it be? Keep checking the blog to know !