Etienne Roda-Gil

The songwriter whose oeuvre arguably best defines the People from france nouvelle chanson, Etienne Roda-Gil was created August 1, 1941, in Montauban, France, the merchandise of a family group of Spanish Republicans forced to flee their homeland from the rise of Francisco Franco and his fascist loss of life squads. His father’s ardent perception in Communist ideals and his mother’s great like of tango music demonstrated equally formidable causes in the youthful Roda-Gil’s advancement, although as students at Paris’ exclusive Henri-IV Lycée he announced his motives to pursue a profession in teaching. In 1959 he was known as to serve in the Algerian discord but refused to battle, looking for refuge in London and spending another nine years immersing himself in the city’s bohemian counterculture. Roda-Gil came back to Paris in 1968, operating odd careers and haunting students café, L’Ecritoire, on the area de la Sorbonne. There he fulfilled 20-year-old college student and aspiring musician Julien Clerc, who asked Roda-Gil to include lyrics to 1 of his initial melodies — the effect was “La Cavallerie,” a sardonic protest track that produced Clerc an immediately superstar and surfaced among the anthems from the 1968 pupil rebellions. The Clerc/Roda-Gil cooperation would become perhaps one of the most effective in French pop, producing some classic strikes including “La Californie,” “Ce N’est Rien,” “Si On Chantait,” “Le Patineur,” “This Melody,” “Elle Voulait Qu’on l’Appelle Venise,” “Ça Fait Pleurer le Bon Dieu,” and “Utile.” Such was Clerc’s popularity that Roda-Gil became children name in his very own correct, and he shortly began composing for various other performers, including Mort Shuman’s 1972 strike “Lac Majeur” and Claude François’ “Magnolias Forever.” As time passes his romantic relationship with Clerc grew strained, as the vocalist publicly complained that he was sick and tired of supporters asking him to describe Roda-Gil’s complex, frequently polemical lyrics — eventually, they didn’t speak for near 2 decades, until Clerc announced a truce by participating in the funeral of Roda-Gil’s wife Nadine in 1997. In the interim Roda-Gil authored strikes including Angelo Branduardi’s 1979 smash “Le Seigneur des Baux” and Richard Cocciante’s 1983 work “Sincérité” furthermore to attempting his hands at stage musicals, you start with 1979’s 36 Entrance Populaire. On / off for about twelve years, he also collaborated with Green Floyd frontman Roger Waters on the never-finished rock and roll opera predicated on the occasions from the French Trend that they designed to premiere through the landmark event’s 1989 bicentennial. In 1987 Roda-Gil was asked to create for the 14-year-old ingénue Vanessa Paradis, leading to the worldwide smash “Joe Le Taxi cab”; he continued to create her strikes “Marilyn et John” and “Maxou.” In 1989, he made up Mirador, a full-length recording for Johnny Hallyday, and four years later on helmed Gréco, the return recording that revitalized the profession of Juliette Gréco after a seven-year lack from the limelight. A recluse in the ultimate many years of his existence, Roda-Gil died of the stroke on, may 30, 2004 — his loss of life was front-page information in France, where actually Chief executive Jacques Chirac commemorated the passage of a “songwriting genius.”