Cladue Antoine Francois
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Cladue Antoine Francois
CLAUDE ANTOINE FRANCOIS
Claude Marie Antoine Francois was born in Egypt, on the first of February 1939.
His father Aimé François was French, and he worked on the Suez Canal, he was a strict man with his children, but he loved them.
His mother Lucia Mazzei François (mainly called Chouffa) was Italian, and in comparison was much more relaxed with her children, and she was very close to Claude, in fact Claude later was to say that she was his best friend.
Claude had one sister, Marie-Jose born 28th August 1935, he called her Josette
In 1956 the family had to leave Egypt, due to it being nationalized. Claude was 17 years old, and unhappy about leaving Egypt and his friends. They returned to France and settled on the Riviera.
On their return to France life was hard, as they had very little money, and for a short time Claude worked in a bank. His father became very ill, and Claude worked hard to provide money for food and medicine.
He started to play the drums with orchestra's in big hotels. He saw how the rich and famous lived, they left money tips on tables for the waitresses, that was for more than Claude earned for the night.
He went into the kitchens, and saw food on plates that was being wasted, so he put plastic bags in his suit pockets before he left home, and put the left over food in his pockets, to take home for his mother. Eventually he began to sing with the bands and earned a little more money. Claude decided to go to Paris to further his career.
Claude recorded his first disc called 'Nabout Twist', which was not very successful. Then came the big success he wanted in October 1962 with the song 'Belles, Belles, Belles', it sold 1.7 million records.
This launched a fabulous career he was later to found his own record label 'Fleche'.
He made spectacular programs for television, designing many of the sets, and contributed towards the scripts. He went on tour with his shows with his backing dancers 'The Clodette's'. The spectacle was lavish, with amazing dance routines, for which he did some of the choreography, and they wore fantastic costumes, which he sometimes designed himself.
In 1967 he recorded a song called 'Comme d'habitude', which he also co- wrote the words and music for, it was a great hit in France, and it is about the break up of his relationship with the French singer France Gall.
Paul Anka was on holiday in France, heard the song and wrote new lyrics for it in English, it was to become one of the most famous songs in the world, it is the song 'MY WAY',
Claude was very proud of it.
In 1974 the record 'Le Telephone Pleure' sold more than 2 million copies.
Claude came to the United Kingdom in 1975 and released 'Tears on the Telephone' (Le Telephone Pleure) which was in the U.K. charts at number 35. He was on quite a few television programmes in the U.K. and was becoming very popular.
Also in 1975, Claude is staying at the Hilton Hotel in London, when it is bombed by the IRA,
he suffers burst eardrums.
In January 1978 had his own show at the Royal Albert Hall.
6,000 people were at the concert.
On March 9/10 in Switzerland, he recorded a television special called 'Snowtimes Special' for the United Kingdom, and he was very pleased with it.
The next day March 11th 1978 after returning home to France, he was preparing to go to yet another television recording, 'Rendezvous du Dimanche', with his friend Michel Drucker and he decided to have a bath. After bathing he noticed a light bulb over the bath needed changing, and with his feet still in water, reached up to remove it. He was to suffer a fatal electric shock.
The news of his death came as a terrible shock to his family, especially his mother.
His fans were inconsolable, and he is mourned to this day.
But I, and I am sure you too, will celebrate the fact, that he has left us the great legacy of his music, which will continue to give enormous pleasure to fans, old and new.
Claude Marie Antoine Francois was born in Egypt, on the first of February 1939.
His father Aimé François was French, and he worked on the Suez Canal, he was a strict man with his children, but he loved them.
His mother Lucia Mazzei François (mainly called Chouffa) was Italian, and in comparison was much more relaxed with her children, and she was very close to Claude, in fact Claude later was to say that she was his best friend.
Claude had one sister, Marie-Jose born 28th August 1935, he called her Josette
In 1956 the family had to leave Egypt, due to it being nationalized. Claude was 17 years old, and unhappy about leaving Egypt and his friends. They returned to France and settled on the Riviera.
On their return to France life was hard, as they had very little money, and for a short time Claude worked in a bank. His father became very ill, and Claude worked hard to provide money for food and medicine.
He started to play the drums with orchestra's in big hotels. He saw how the rich and famous lived, they left money tips on tables for the waitresses, that was for more than Claude earned for the night.
He went into the kitchens, and saw food on plates that was being wasted, so he put plastic bags in his suit pockets before he left home, and put the left over food in his pockets, to take home for his mother. Eventually he began to sing with the bands and earned a little more money. Claude decided to go to Paris to further his career.
Claude recorded his first disc called 'Nabout Twist', which was not very successful. Then came the big success he wanted in October 1962 with the song 'Belles, Belles, Belles', it sold 1.7 million records.
This launched a fabulous career he was later to found his own record label 'Fleche'.
He made spectacular programs for television, designing many of the sets, and contributed towards the scripts. He went on tour with his shows with his backing dancers 'The Clodette's'. The spectacle was lavish, with amazing dance routines, for which he did some of the choreography, and they wore fantastic costumes, which he sometimes designed himself.
In 1967 he recorded a song called 'Comme d'habitude', which he also co- wrote the words and music for, it was a great hit in France, and it is about the break up of his relationship with the French singer France Gall.
Paul Anka was on holiday in France, heard the song and wrote new lyrics for it in English, it was to become one of the most famous songs in the world, it is the song 'MY WAY',
Claude was very proud of it.
In 1974 the record 'Le Telephone Pleure' sold more than 2 million copies.
Claude came to the United Kingdom in 1975 and released 'Tears on the Telephone' (Le Telephone Pleure) which was in the U.K. charts at number 35. He was on quite a few television programmes in the U.K. and was becoming very popular.
Also in 1975, Claude is staying at the Hilton Hotel in London, when it is bombed by the IRA,
he suffers burst eardrums.
In January 1978 had his own show at the Royal Albert Hall.
6,000 people were at the concert.
On March 9/10 in Switzerland, he recorded a television special called 'Snowtimes Special' for the United Kingdom, and he was very pleased with it.
The next day March 11th 1978 after returning home to France, he was preparing to go to yet another television recording, 'Rendezvous du Dimanche', with his friend Michel Drucker and he decided to have a bath. After bathing he noticed a light bulb over the bath needed changing, and with his feet still in water, reached up to remove it. He was to suffer a fatal electric shock.
The news of his death came as a terrible shock to his family, especially his mother.
His fans were inconsolable, and he is mourned to this day.
But I, and I am sure you too, will celebrate the fact, that he has left us the great legacy of his music, which will continue to give enormous pleasure to fans, old and new.
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- Mesaj Sayısı : 61
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Kayıt tarihi : 31/05/07
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