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Alain Bashung (born December 1, 1947) is a French singer, songwriter and actor.
He was born in Paris.
Despite being an undisputed heavy in the intellectual rock category, Alain Bashung has never been one to take himself seriously - like Lacan, he has a fondness for lightening up his often tortuous lyrics with apparently simplistic puns. Aided and abetted by wordsmith cronies Bergman and Fauque, he has signed a handful of modern French masterpieces, songs so musically sophisticated and rich it takes time to fully take them in. We are only beginning to discover just how much of a mark Bashung has left on the last two decades.
Born in Paris on December 1st 1947, Alain Baschung (with a c) was sent away to Alsace when he was one, to the village of Wingersheim near Strasbourg. His parents were worried about his health, so Alain ended up spending his entire childhood there, his paternal grandparents bringing him up in a conservative rural community (where there was precious little time for sentiment or imagination). In 1959, at twelve years old, Alain left this austere rural world to go and live in the Paris suburbs, in Boulogne-Billancourt, where his mother soon found work in a local rubber factory.
Rock'n'roll
Alsace was a long way from the capital and from French music. Alain had grown up listening to German radio stations, but returned to Paris as a young adolescent, he soon discovered all the great French artists, from Brassens to Brel. Then, at the beginning of the Sixties, came the discovery of rock'n'roll, and with it his fascination for Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent and, of course, Elvis. Alain had no great taste for school and in 1962 he set up his own group with some friends. At first their repertoire oscillated between country and rockabilly, then evolved towards rythm and blues and finally American folk, particularly Dylan. Finally, in 1963 Alain gave up the drudgery of his accountancy studies and left home. At sixteen, he went on the road with his group, playing local dances, provincial hotels and restaurants and, of course, the very best venues of all, the next best thing to the land of dreams itself, the American military bases.
One thing led to another and Alain Bashung (he anglicised the name by dropping the c) found himself working as arranger for RCA. In 1966, at 19 years old, he recorded his first singles, "Pourquoi rêvez-vous des Etats-Unis?", "T'es vieux t'es moche" and "Petit Garçon" . A long, lean period of only limited success had begun: in only a few years he brought out more than ten singles, some under the pseudonym of David Bergen. He was also writing for some of the ephemeral stars of the day including Noël Deschamps ("Ho la hey" ). Bashung wasn't happy with the type of career his record company had cut out for him. He had been modelled into a romantic singer, half rock half crooner. He did numerous tours, playing only in obscure clubs and half-empty dance halls. Neverthelss, he hung on through thick and thin, weathering successive musical fads, knowing that music alone made him tick and nothing was going to stop him making a career out of it."
In 1973, Bashung was chosen to play Robespierre in a musical comedy about the French Revolution written by Claude-Michel Schönberg (who went on to compose the blockbuster "Les Miserables"). Around that time, after a month's military service, he met French rock musician Dick Rivers, previously in the Chats Sauvages. He became the singer's right-hand man (composer, musician, etc), and in doing so discovered a whole new side the music business.
Gaby
After ten years in the business, Bashung's career still hadn't taken off, but this all changed after meeting Andy Scott, a brilliant studio musician, and lyrics writer Boris Bergman. With them, he at last found the freedom to express himself musically, and the result was his highly personal and very late first album, "Romans Photos". At the height of the punk explosion, Bashung came up with a unique blend of cynicism and rock, with Bergman's lyrics pun-packed lyrics playing around with the French language. But fans received this shift away from the familiar Bashung of the previous ten years gingerly and gave the album only a lukewarm reception.
In 1979, with his second album, "Roulette Russe", the rock component came to the fore, and its sombre, even tortured mood was accentuated by Bashung's inimitable voice. Two numbers remain a cut above the rest: "Bijou bijou" and "Toujours sur la ligne blanche". However, Bashung's big break came in 1980, with the release of "Gaby" . For the first time in his career, he reached a wide public. The single sold a million and "Roulette Russe" was re-released with "Gaby" - which has since become a cult title in the French repertoire - on it.
Things went from better to better with the release of the resolutely rock album, "Pizza" , in 1981. Recorded in London, the disc was long-awaited by critics and public, both curious to sample Bashung's follow-up to his huge first hit. The song "Vertige de l'Amour" went straight to the top of the charts, outselling even the biggest anglo-saxon artists. Bashung went on tour in May and June, playing now in the most prestigous venues, beginning with l'Olympia on June 3rd. Now a major box office draw, he received the Bus d'Acier award from the French rock press.
Vestige de l'humour
In 1982, a Bashung dream came true when he worked with one of the masters of French music, Serge Gainsbourg, on "Play Blessures". Gainsbourg signed most of the lyrics, which reflected the cutting, poetic sense of humour and a taste for linguistic absurdities shared by the two artists. Bashung, who had never sought stardom at any price and who had known many a lean year, now wanted to put fun first and foremost. The result: a more complex album which sold less.
The following year, Bashung's son Arthur was born, and his father made one of those idiosychratic changes in musical direction which some might call professional suicide. After "Play Blessures", he further disorientate his following with "Figure imposée", whose lyrics were more abstruse than ever and whose musical influences were muddled. Only "What's in a bird" stands out. However, thanks to his faithful following, Bashung easily weathered the album's commercial flop.
1985 saw a swing the other way with two hit singles one after the other: "SOS Amor" and "Touche pas à mon pote", whose proceeds went to the anti-racist organisation, SOS Racisme. From March 14th to April 27th, he went on the road with a highly successful French tour. The stage show, with its gloomy atmospherics, was impressive, and Bashung exercised a definite fascination on audiences. On June 15th, along with a host of other French speaking artists, he took part in a gala performance in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Later, in November, he released a live album of highlights of the French tour.
With Boris Bergman still writing the lyrics, Bashung brought out a new album in 1987, "Passé le Rio Grande". Yet, despite his apparently limitless creative freedom and drive and apart from two popular numbers, the critics gave his fifth album a lukewarm reception. Nevertheless, in the spring of '86, the French musical profession awarded Alain Bashung the Victoire de la Musique for best album. He was on tour again in France and Canada throughout 1987, beginning with the Grand Rex in Paris on February 4th.
Pleasures and victories
1988 was a sabbatical year, spent at home recording "Novice", released in 1989. The album, bizarre and cerebral, marked yet another unforeseeable change in direction and the beginning of Bashung's collaboration with Jean Fauque, a young songwriter totally at home in the singer's highly personal world. The quality of their work began to show through clearly in the following album, "Osez Joséphine", recorded in 1991. Both a critical and commercial success, the album was recorded in Brussels and Memphis, capital of the blues and country music Bashung loves so much. In Memphis, working with an American musician, Sonny Landreth, he recorded astonishing cover versions of Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan and Moody Blues numbers, and three Baschung-Fauque songs, "Osez Joséphine", "Volutes" and "Madame Rêve". Appealing to even wider public than usual: the album sold more than 350.000 copies and received three Victoires de la Musique awards, including Performer and Song of the year.
In 1992, Baschung did a cover of another standard, French this time, "Les Mots Bleus" by singer Christophe. The recording was exclusively released on an AIDS benefit compilation organised by Etienne Daho.
The success of his last album undoubtedly triggered the 1993 release of a nine CD complete works set, which included previously unreleased material. The package enabled new fans who had discovered Bashung with "Osez Josephine" to immerse themselves in the torn and sensual world of the artist's whole repertoire.
Chinese nights
On the back of these recent triumphs, and happy to carry on working with Jean Fauque, Alain Bashung began recording with the producers of the previous album (Phil Délire, Djoum and himself). The result, "Chatterton", released in 1994, was disconcerting, a quality which has become a defining trait of Bashung's work. Sonny Landreth worked on the disc along with a host of other guests including Link Wray, Ally McErlaine (from Texas) and French jazz musicians Marc Ribot and Stéphane Belmondo. The two year tour which began in October at L'Olympia ended, after numerous interruptions, in November 1996 at the Bataclan. Highlights were the Zenith in March 95, the Printemps de Bourges Festival in April and the Eurockéennes in Belfort in July 96. A live album, "Confession publiques", came out late in 96.
At the end of 94, the singer became actor again, shooting "Ma Soeur Chinoise" by Alain Mazars on location in China. From 1983 on, Bashung had made regular screen appearances, often in difficult roles, and had often been praised by the critics.
Military Fantasies
At the end of 1997, Alain Bashung brought out a new single, "La nuit je mens", on the album "Fantaisie Militaire", released at the very beginning of 1998. Co-written for the most part with Jean Fauque, this intimate and deeply moving album also featured tracks co-signed by Rodolphe Burger (of Kat Onoma), Les Valentins and Jean-Marc Lederman (of Front 242). The fifty year-old artist's texts bear the deep scars of amorous wounds and express a certain suffering more clearly than in the past, without abandoning his highly personal sense of derision.
In February 99 Bashung swept the board at the 'Victoires de la Musique' (the annual French music awards), winning Best Album of the Year (for "Fantaisie militaire"), Best Video (for Jacques Audiard's clip accompanying the single "la Nuit je mens") and Best Male Artist of the Year.
After a four-year absence from the live circuit, Bashung made his stage comeback in Paris on June 2nd 1999, appearing alongside Rodolphe Burger at the latter's show at Le Bataclan. The following year the singer triumphed at the "Victoires de la musique Awards" once again, carrying off the award for Best Soundtrack (for the music he wrote for Pierre Jolivet's film "Ma petite entreprise").
June 30th 2001 proved to be a memorable date in Bashung's personal life as it was on this day the singer married Chloé Mons (a 28-year-old artist from the Lille region) in Audinghen, Pas-de-Calais. The couple had celebrated the birth of their first child just a few months earlier.
A remarkable artist, Alain Bashung invaded the French musical landscape with charactistic casualness and a touch of irony. In carving out his highly personal brand of rock he has never been afraid of taking risks, whether in his music or in his lyrics. His career has been an unusual one and one can but admire his constant drive to write, sing and perform, whether crowned with success or not.
Wide landscapes
On the eve of his 55th birthday, Alain Bashung released his eleventh album, "L'Imprudence", which his fans have praised as his best so far. His faithful companions, such as lyricist Jean Fauque, musicians Simon Edwards (bass), Martyn Baker (drums), and Marc Ribot (guitar) accompanied him as usual. This time round, Bashung also invited some new names, among which the Breton artist Miossec, the Swiss Mobile in Motion and the American Arto Lindsay. The black cover echoed the rather dark general atmosphere of the album, which was also enhanced by relatively long tracks. One of Bashung’s most personal and tender albums, it also reflected his extensive musical culture.
At the same time as “Imprudence”, an album recorded with his wife Chloe came out, entitled “Le Cantique des Cantiques”. A personal, haunting work which seals the almost symbiotic bond of understanding between these newly-weds.
In 2003, Bashung the actor appeared again, this time in a film by Jean Marboeuf, “Le P’tit Curieux”. His film collection is growing (13 films).
The serious business started last autumn : On the 9th of October 2003, Alain Bashung gave his first concert for 8 years in Brussels (Belgium). It was the starting point for the “Tournee des grands espaces”, which came to France in 2004 (one of the highlights was the beautiful concert at the Printemps de Bourges on the 24th of April), and then went to Switzerland, Belgium and Canada. The concerts were very rock-orientated, very rehearsed, and with sophisticated visuals incorporating images projected on to two giant video screens by the artist Dominique Gonzales-Foerster. The final number was invariably a duo with his wife, Chloe Mons, who also keenly took part in this stage revival. The tour was a success and the summer of 2004 saw the release of a CD booklet of 31 hits and a DVD.
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Certainly one of the most peculiar French artists, Alain Bashung has slowly invaded the French music scene with his offhand attitude and ironical wit. Along the years, his songs have reflected his very personal rendering of Rock music, featuring bold musical and lyrical experiments. A unique musician with a unique career, Bashung has always shown a dogged determination as far as music was concerned.
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