name	Henri Pélissier
fullname	Henri Pélissier
birth date	January 22, 1889
death date	May 01, 1935
birth place
discipline	Road
role	Rider
majorwins	1923 Tour de France
updated	23 May 2008 }}

Henri Pélissier (22 January 1889 – 1 May 1935) was a French racing cyclist from Paris and champion of the 1923 Tour de France. In addition to his 29 career victories, he was known for his long-standing feud with Tour founder Henri Desgrange and for protesting against the conditions endured by riders in the early years of the Tour. He was killed by his lover with the gun that his wife had used to commit suicide.

Background

Pélissier was one of four brothers, three of whom became professional cyclists. He began racing professionally in 1911 and amassed important victories before the First World War, including the 1912 Milan – San Remo and three stages in the 1914 Tour de France.

After the war he resumed competition, winning Paris–Roubaix in 1919 and entering the Tour de France for the next five years. Before the 1921 Paris–Roubaix, Pélissier and his brother Francis demanded their sponsor pay them more than racers usually received. Their request was rebuffed and they rode as individuals without team support. Henri Desgrange, organiser of the Tour de France, vowed that they would never again appear on the front page of his newspaper L'Auto, only to eat his words when Pélissier emerged the champion.

Origins

The Pélissier family came from the Auvergne region of central France. They were cattle farmers and moved to Paris to run a farm there.

René de Latour wrote in Sporting Cyclist:

Auvergnats are considered to be very tight with their money. The old Pélissiers came to Paris in wooden shoes and finished up as millionaires. They took on a farm at Auteuil, the classy part of Paris to the south-west. It was really the last farm in Paris, the two dozen cows never really knowing what fresh air meant. The two elder sons had to work for their father on leaving school at the easy but very early-morning job of delivering the milk from a horse-drawn cart. That was around 1910. The elder boy [Henri] did not think much of this. He had started bike racing, was a good amateur, and wanted to turn professional. Father Pélissier had different ideas; to him the bicycle was not a god but a devil.

Racing career

Henri Pélissier was so thin as a young man that friends called him ''Ficelle'', after France's thinnest loaf of bread. The word also means "string". One of four brothers, of whom three who became professional cyclists, he was by far the strongest. He also became known for a stubborn, difficult personality which had led his father to banish him from the family farm when he was 16. Pélissier lived alone in Paris and at 20 had become an independent, or semi-professional.

On 15 August 1911 he was walking near the Porte Maillot on the edge of Paris when he met one of the great cycling heroes of the day, Lucien Petit-Breton.

The two knew each other slightly but Pélissier was more in awe of Petit-Breton than the other way round because Petit-Breton had already ridden the Tour de France four times and won it in 1907 and 1908. He had also won Milan – San Remo in 1907, which led to a further engagement to ride in Italy. He asked Pélissier if he wanted to join him. He had six hours to make up his mind, collect his bags and bike and meet him for the 9pm train to Milan.

Their first race was the Tour of Romany-Tuscany. Pélissier crashed and didn't finish. But he won Turin-Florence-Rome and the Tour of Lombardy. He returned to ride the Tour of Lombardy the following year as well, crashing at the entrance to the horse track in Milan with Constante Girardengo, the Italian star. There were 400m to the finish and the leaders were going flat out. A heap of riders came down with them. Pélissier got back on and passed the rest before the line and the crowd was so angry at how it perceived he had ruined Girardengo's chances that they ran on to the circuit and began pushing and punching Pélissier so much that he had scramble into the judges' watchtower and wait for 80 policemen to quieten the angry spectators three metres below him.

Pélissier came second in his first Tour de France, in 1914, less than two minutes behind Philippe Thys of Belgium. He took three stages: the 10th, 12th and 15th.

Pélissier came first in 1923, at 34. He attacked on the col de l'Izoard and dropped the Belgians who had been seen as the favourites. He also won Milan – San Remo, Paris–Brussels, Paris–Roubaix twice, three Tours of Lombardy, Bordeaux–Paris and Paris–Tours.

Personality and trade union

Pélissier's life was rarely happy. He was repeatedly at war with organisers, sponsors and the press. He niggled everyone with unhidden pleasure. The organiser of the Tour, Henri Desgrange, called him "this pigheadedly arrogant champion." When he went training, he urged his friends to take it easy — 'It's important not to wear yourself out' he advised — but never let on that he'd been out at dawn for 40 kilometres' speed training.

He dismissed his rivals with a sneer. "The others are cart horses; I'm a thoroughbred," he said during the Tour de France. Next day Pélissier punctured and the whole field left him and his brother Francis 30 minutes behind.

He argued repeatedly with Desgrange, who in 1920 penalised Pélissier two minutes for leaving a flat tyre by the roadside. Pélissier left the race in protest. He then made a point of winning everywhere else for the rest of the season. Desgrange scoffed: "Pélissier can win any race except the Tour."

His disagreements and walkouts fired the public — 'it excited the public more than the boring way the flahutes rode,' as one French writer puts it — but it enraged everyone else.

Oscar Egg said:

Pélissier saw himself as a campaigner for better conditions for cyclists, whom he considered were paid little better than a pittance by their sponsors. He fought Desgrange's plan that riders in the Tour de France should be limited to equal amounts of food. Pélissier objected to what he considered other petty restrictions. In 1919 he abandoned the Tour because Desgrange would not allow him an extra glass of wine at a reception after one stage. He pulled out in 1920 because of the weather. He left on the fifth stage but he would have quit on the third had he had enough money to take the train from Morlaix. He asked followers to lend him the price of the ticket but they refused.

Pélissier rode beside Eugène Christophe to complain and Christophe persuaded him to keep riding. They rode hard — "only to keep warm', Pélissier said—and caught a group which turned out to be the leaders.

"I thought to myself, now I may as well win," he said afterwards and he did. He won the stage the next day as well and then pulled out on the fifth.

"Henri Pélissier is saturated with class but he does not know how to suffer," Desgrange wrote in L'Auto. Pélissier started a cyclists' trade union but it had only lukewarm support. Riders close to Pélissier joined it but other French riders and most foreigners stayed away, unsure they wanted to be led by a man already at war with sponsors and organisers across Europe.

Les Forçats de la route

Pélissier, Francis and another rider, Maurice Ville, abandoned the Tour at Coutances in 1924 after Desgrange had not let Pélissier to take off a jersey as the sun came up. They were met in the station café by the journalist Albert Londres, who normally wrote about social and international affairs but was following the Tour for Le Petit Parisien. Londres' piece, reproduced largely as a dialogue, appeared under the headline ''Les Forçats de la Route''.

:"You wouldn't believe that all this is about nothing more than a few jerseys. This morning, in Cherbourg, a race official came up to me and without a word, he pulled up my jersey to check that I'm not wearing two. What would you say if I pulled open your waistcoat to see if your shirt was clean? That's the way these people behave and I won't stand for it. That's what this is all about."

:"But what if you were wearing two jerseys?"

:"That's the point. If I want to, I can wear 15. What I can't do is start with two and finish with only one."

:"Why not?"

:"Because that's the rule. We don't only have to work like donkeys, we have to freeze or suffocate as well. Apparently that's an important part of the sport. So I went off to find Desgrange. 'I can't throw my jersey on the road, then?' 'No,' he said, 'you can't throw away anything provided by the organisation.' 'But this isn't the organisation's—it's mine.'

:"'I don't conduct arguments in the street,' he said. 'OK,' I said, 'if you're not prepared to talk about it in the street, I'm going back to bed.'

:"'We'll sort it all out in Brest', he said. It will definitely be sorted out in Brest, I said, because I'm quitting. And I did."

Pélissier went to his brother, Francis, told him his decision and encouraged him to do the same. Francis said that suited him because he had a bad stomach and no enthusiasm for racing. Ville said he hadn't been part of the strike but that the other two had picked him up along the road. He was too tired to go on, he said.

:"You have no idea what the Tour de France is,' Henri said. "It's a calvary. And what's more, the way to the cross only had 14 stations — we've got 15. We suffer on the road. But do you want to see how we keep going? Wait...'

:From his bag he takes a phial. "That, that's cocaine for our eyes and chloroform for our gums..."

:"Here," said Ville, tipping out the contents of his bag, "horse liniment to keep my knees warm. And pills? You want to see the pills?" They got out three boxes apiece.

:"In short," said Francis, "we run on dynamite.'

:Henri takes up the story. "You ever seen the baths at the finish? It's worth buying a ticket. You go in plastered with mud and you come out as white as a sheet. We're drained all the time by diarrhoea. Have a look at the water. We can't sleep at night. We're twitching as if we've got St Vitus's Dance. You see my shoelaces? They're leather, as hard as nails, but they're always breaking. So imagine what happens to our skin. And our toenails. I've lost six. They fall off a bit at a time all through the stage. They wouldn't treat mules the way we're treated. We're not weaklings, but my God, they treat us so brutally. And if I so much as stick a newspaper under my jersey at the start, they check to see it's still there at the finish. One day they'll start putting lumps of lead in our pocket because God made men too light."

Londres had the best colour piece he'd ever written, although Francis claimed afterwards they'd taken advantage of his gullibility by exaggerating.

Retirement

Pélissier rode his last Tour de France in 1925. He did not finish. He stopped racing in 1927. He did nothing for two years after ending his career, then returned as a motorcycle-pacer and team manager. He had little success at either. In 1932 he wrote his impressions of the Tour de France for ''Paris-Soir''. He remained bitter about those he believed treated cyclists as little better than slaves, said the broadcaster Jean-Paul Brouchon, while forgetting that cycling had made him rich.

Death

Pélissier's first wife, Léonie, despaired and shot herself in 1933. Three years later Pélissier took a lover, Camille Tharault whom he called ''Miete'', who was 20 years his junior. He threatened her with a knife at least once. He was 46 and he hadn't raced for eight years. On 1 May 1935, he and Camille had a row in the kitchen of their Norman-style villa at Fourcherolles, near Dampierre, outside Paris. Pélissier lunged at her with a knife, cutting her face. She ran to the bedroom, opened a drawer and pulled out the revolver with which Léonie had shot herself. She ran back to the kitchen and found Pélissier waiting with the knife.

At that moment both saw the other threatening and Camille pulled the trigger five times. Pélissier fell to the floor. A bullet had hit the carotid artery. His body was placed in the room where Léonie had killed herself.

Next day, Paris-Soir's headline was:

Albert Baker d'Isy wrote:

"He had few friendships because of his absolute opinions, and the way he expressed them cost him many friends... But they all bowed to the great quality of a champion that they considered the greatest French rider since the [first world] war." Léo Breton, president of the UVF, the French federation, called Pélissier the greatest rider of all time.

Camille's trial opened a year later, almost to the day. She pleaded self-defence and on 26 May 1936, she got a year's suspended jail sentence. It was as close as the court could come to acquitting her.

Memorial

Fans at the Parc des Princes bought a bas-relief memorial to Henri, Francis and Charles Pélissier and put it up at the velodrome. It was moved to the Piste Municipale after demolition of the Parc des Princes. It is on the right beyond the inner metal gate.

Major achievements

;1911 : 1st, Giro di Lombardia : 1st, Milano–Torino ;1912 : 1st, Milan – San Remo ;1913 : 1st, Giro di Lombardia : 2nd, Overall, Tour de France (and Stages 10 and 12) ;1919 : 1st, Paris–Roubaix : 1st, Bordeaux–Paris : Stages 2 and 3, Tour de France ;1920 : 1st, Giro di Lombardia : 1st, Paris–Brussels : Stages 3 and 4, Tour de France ;1921 : 1st, Paris–Roubaix ;1922 : 1st, Paris–Tours ;1923 : 20px1st, Overall, Tour de France (and Stages 3, 10 and 11) ;1924 : 1st, Overall, Vuelta al País Vasco

Grand Tour results timeline

!1912

!1913

!1914

!1915

!1916

!1917

!1918

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!1920

!1921

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!1923

!1924

!1925

Giro d'Italia>Giro

Tour de France>Tour

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Vuelta a España>Vuelta

See also

List of doping cases in cycling

References

External links

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2003/jul/03/1

Category:Deaths by firearm in France Category:French cyclists Category:Tour de France winners Category:Sportspeople from Paris Category:Doping cases in cycling Category:Murdered sportspeople Category:1889 births Category:1935 deaths

ca:Henri Pélissier da:Henri Pélissier de:Henri Pélissier es:Henri Pélissier eu:Henri Pélissier fr:Henri Pélissier it:Henri Pélissier lb:Henri Pélissier nl:Henri Pélissier ja:アンリ・ペリシエ pl:Henri Pélissier pt:Henri Pélissier sl:Henri Pélissier fi:Henri Pélissier

name	Jacques Brel
background	solo_singer
birth name	Jacques Romain Georges Brel
birth date	April 08, 1929
birth place	Schaarbeek, Belgium
death date	October 09, 1978
death place	Bobigny, France
resting place	Calvary Cemetery, Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands
genre	Chanson
occupation	Singer-songwriter, actor
years active	1953–1978
label	Philips Records, Barclay Records, Universal Records
website	www.jacquesbrel.be }}

Jacques Brel (; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed an impressive catalog of literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following in France initially, and later throughout the world. Although he recorded most of his songs in French, he became a major influence on English-speaking songwriters and performers such as David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, and Rod McKuen. English translations of his songs were recorded by many top performers in the United States, including Ray Charles, Judy Collins, John Denver, the Kingston Trio, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, Scott Walker, and Andy Williams.

In French-speaking countries, Brel was also a successful actor, appearing in ten films. He also directed two films, one of which, ''Le Far West'', was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973. Jacques Brel has sold over 25 million records worldwide, and is the third best-selling Belgian recording artist of all time.

Early years

Jacques Romain Georges Brel was born on 8 April 1929 in Schaarbeek, Belgium, a district of Brussels to Romain Brel and Elisabeth Lambertine Brel. Although his family spoke French, they were of Flemish descent, with some of the family originating from Zandvoorde, near Ypres. His father worked in an import-export firm, and later became co-director of a company that manufactured cardboard cartons. Jacques and his older brother Pierre grew up in an austere family atmosphere, attending a Catholic primary school run by the Saint-Viateur Brothers, and local Scout troop meetings. They lived at 138 Avenue du Diamant in Schaerbeek, one of the 19 Brussels communes. Jacques was close to his mother, fascinated by her generosity and sense of humor, which he inherited.

In 1941, his parents enrolled Jacques at the Saint-Louis College, at rue du Marais, near the Botanical Garden of Brussels. Although he did poorly in many subjects, he showed a talent for writing essays. He helped set up the Saint-Louis College Drama Club, and took on his first stage roles with great enthusiasm. He also wrote short stories and poems. In 1944, at the age of 15, Jacques began playing the guitar. The following year, he began forming his own theatre group with friends and writing plays.

Brel was never a good student, failing many of his exams. In August 1947, at the age of 18, Jacques went to work in the father's packaging business. To offset the boredom of his daily office routine, he joined a local Catholic youth organization, La Franche Cordée, which was dedicated to philanthropic work. In 1948, Brel also enrolled for part-time military service. By 1949, Brel become president of La Franche Cordée, and produced a number of benefit plays for the organization, including Saint Exupéry's ''Le Petit Prince''.

While working at La Franche Cordée, Brel met his future wife, Thérèse Michielsen, known to her friends as Miche. On 1 June 1950, Jacques and Miche were married at Laeken, a Brussels commune. On 6 December 1951, Miche gave birth to their first daughter, Chantal.

Music career

1953–1959

In 1952, Brel began writing songs and performing them at family gatherings and in Brussels' cabaret circuit. His family and friends were not supportive of Brel's stark lyrics and violent, emotional performances. That year he performed on a local radio station for the first time.

In January 1953, Brel performed at the cabaret La Rose Noire in Brussels. In February he signed a contract with Philips Records and recorded his first 78 rpm record, "La Foire", which was released in March. The talent scout and artistic director at the record company, Jacques Canetti, invited Brel to move to Paris. Despite his family's objections and the added pressure of a second daughter, France, born on 12 July, Brel left Brussels for Paris in the fall of 1953.

In Paris, Brel worked hard to get his career off the ground. He stayed at the Hotel Stevens and gave guitar lessons to artist-dancer Francesco Frediani to pay his rent. He found work on the cabaret circuit at venues such as L'Ecluse, L'Echelle de Jacob, and in Jacques Canetti's cabaret Les Trois Baudets.

In 1954, Brel competed in the music contest "Grand Prix de la Chanson" in Knokke-le-Zoute, finishing a disappointing 27th out of 28 participants. One positive result of the experience was that the French star Juliette Gréco requested to sing one of Brel's songs, "Ça va le diable", at her upcoming concert at the prestigious Olympia music-hall. She went on to record the song that spring. In July 1954, Brel made his first appearance at the prestigious Olympia Theatre in Paris. That summer, Brel embarked on his first French tour, appearing on the bill with French singers Dario Moreno, Philippe Clay, and Catherine Sauvage. By the end of the year, Philips released his debut album, a nine-song, 10" LP called ''Jacques Brel et Ses Chansons''.

In February 1955, Brel met Georges Pasquier (known as Jojo) who would become the singer's closest friend, manager, and personal chauffeur. He began singing with a number of Christian associations, which later led to his being called, "Abbé Brel". In March, Brel's wife and children joined him in France and the family settled in the Paris suburb of Montreuil-sous-Bois at the rue du Moulin à Vent. In June, Brel toured France again with Canetti's "Les Filles de Papa", which included Françoise Dorin, Perette Soumlex, and Suzanne Gabriello.

In March 1956, Brel performed in North Africa, Amsterdam, Lausanne, and throughout Belgium. In May 1956, Brel achieved his commercial breakthrough with his song "Quand On n'a Que l'Amour" ("If We Only Have Love"), released on his second album ''Quand On n'a Que l'Amour'', an EP record. The song reached number three on the French music charts. In July 1956, while visiting Grenoble, Brel met François Rauber, a classical pianist who would become his accompanist on future recordings. Rauber played a major role in providing Brel with the formal musical training he was lacking, and was responsible for Brel's musical arrangements.

In February 1957, Brel performed at the Alhambra Theatre with Maurice Chevalier, Michel Legrand, and ballet dancer Zizi Jeanmaire. In June 1957, Brel won the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque from the Académie Charles Cros. In September 1957, Brel appeared on the bill in the Discorama programmme "Au Palace d'Avignon" with Raymond Devos, Pierre-Jean Vaillard, and Les Trois Ménestrels. And in November 1957, Brel met pianist Gérard Jouannest, another talented pianist, who would accompany Brel during his live concerts. Brel and Jouannest would also collaborate on many of Brel's future classic songs, such as "Madeleine", "La chanson des vieux amants", and "Les Vieux".

In February 1958, Brel's wife Miche and their two children returned to live in Belgium, while Brel rented a room near Place de Clichy in Paris — a place to stay on those rare occasions when he was not touring. In March and April, Brel recorded his third album, ''Au Printemps''. In May, while touring Canada for the first time, Brel met Félix Leclerc. On August 23, Brel's third daughter, Isabelle, was born back in Belgium. In November, Brel gave a recital at the Halles d'Arlon in Luxembourg with Stéphane Steeman. And in December, Brel appeared at the Olympia as the supporting act to Philippe Clay. The pianist Gérard Jouannest and François Rauber joined Brel on stage for this performance. Brel's incredibly emotional performance brought the house down.

In January 1959, Brel signed a new recording contract with Philips Records. He continued to tour extensively throughout the year. On 22 February, Brel performed at the Bolivie Gala in the Solvay Casino in Couillet. In March, he starred at the "Trois Baudets" with Serge Gainsbourg. In September 1959, Brel recorded his fourth album, ''La Valse à Mille Temps''. During one session, on 14 September, he recorded the songs "La valse à 1000 temps" and "Les flamandes" with François Rauber and his orchestra. On 14 October, he appears at the Eden in Mouscron with Raymond Devos. On 20 November, he sang with Charles Aznavour at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels. At the close of the decade, Brel gained an impressive and enthusiastic following across France. He was so popular that he was invited to headline at an end-of-year concert at the renowned Bobino Cabaret in Paris. The concert was an enormous success. During these appearances, Brel stopped accompanying himself on the guitar in order to concentrate entirely on his increasingly theatrical vocal performances.

1960–1967

In January 1960, Brel's new impressario, Charles Marouani, organised a series of international concert tours for the singer that would take him from the French provinces to the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, Canada, and the United States. From 19-24 March, he appears at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels. On 19 October, he performed at the Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo. The year's concert tours brought him international recognition and popularity. His appearances initiated the first United States release of a Jacques Brel recording, ''American Début'', released on Columbia Records. It was a compilation of previously-released Philips tracks.

In January 1961, Brel made a triumphant return to the Bobino Theatre. By now, accordionist Jean Corti had joined Brel's touring group. Between 22 February and 12 April, he recorded his fifth album, ''5'', introducing future Brel classics "Marieke" and "Le Moribond". Brel toured Canada again in March. In Montreal, he met French actress and singer Clairette Oddera at her club on the rue Saint-Jacques. They would become good friends. While in Montreal, Brel appears with Raymond Devos at "La Comédie Canadienne". In May, Brel performed at the Kurhaus in The Hague in the Netherlands. From 12-29 October, Brel returned to the Olympia Theatre in Paris with star billing, after Marlène Dietrich cancelled at the last minute. Many critics point to these inspired performances as the turning point in his career. The audiences responded with rapturous applause, and the critics proclaimed him as the new star of French chanson.

In March 1962, Brel left Philips Records and signed a five-year contract with Barclay Records. The contact would be renewed in 1967 for another six years. His first album release for his new label was a live album, ''Enregistrement Public à l'Olympia 1961'', recorded the previous year. On 6 March, he recorded his first song for Barclay, "Le plat pays". During the second week of March, he recorded the remaining tracks for his sixth studio album, Les Bourgeois. In addition to "Le plat pays" and the title song, the new album contained the future Brel classics "Madeleine", "Les Biches", and "La Statue". In October, Brel set up his own music publishing company, Arlequin, which was soon renamed Editions Musicales Pouchenel. Brel's wife Miche was appointed company director. In November, he recorded "Les Bigotes", "Quand maman reviendra", "Les filles et les chiens", and "La Parlote" as singles.

In April 1963, Brel performs at the Bobino in Paris. In July, he headlined at the Casino in Knokke for the fifth "Coupe d'Europe de Tour de Chant". During this engagement, he performed the classic Brel song "Mathilde" for the first time. Brel also returned for another triumphant engagement at the Olympia Theatre in Paris, performing with Isabelle Aubret as the support act. Once again, Brel's performance was a critical and artistic success, with the audience leaping up from their seats in a standing ovation following Brel's emotional rendering of "Amsterdam".

The year 1964 brought a mix of personal tragedies and professional triumphs. On 8 January, Brel's father Romain died of bronchial pneumonia. Only two months later, on 7 March, his mother Elisabeth (nicknamed Mouky) also died. At the same time, he was given the Gold Medal of Brussels from the Tourist Information Bureau, and won a prize from the Société d’Auteurs Belge Belgische Auteurs Maatschappij (SABAM). He was also awarded the French Academy's Grand Prix du Disque. Brel continued his ambitious touring schedule. By the end of the year, he released a new live album, ''Enregistrement Public à l'Olympia 1964''. That year, Brel discovered a new passion, aviation. After taking flying lessons with Paul Lepanse, he purchased a small plane. In the United States, Brel's audience was growing. American poet and singer Rod McKuen began translating Brel's songs into English, and the Kingston Trio recorded one of his English versions on their ''Time to Think'' album, "Seasons in the Sun", based on Brel's "Le Moribond".

In 1965, Reprise Records licensed tracks from Barclay for a United States album titled ''Jacques Brel''. On 25 March, Brel performed at the Kurhaus of Scheveningen in the Netherlands. In October 1965, Brel completed a successful five-week tour of the former Soviet Union, which included a week's engagement at the Estrada Theatre in Moscow. On 6 November, he was back in France, recording the songs "Fernand", "Les désespérés", and "Ces gens-là" for Barclay. On 4 December, he appeared at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York City. His performance was received with high public and critical acclaim.

Under the influence of his friend Georges Pasquier ('Jojo') and pianists Gérard Jouannest and François Rauber, Brel's style changed. He was no longer a Catholic-humanist troubadour, but sang grimmer songs about love, death, and the struggle that is life. The music became more complex and his themes more diverse, exploring love (''Je t'aime'', ''Litanies pour un Retour''), society (''Les Singes'', ''Les Bourgeois'', ''Jaurès''), and spiritual concerns (''Le Bon Dieu'', ''Dites, Si c'était Vrai'', ''Fernand''). His work was not limited to one style. He was as proficient in funny compositions (''Le Lion'', ''Comment Tuer l'Amant de sa Femme...'') as in more emotional ones (''Voir un Ami Pleurer'', ''Fils de...'', ''Jojo'').

But he occasionally included parts in Dutch as in "'Marieke", and also recorded Dutch versions of a few songs such as ''Le Plat Pays'' (''Mijn vlakke land''), ''Ne me quitte pas'' (''Laat Me Niet Alleen''), ''Rosa'', ''Les Bourgeois'' (''De Burgerij'') and ''Les paumés du petit matin'' (''De Nuttelozen van de Nacht''). A rather obscure single was uncovered only a few years ago having Brel singing in Dutch ''De apen'' (''Les singes'') and ''Men vergeet niets'' (''On n'oublie rien''). These two were included in the 16 CD box ''Boîte à Bonbons''. Since his own command of Dutch was poor, most of his later Dutch interpretations were translated by Ernst van Altena, but ''De Apen'' by Eric Franssen, ''Men vergeet niets'' by well known Flemish artist Will Ferdy and ''Marieke'' was translated by Brel himself.

Acting career

He starred in the musical ''L'Homme de la Mancha (Man of La Mancha)'' which he also translated into French and directed. As an actor he gained fame playing opposite Lino Ventura in ''L'Emmerdeur'' and ''L'aventure, c'est l'aventure''. In 1969 he took the lead role opposite Claude Jade in ''Mon oncle Benjamin''. ''Le Far West'', a comedy which he directed, co-wrote and appeared in, competed for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973.

Later years

In 1974 he embarked in a yacht, planning to sail around the world. When he reached the Canary Islands, Brel was diagnosed with lung cancer. He returned to Paris for treatment and later continued his ocean voyage. He was also a keen pilot and owned several small planes, including the eponymous 'Jojo'.

In 1975 he reached the Marquesas Islands, and decided to stay, remaining there until 1977 when he returned to Paris and recorded his well-received final album. He died in 1978 at age 49 and was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia, only a few yards away from painter Paul Gauguin.

Translations of his work

Brel songs have been recorded by musicians in many languages. English versions of his songs have been recorded by a huge variety of artists too, most frequently using the translations by Mort Shuman and Eric Blau. Rod McKuen was one of the first American artists to discover and translate Brel. Canadian Terry Jacks' version of "Seasons in the Sun" became a global pop hit in 1974, topping the charts internationally. McKuen and Brel formed a close friendship, upon Brel's death, McKuen said "When news of Jacques' death came, I stayed locked in my bedroom and drank for a week."

However, his most frequently recorded song is "Ne me quitte pas" ("Don't Leave Me"), usually rather freely translated in English as "If You Go Away". Overall, there have been at least 400 different recorded versions of this standard in at least 22 different languages. Marlene Dietrich recorded "Ne me quitte pas" in German ("Bitte geh' nicht fort"). Mireille Mathieu, Nana Mouskouri, Nina Simone, Ute Lemper, Natacha Atlas, Karrin Allyson, Sandie Shaw, Flossie Malavialle and Sting recorded "Ne me quitte pas" in French. Paris-based Colombian salsa singer Yuri Buenaventura performed versions of "Ne me quitte pas" in both French and Spanish ("No Me Dejes Mas"). Russian version of the song ("Когда ты уйдёшь") was recorded by rock group Mumiy Troll. Barbra Streisand recorded the song for her 2009 album "Love Is The Answer".

English translations of Brel's songs, in particular also "Ne me quitte pas" translations, have been subject to criticism and are regarded by some as being stripped of their original lyricism. For example, Brel's "Ne me quitte pas" evocatively states, "Moi, je t'offrirai / Des perles de pluie / Venues de pays / Où il ne pleut pas" [I, I'll offer you / Pearls of rain / That come from countries / Where it doesn't rain ]. However, Rod McKuen’s English translation replaces that imagery with "But if you stay / I'll make you a day / Like no day has been / or will be again."

In 1986 Momus and more recently Barb Jungr recorded new English translations of "Ne me quitte pas" which are much nearer to the original. Jungr used a translation called "Don't leave me now" by Des de Moor. Momus translated and recorded "Don't Leave Me" because he was dissatisfied with the dominant English translations to date. "People always sing the versions by Rod McKuen, which are highly sentimentalised, or the versions by Mort Shuman which are better but still really Americanised. To me the strength of Brel is that he doesn't come from the American tradition of songwriting, it's a strongly European thing."

After McKuen and before Shuman & Blau, the Brel translation that made the greatest impact on the folk-related protest song audience of the late '60s was "The Dove" ("La Colombe"), an anti-war lament recorded both by Joan Baez and Judy Collins. This was the only translation of a Brel song to be written by Alasdair Clayre (1935-1984), an Oxford-educated Englishman who had a brief career as a singer-songwriter before becoming an author, academic and sometime producer of BBC documentaries. Clayre died on 10 January, 1984, in a British subway station, by either jumping or falling in front of a train. (See Wikipedia listing for Alasdair Clayre)

Other examples of critique include songs like "Jef", as translated by Mort Shuman and Eric Blau, bearing little resemblance to the original. Terry Jacks intended to "lighten up" "Seasons in the Sun" and thereby completely removed the cynical gist of Brel's "Le Moribond", which perhaps explains why this version became such a global pop hit in 1974.

Tom Robinson has performed and released live recordings of "Les Bourgeois" in both the original French and his own English translation adaptation, entitled "Yuppie Scum."

On their 2009 CD ''Troubadours'', American duo The Black Veils performed their own "poetic and faithful" English translations of Brel's "Ne me quitte pas" ("Don't Leave Me"), "Jaurès", "Il neige sur Liège" ("Snowfall on Liège"), and "Mai 40".

Translations to other languages, e.g. German, have also come in for much criticism. However, Ernst van Altena's Dutch early translations, partly done in cooperation with Brel himself, are generally considered to be relatively true to the original as well as poetic.

Brel's widow said that Arnold Johnston, a professor at Western Michigan University, translated Brel's work more accurately than Blau and Shuman, and eventually gave Dr. Johnston exclusive rights to translate Brel's work into English. Dr. Johnston recorded ''I'm Here!'' a collection of twenty songs, using a grant from the university.

An American musical revue of his songs, ''Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris'', which debuted in 1968, has played around the world since. The opening song of ''Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris'' is "Les Flamandes", translated by Shuman and Blau as "Marathon", which is a charming encapsulation of the United States in the 20th century (mentioning, among others, Charles Lindbergh and Sacco and Vanzetti) but it bears no relationship to the original French lyrics of the song, a tongue-in-cheek assessment of the Flemish.

Scott Walker's first three solo albums, titled ''Scott'', ''Scott 2'', and ''Scott 3'', each contain three of the Blau/Shuman translations. Several of the original songs on this album, and on the later ''Scott 4'', can be seen as heavily influenced by Brel.

David Bowie sang Brel's "Amsterdam" at a BBC session with John Peel and Evilan Tom (not released until 2000 on ''Bowie at the Beeb'') This was also released as the B-side to Sorrow in 1973 and was released as a bonus track on the 1990 reissue of Pin-ups. (Dave Van Ronk also recorded this song, earlier, on Van Ronk). Bowie also sang a translation of Brel's called "My Death", during his ''Ziggy Stardust'' era. A very popular number on his concerts, it was never recorded in studio, even though it appears on two live albums: Live Santa Monica '72 and Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture. A similar version of this song was also recorded by Show Of Hands.

Marc Almond already from his early albums with Marc and the Mambas onwards performed Brel songs, and he released his successful "Jacques" album containing solely Brel songs in 1989. He also released ''Jacky'' in 1991 as a successful single. Almond nearly always plays at least one Brel song during live concerts.

The band Vambo Marble Eye (after a Sensational Alex Harvey Band song title) from the United States recorded a version of "Next" for their 1991 album "Two Trick Pony", 18 years after an English-language version of the song by SAHB in 1973, from their "Next" album.

Notable faithful German translations have been made by Didier Caesar of the duo Stéphane & Didier. Dieter Kaiser, a Belgian-German singer, who performs internationally in public concerts with the French-German professional guitarist, Stéphane Bazire, as Stéphane & Didier, has translated 30 of Brel's songs and has gathered them in a booklet. They can also be found on the website www.deutsche-chanson-texte.de among over 100 other French chansons in German. He also issued 1 CD in German and 1 in French with various chansons of Brel. Klaus Hoffmann is another important German interpreter of Brel. Also the Austrian actor Michael Heltau, who was asked by Brel himself to record his songs, using the translation of Werner Schneyder.

Sometime in the early '80s, a second Brel revue, called "Encore Brel," was produced in Canada. This editor does not know when, where or whether it was ever performed on stage, having only a bootlegged cassette of a performance on CBC Radio. I also do not know who wrote the translations, except that Alasdair Clayre's "The Dove" was included. The revue uses mostly Brel's later songs, including two from his last album, "Friend, Don't Let Me See You Cry" ("Voir un Ami Pleurer"), and "To Grow Old" ("Vieillir").

Discography

Assembling a comprehensive Jacques Brel discography is difficult, because his recordings have been released in so many different permutations, in different countries and in different formats. Furthermore, releases of Brel's recordings are sometimes known by different titles. This discography is restricted to Brel's original albums, as collected and reissued on 23 September 2003 in the sixteen CD box set of his work ''Boîte à Bonbons'', plus the additional album ''Chansons ou Versions Inédites de Jeunesse'', which was released for the first time as part of this box set. The titles listed here are the titles used in the box set. To mark the 25th anniversary of Brel's death, Barclay Records issued ''Comme quand il était beau'' (2003), a 3 volume DVD collection of Brel interviews and live performances as well as the compilation album ''Infiniment'' (2004). Both releases include five previously unpublished songs that Brel wrote in 1977: "La Cathédrale", "L'amour est mort", "Mai 40", "Avec Élégance", and "Sans Exigences".

Studio albums

''Grand Jacques'' (1954)

''Quand On n'a Que l'Amour'' (1957)

''Au Printemps'' (1958)

''La Valse à Mille Temps'' (1959)

''5'' (1961)

''Les Bourgeois'' (1962)

''Les Bonbons'' (1966)

''Ces Gens-Là'' (1966)

''Jacques Brel '67'' (1967)

''J'arrive'' (1968)

''L'Homme de la Mancha'' (1968)

''Ne Me Quitte Pas'' (1972)

''Les Marquises'' (1977)

Live albums

''Enregistrement Public à l'Olympia 1961'' (1962)

''Enregistrement Public à l'Olympia 1964'' (1964)

Rarities

''Chansons ou Versions Inédites de Jeunesse'' (2003)

Cover versions

List of Jacques Brel cover versions

Filmography

As actor

''La Grande Peur de Monsieur Clément'' (short) (dir Paul Diebens) (1956)

''Les Risques du Métier'' (dir André Cayatte) (1967)

''Mon Oncle Benjamin'' (dir Édouard Molinaro) (1969)

''La Bande à Bonnot'' (dir Philippe Fourastié) (1969)

''Mont-Dragon'' (dir Jean Valère) (1970)

''Franz'' (dir Jacques Brel) (1971)

''Les Assassins de l'Ordre'' (dir Marcel Carné) (1971)

''L'Aventure, c'est l'Aventure'' (dir Claude Lelouch) (1972)

''Le Bar de la Fourche'' (dir Alain Levent) (1972)

''Le Far West'' (dir Jacques Brel) (1973)

''L'Emmerdeur'' (dir Edouard Molinaro) (1973)

As director

''Franz'' (1971)

''Le Far West'' (1973)

As writer

''La grande peur de Monsieur Clément'' (short) (1956)

''Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris'' (play) (1968)

''Franz'' (1971)

''Le Far West'' (1973)

As self

''Petit jour'' (short) (1960)

''Zeg hé, spaar je mee?'' (TV series) (1961)

''Tienerklanken'' (TV series) (1963)

''La grande farandole'' (TV series) (1964)

''Age tendre et tête de bois'' (TV series) (1964)

''Entrez dans la ronde'' (TV movie) (1965)

''Discorama'' (TV series) (1962-1966)

''Tid til at leve'' (TV series documentary) (1974)

''Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris'' (dir Denis Heroux) (1974)

''Stellet Licht/Silent Light'' (dir Carlos Reygadas) (2007)

References

External links

Jacques Brel website

Station Jacques Brel

* Category:1929 births Category:1978 deaths Category:People from Schaerbeek Category:Belgian actors Category:Belgian atheists Category:Belgian poets Category:Belgian male singers Category:Belgian singer-songwriters Category:Cabaret singers Category:Cancer deaths in France Category:Deaths from lung cancer Category:Former Roman Catholics Category:French-language singers

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