Johnny Hallyday

Jean-Philippe Smet (born 15 June 1943), better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday (French pronunciation: ​[dʒɔ.ni a.li.dɛ]), is a French singer and actor. An icon in the French-speaking world since the beginning of his career, he has been called "the French Elvis". He was married for 15 years to popular Bulgarian-French singer Sylvie Vartan and the two were considered a "golden couple" for 20 years. Hallyday has completed 181 tours, had 18 platinum albums, and has sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists of all time. Hallyday announced in March 2012 that he would perform in Los Angeles on 24 April, in Quebec City on 10 July, and in New York City on 7 October, and he has continued to tour throughout the world (including Europe, North America, and Asia) through 2014.

Hallyday remains largely unknown outside of the Francophone world of France, Belgium, Luxembourg , Switzerland, Canada, Guyana, Southeast Asia and Africa, thus earning the nickname "the biggest rock star you've never heard of" in English-speaking countries. Nevertheless, at an international level he is still considered as the only non-Anglophone rock musician having a large international reputation. He was made Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur in 1997.

Geomantic figures

The 16 geomantic figures are the primary symbols used in divinatory geomancy. Each geomantic figure represents a certain state of the world or the mind, and can be interpreted in various ways based upon the query put forth and the method used to generate the figures. When geomancy was introduced to Europe in the Middle Ages, the figures acquired astrological meanings and new forms of interpretation. The figures bear superficial resemblance to the ba gua, the eight trigrams used in the I Ching, a Chinese classic text.

Properties of the figures

Each of the figures is composed of four lines, each line containing either one or two points. Each line represents one of the four classical elements: from top to bottom, the lines represent fire, air, water, and earth. When a line has a single point, the element is said to be active; otherwise, with two points, the element is passive. Because there are four lines, and since each line can be either active or passive, there are 2⁴, or 16, different figures. The different combinations of elements yields different representations or manifestations of the figure's energy.

Johnny

Johnny and Johnnie refer to:

People

Line Renaud

Line Renaud (born 2 July 1928) is a popular French singer, actress and AIDS activist.

Early life

Line Renaud was born as Jacqueline Ente in Pont-de-Nieppe on 2 July 1928. Her mother Simone was a shorthand typist; her father was a truck driver during the week, but he played the trumpet on weekends, in a local brass band. Line showed the first signs of her talent in primary school, when at the age of seven she won an amateur competition.

During the Second World War, Jacqueline's father was mobilised, spending five years away from the family. During this time, Jacqueline was brought up by her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Her grandmother had a café in Armentières, where she used to sing for passing soldiers.

Early career and meeting Loulou Gasté

She auditioned at Conservatoire de Lille, singing songs written by Loulou Gasté "Sainte-Madeleine" and "Mon âme au diable". Louis Gasté was at that time a well known French composer. At the end of the audition, she was approached by the director of Radio Lille who was looking for a singer. She took the pseudonym of Jacqueline Ray and joined the station singing a repertoire based on the songs by Loulou Gasté. In 1945, she moved to Paris and got her first gig in Folies Belleville, where she was introduced to Gasté. She was 16, and Gasté was 37. He became her mentor, changing her image and her name.