Ferré, Léo (1916-93). Singer-songwriter, composer, conductor, also poet, novelist. He is one of the masters of the genre of chanson française. His unfulfilled ambitions as a classical composer and his love of French poetry combined to produce some of the most memorable of modern popular songs (‘Jolie Môme’, 1960; ‘Avec le temps’, 1972), including settings of poems by Rutebeuf, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Apollinaire, and Aragon. His career began in the night-clubs of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in 1947, and he developed slowly from Left-Bank cult figure to nationally known music-hall star by 1960. Transformed by the combination of a domestic crisis and the events of May 1968, his long-held anarchist sympathies led him to express the revolt of a younger generation in violent texts, declaimed rather than sung against the accompaniment of a rock band (‘Le Chien’, 1969) or a symphony orchestra (‘Il n'y a plus rien’, 1973). He moved to Italy in the early 1970s, and his subsequent self-produced recordings celebrated his love of classical music and his identification with the Romantic figure of the artist as prophet and outcast (‘Les Artistes’, 1977).
Representative Albums: "Avec le Temps," "Thank You Ferré," "Léo Ferré"
Biography
Although little known in English speaking countries, Léo Ferré (1916-1993) is a monument of French chanson, revered throughout the francophone world. A singer, songwriter, author, composer, and even orchestra conductor, he is mostly remembered for songs like "Avec le Temps," "Les Anarchistes," and "Jolie Môme." His career began in the cabaret and took him through four decades and a number of styles, but his best material and his popularity peak happened in the ‘60s and early ‘70s, as the generation of May ‘68 adopted him as an anarchist figure.
Léo Ferré was born and raised in the principality of Monaco, between France and Italy. Throughout his life, the artist would live and work in the two countries alternately, even recording a few songs in Italian. He completed his college studies in 1934 in Rome. Since his father refused to let him go to the music conservatory, he went to Paris for studies in law, earning a diploma in Political Sciences in 1939. The second World War dragged him into the military and upon Paris' capitulation he fled back to Monaco. He got married for the first time in 1943, began to work at Radio Monte-Carlo, and wrote his first songs.
After the Liberation (1945) Ferré gave his first performances in Parisian cabarets, encouraged by Charles Trenet, Edith Piaf, and Juliette Gréco who would sing many of his songs. His first wife divorced him in 1950. Shortly after, he met Madeleine Rabereau, who would become his second wife and have a decisive influence on his career, pushing him constantly forward. He cut his first 78 rpms for Le Chant du Monde and wrote his first piece of "serious" music, the oratorio "La Chanson du Mal-Aimé." In 1953, Ferré was signed by the record label Odéon and recorded his first LP which includes "Paris-Canaille."
In the late ‘50s and early ‘60s he recorded a series of albums devoted to French poets, interspersed with LPs of his own songs. His lyrics alternate between love topics and a social commentary that grows more and more bitter: "Thank You Satan," "Mon Général" (against Charles De Gaulle), "Ni Dieu, Ni Maître." When the events of May ‘68 take place, Ferré is at a popular and artistic peak. Now forever associated to the Anarchist movement, he let himself be transported by the younger generation. He abandoned the over-emphatic, theatrical style of singing that was also Jacques Brel's trademark, recorded and toured with the rock group Zoo, and included monologues in his concerts. In October 1970 came out the single "Avec le Temps." It became his signature song.
Starting in 1975, Ferré attempted a career in classical music, conducting orchestras for his works and classics (he recorded works by Beethoven and Ravel). For the next decade he continued to release albums and tour, but his prime had passed. His writings and television appearances were feeding his popularity more than his musical production of the time, and by 1985 he had considerably slowed down his activities. He was preparing a come back to the stage when illness struck in 1992. He died in July 1993 at age 77. ~ François Couture, All Music Guide
Born in Monaco, Ferré mixed love and melancholy with moral anarchy, lyricism with slang, rhyming verse with prose monologues. He moved from music-hall to orchestral music, breaking free from the traditional song structure during the 1970s, inventing his own musical territory, powerfully dramatic and unique. He also set to music several poems by the French poètes maudits, such as François Villon, Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, and Arthur Rimbaud, as well as French poets from the 20th century like Guillaume Apollinaire and Louis Aragon.
He took a central place in the French song world and is a prominent figure in this domain. He was involved in anarchism and worked with Radio Libertaire, an anarchist free radio broadcasting in Paris and around France. Along with Georges Brassens and Jacques Brel, he is considered one of the greatest composers and writers of French songs.
