Alain Bashung
Alain Bashung (born Alain Claude Baschung; 1 December 1947 – 14 March 2009) was a French singer, songwriter and actor. Credited with reviving the French chanson in "a time of French musical turmoil", he is often regarded in his home country as the most important French rock musician after Serge Gainsbourg. He rose to prominence in the early 1980s with hit songs such as "Gaby oh Gaby" and "Vertige de l'amour", and later had a string of hit records from the 1990s onward, such as "Osez Joséphine", "Ma petite entreprise" and "La nuit je mens". He has had an influence on many later French artists, and is the most awarded artist in the Victoires de la Musique history with 12 victories obtained throughout his career.
Bashung's Play blessures (1982), Osez Joséphine (1991), and Fantaisie militaire (1998) have made multiple French lists of the greatest albums. L'Imprudence (2002) and Bleu pétrole (2008), the last two studio albums released during his lifetime, also garnered acclaim. Bashung died at 61 after a two-year fight with lung cancer.
Alain Baschung (he later dropped the "c" from his surname) was the son of a Breton mother working in a rubber factory and an Algerian father, whom he never knew. His mother remarried, and at the age of one, Bashung was sent to Wingersheim, near Strasbourg to live with his stepfather's parents. He spent his childhood in the countryside, in a rather conservative environment, alongside a grandmother who did not speak French. He discovered music during his childhood, notably Kurt Weill's Mahagonny, and began to practice with a Rosebud harmonica offered to him when he was five. He also practiced basketball and cycling and sang in the church choir of Wingersheim.
He came back to Paris in 1959, where he discovered the great chanson artists, and then rock artists such as Gene Vincent, Buddy Holly (whom he admired deeply), and Elvis Presley. While studying (before dropping out after he was awarded a BTS in accountancy from the École nationale de commerce in 1965), he formed a band called Les Dunces playing folk music and rockabilly.
He later formed a band with musicians met in Royan, and then began to tour in restaurants, hotels and U.S. military bases. He began his career with his first EP, "Pourquoi rêvez-vous des États-Unis?" in 1966, which he wrote and composed. At the same time, he joined the RCA label to become a music arranger. He wrote songs for French artists. In June 1967, at the Palais des Sports of Paris, he was the opening act (alongside Noël Deschamps and Ronnie Bird) of artists such as the Pretty Things, the Troggs or Cream.
In 1968, he released his first single, "Les Romantiques", which was largely ignored by the public and unsuccessful. Around that time, he dropped the "c" from his name and spent some time at the house of fellow singer Christophe.
From 1972 to 1974, he composed some of the music and cowrote three albums and three singles (including "Marilou") for French rock singer Dick Rivers. In 1973, he played Robespierre in the musical La Révolution française by Claude-Michel Schönberg. ...
Source: Article "Alain Bashung" from Wikipedia in english, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 4.612 |
Birthday | 1947-12-01 |
Place of Birth | Paris, France |
Also Known As | Alain Claude Baschung, |
2008
I Always Wanted to Be a Gangster
7.2/85
Told in four vignettes, this existential comedy relates the exploits of four aspiring criminals who hope to improve their lot, but find that they migh...
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I Always Wanted to Be a Gangster
1987
Le Beauf
5.045/22
Gilbert, assigned to incinerate old banknotes at the Bank of France, lives with his wife, Gisèle, and his young son, Thomas. A few years earlier, he h...
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Le Beauf
1982
Nestor Burma, détective de choc
4.714/7
Detective Nestor Burma begins an investigation into the corrupt drug-ridden punk rock music world.
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Nestor Burma, détective de choc
2001
Felix and Lola
5.75/8
Félix, operator of dodgem cars in a fairground, becomes obsessed by one of his customers, a mysterious young woman named Lola. Félix soon discovers th...
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Felix and Lola
1999
I Want It All
4.2/4
The collision between family life and career lies at the heart of this comedy hailing from France. A mother of two small children, Eva's life goes fro...
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I Want It All
2004
The Curious Boy
5.6/4
Clement, nine, curious about everything, wants to understand life. Camera in hand, he walks the streets of his small provincial town, following and st...
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The Curious Boy
1993
A Shadow of a Doubt
6.2/4
Aline Issermann's "Shades of Doubt" ("L'Ombre du Doute"), a French film about a wrenching family crisis, is set forth with remarkable restraint. The s...
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A Shadow of a Doubt
1999
My Father, My Mother, My Brothers and My Sisters
5.8/10
Young single mother has two sons and a daughter by three different fathers who are completely unaware of having fathered them. Anne's mother conjures...
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My Father, My Mother, My Brothers and My Sisters
2003
Bashung, Alain - La tournée des grands espaces
8/2
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Bashung, Alain - La tournée des grands espaces
2000
Confusion of Genders
4.8/18
Bisexual attorney Alain is bedding his female boss, his murderer client, the client's hairdresser girlfriend, and a precocious boy who knows what he w...
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Confusion of Genders
1994
My Chinese Sister
9/1
In 1977, one year after Mao died, a French man ( played by Alain Bashung) comes back to China to work as a school teacher with his daughter. He quickl...
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My Chinese Sister
1991
Nothing But Lies
6/2
Frustrated with her life, a Parisian tells her philandering husband about her lover.
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Nothing But Lies
2014
Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart
7.217/695
In Scotland 1874, Jack is born on the coldest day ever. Because of the extreme cold, his heart stops beating. The responsible midwife in Edinburgh fin...
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Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart
1983
Car Cemetery
4.9/8
The plot is set in a post apocalyptic Junkyard where people take refuge from authority and are able to practice their fantasies and fetishes without b...
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Car Cemetery
2002
La bande du drugstore
5.3/6
In the sixties, the Drugstore "minets" were the best dressed, believed only in themselves and imagined themselves reinventing everything. The drag, th...
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La bande du drugstore
2001
L'origine du monde
0/0
A young policeman of Moroccan origin investigates the murder of an informer. His investigations soon lead him to question his own past.
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L'origine du monde
2012
Les Enfants de la Pop 80's
0/0
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Les Enfants de la Pop 80's
2009
Bashung à l'Olympia
8/1
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Bashung à l'Olympia
1995
Alain Bashung : Confessions publiques
8.5/2
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Alain Bashung : Confessions publiques
1999
Retour à la vie
0/0
Louise, a young deaf and dumb comedian, has just been named best actress of the year. She is married to Yann, twenty years her senior. But their relat...
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