Renaud

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Renaud : biography

11 May 1952 –

Renaud Pierre Manuel Séchan, known as Renaud ( born 11 May 1952), is a popular French singer, songwriter and actor. His characteristically ‘broken’ voice makes for a very distinctive vocal style. Several of his songs are popular classics in France, including the sea tale "Dès que le vent soufflera", the irreverent "Laisse béton", the ballad "Morgane de toi" and the nostalgic "Mistral gagnant". However, with the exception of a recording of "Miss Maggie" in Englishhttp://www.greatfrenchsongs.com/2009/05/renaud-miss-maggie/ and a franglais recording of It is not because you are, his work is almost unknown outside the French-speaking world.

Early work

Fresh out of school, Renaud was determined to become an actor. By chance he met the actor Patrick Dewaere and was invited to join the company of the comedy theatre Café de la Gare, which had recently been founded by Patrick Dewaere, Coluche, and Miou-Miou.

His early work is characterized by a volatile temperament, innovative use of French, and edgy, dark, left-wing social and political themes. Raised in an educated milieu, the son of an intellectual, Renaud adopted the looks and attitude of working-class youth in the 1970s, and reflected this in his lyrics. A recurrent theme is his disgust for the average French people with petit-bourgeois preoccupations and right-wing leanings (see beauf). His music focuses on the disparity between classes, the abuse of political power, overbearing authority and disgust for the military, with rare glimpses of tenderness for his fellow humans, the planet earth, and art.

Discography

Studio albums

  • 1975: Amoureux de Paname (Polydor)
  • 1977: Laisse béton (Polydor)
  • 1979: Ma gonzesse (Polydor)
  • 1980: Marche à l’ombre (Polydor)
  • 1981: Le Retour de Gérard Lambert (Polydor)
  • 1983: Morgane de toi (Polydor), sold over 1,500,000 copies
  • 1985: Mistral gagnant (Virgin), selling over 2,000,000 copies it was Renaud’s most successful album until 2002’s Boucan d’enfer.
  • 1988: Putain de camion (Virgin)
  • 1991: Marchand de cailloux (Virgin)
  • 1992: Renaud cante el’ Nord (Virgin) – traditional folk songs from the north of France
  • 1994: À la Belle de Mai (Virgin)
  • 1996: Renaud chante Brassens (Virgin) – interpretation of songs by Georges Brassens
  • 2002: Boucan d’enfer (Virgin), selling over 2,200,000 copies the most successful Renaud album to date.
  • 2006: Rouge sang (EMI)
  • 2009: Molly Malone – Balade irlandaise (EMI)

Live albums

  • 1980: Bobino (Polydor)
  • 1981: Le P’tit bal du samedi soir et autres chansons réalistes (Polydor)
  • 1982: Un Olympia pour moi tout seul (Polydor)
  • 1989: Visage pâle rencontrer public (Virgin)
  • 1996: Paris-Province (Virgin)
  • 2003: Tournée d’enfer (Virgin)
  • 2007: Tournée Rouge sang (Ceci-Celà)

Compilations

  • 1995: Les Introuvables – a collection of rarities

Personal life

Renaud’s father Olivier Séchan was a prize-winning novelist and popular children’s writer, born to a Protestant Languedoc family from the Cévennes and Montpellier. He taught German language in a secondary school of Paris. The director Edmond Séchan is his uncle. His grandfather was the famous scholar and Hellenist Louis Séchan, who taught in the Sorbonne. His ancestors were pastors. His mother is the daughter of a coal miner from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. Renaud dedicated part of his work to his familial roots, singing traditional songs in the regional picard language and acting in Germinal, a film based on the famous Emile Zola novel, in the part of Étienne Lantier.

In August 2005 Renaud married Romane Serda, the mother of his son Malone. In 2007, he announced to the press his intention to move his family to London, citing a love for British society and expressing disillusionment at the current state of France. In 2009 Renaud’s daughter, writer Lolita Séchan, married French acoustic singer-songwriter Renan Luce.