French ELVIS!

 

Johnny Hallyday

June 5th 1943 – December 6th 2017

Commemorating the 5th anniversary of the passing of “French Elvis”

 

In the ’70s when I was teaching at a junior high school in France, my students were mad about French singing sensation Johnny Hallyday.

 

Unperturbed at that time, that he was no spring chicken.

 

Hallyday brought rock ‘n’ roll to France in 1960, only a few years after Elvis Presley became an international icon and before my generation went wild for the Beatles.

 

Hallyday was a huge fan of  Elvis. He unapologetically imitated his hero, happy to embody the hip-swivelling, leather-clad Gallic version, thereby earning him the title of “French Elvis.”

 

 

 

Elvis VS Johnny, the French Elvis

 

 

In fact, the two had quite a bit in common.

 

They had identifiable faces with “star power” written all over them.

 

They were blondes (did you know Elvis dyed his hair?) with ice-blue eyes and sensual mouths that bordered on rude, (in a good way!)

 

They both were known to their fans by their first names.

 

And both became legends while also personifying the tragic hero.

 

 

Rock ‘n’ roll by definition seemed to breed excess and it certainly did for these two singers.

 

Johnny was married five times, once to the same woman!

 

(He dated many famous French women including Brigitte Bardot but admitted that the love of his life was actually Catherine Deneuve.)

 

 

 

 

Hallyday frequently crashed his expensive cars and motorcycles and he had many of those.

 

He tried to commit suicide twice while battling his addictions to cigarettes, alcohol and drugs.

 

 

Like Elvis, Johnny acted (he was actually a very good actor) and made dozens of films but his over abiding love was the music and delivering a veritable “show.”  

 

 

 

Johnny once jumped out of a helicopter into a stadium, and certainly, one of his most memorable concerts was in 2000 at the Eiffel Tower.

 

The rocker sang his most popular songs to more than 700,000 people across the Le Champs de Mars while 9.5 million watched from home, then one-sixth of the population of France.

 

 

 

 

Unlike Elvis, Johnny never broke into the international scene, but he had one thing that Elvis did not — staying power.

 

By 1977, Elvis was dead at only 42, while Johnny Hallyday continued to thrive in his field until his death at 74 years of age on December 5th, 2017.

 

A million people took to the streets in Paris along the grand Avenue de Champs-Elysées to watch the funeral procession, which included a speech from the president and a televised church ceremony.

 

The size of the turnout was likened to that of Princess Diana’s funeral.

 

 

Like Elvis, Johnny was known as warm, genuine and big-hearted which just added to their adoration as superheroes.

 

Movies about Johnny and Elvis

 

Netflix has a penetrating documentary called Johnny Hallyday, Beyond Rock that I highly recommend.

 

While you are at it,  it is an interesting comparison to watch the 2022 release of the movie just called Elvis. 

 

 

 

The WOMEN OF PARIS

Step Into The Spotlight

With Heidi Evans

Tuesday, December 6th at 12:30 pm/9;30 am Pacific

6;30 pm in Paris/5:30 pm in London

This Interview is now Over.

But you can CLICK HERE to watch it.

Enjoy!

 

 

With a degree in English Literature, Heidi Evans came to Paris from the UK to learn French and fell in love with the city, along with its relatively unheralded history of the women who shaped its literary, artistic, and theatrical arenas.

Frustrated with the predominantly male narrative in these areas, in 2016, Heidi started the very first Women of Paris Tours devoted entirely to its heroines from Mata Hari to Edith Piaff, from Simone de Beauvoir to Sylvia Beach, from Colette to Natalie Clifford Barney.

Join me as we tap into this woman’s knowledge and passion as she explores the lives, loves and struggles (one writer had to pen under a male name!) of the women of Paris.

Note Heidi’s tours stop at a few of the neighbourhood pastry and chocolate shops!

Because, well because it’s Paris!

www.womenofparis.fr

 

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