Claude Francois

At 39 years old, Claude Francois has this physical status:

Claude Antoine Marie François (1 February 1939 – 11 March 1978), also known as Cloclo, was a French pop singer, composer, guitarist, drummer, and dancer.

François cowrote the lyrics of "Comme d'habitude" (composed by Jacques Revaux and himself), the original version of "My Way" and composed the music of "Parce que je t'aime mon enfant," the original version of "My Boy."

"Le Téléphone Pleure," "Le lundi au soleil," "Magnolias for Ever," "Alexandrie Alexandra" and "Cette année là" are among his most famous songs. François set down 70 million records during his career (and after his death) and was about to enter the United States when he was mistakenly electrocuted in March 1978 at age 39.

Claude François, according to him, "the French equivalent of The Beatles," implying the exceptional talent of a generation.

Early life

Claude Antoine Marie François, the son of a French father and a Calabrian mother, was born in Egypt and where his father, Aimé François (1908–1961) was stationed in the Anglo-French Suez canal company on the Suez Canal. The family moved from Port Tewfik (now Suez Port), 1951. Claude had a younger sister, Josette (born 1934), who wrote her memoirs in 2008.

Lucia Mazze (1910-1992), François' mother (1910–1992) was a natural performer and had her son take piano and violin lessons. The boy learned to play the drums on his own. The family returned to Monaco as a result of the 1956 Suez Crisis. The family's expulsion from Egypt was tragic. They had trouble financially after François' father became sick and could not function. Claude found a job as a bank clerk, but at night, he earned extra money playing drums with an orchestra at the French Riviera. He was given the opportunity to perform at a hotel in Juan-les-Pins, a trendy Mediterranean resort town. He had a natural singing voice. Claude's performance at the glamorous nightclubs along the Côte d'Azur was well-received, and he began to perform at the glamorous nightclubs. Janet Woollacott met him in 1959 while working in a club; the pair wed in 1960. When he became a musician in Monte Carlo in 1957, Claude's father turned his back on his son.

Personal life

He married Janet Wollacoot in November 1960. She had left him in 1962, and he was finally divorced from her in 1967. This failed marriage was one of three major tragedies that affected his entire life. In July 1967, France Gall's friendship came to an end. François had an affair with singer Annie Phillippe, who had apparently refused to marry him after this.

François soon got consolation when he arranged a date with model Isabelle Forêt, whom he had first encountered a few years ago. Their relationship spanned 1967 to 1972, and two sons, Claude Jr. and Marc in 1969, both born in July 1968 and 1979. He concealed his second son's existence for five years because he felt that being a father of two would damage his boyish image as "a free man and seducer."

By 1972, he was single again, dating several well-known European celebrities. Sofia Kiukkonen, 1976–76, and American model Kathalyn (Kathleen) H. Jones-Mann 1976–78 were his most significant friendships of the time. He had an affair with his makeup artist Sylvie Mathurin from 1974 to 1978.

He continued to function while focusing on his various company endeavors. Although in London, he barely escaped death when an IRA bomb detonated in the Hilton hotel's lobby in 1975, and two years later a fan tried to shoot him while driving his car.

He was still topping the charts in 1977-78, more than 15 years since his first hit single, "Alexandrie Alexandra" (which was announced on the day of his funeral) and performing to huge audiences.

He worked in Belgium and Switzerland most of his time as a diplomat, but also in Italy, Spain, England, and Canada. In 1976, his album "Le Telephone Pleure" ("Tears on the Telephone") debuted at No. 1 in the United States. In the UK Singles Chart, the 35th place is ranked at 35. He appeared at the Royal Albert Hall in London on January 16, 1978, for the first time for a French singer, a gala.

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Professional career and personal life

François migrated to Paris, France, where he had many more chances to pursue his career. At the time, American rock and roll was still in existence in France, and he began to work as part of a singing group to make a living. He paid the bill for it to be a solo act with the intention of making it become a solo act. He produced "Nabout Twist," a concert that was a resounding loss as he sought to cash in on the American dance craze "The Twist." Undaunted, he released a French translation of an Everly Brothers song "Made to Love," aka "Girls, Girls, Girls," under the name "Belles" in 1962.

Belles!

Belles!

"The best thing about it is that they are not connected to a ship," a writer says.

François' career continued to flourish under the new manager's tutelage. "If I Had a Hammer" and "Walk Right In" in French were his first recordings of an American song, this time in French "Si j'avais un marteau" and "Marche Tout Droit" following the first success in 1963. François was visiting Michel Bourdais, a French writer who was working for the well-known French newspaper Salut les Copains ("Hi Buddies"), and he asked him to draw his portrait.

He headlined at the Paris Olympia on 5 April 1963, indicating that he had arrived. In 1964, he began a friendship with France Gall, a 17-year-old Eurovision champion who lived until 1967. François developed original new dance steps at the end of the year, and Michel Bourdais drew them. They suggested a performance starring female dancers for the first time.

He and Jacques Revaux composed and performed a French song titled "Comme d'habitude" ("As Usual") in 1967, which became a hit in Francophone countries. Paul Anka, the Canadian singer, reworked it for the English-speaking public into Frank Sinatra's most popular hit, "My Way." In 1971, he performed the original version of "Parce que je aime mon enfant" ("Because I Love You My Child"); it was still little-known in France, but Elvis Presley covered it under the heading "My Boy."

Although François's hitchhike of adapting English and American rock and roll hits for the French market in the 1970s, the French market had changed and the disco craze that swept North America took root in France. This was no problem for the versatile François; he simply re-invented himself as the king of French disco, performing "La plus belle chose du monde," a French version of the Bee Gees' hit song, "Massachusetts."

He discovered a singing family of two sisters and their cousins who were searching for a new talent. These women were referred to as "Les Flêchettes" (named after "Flèche," the manufacturer's name), then "Les Clodettes" (named after the women's name). He made a few albums for them before his death, and the pair went on to perform for several of Europe's top musicians. He toured around Europe, Africa, and Canada's biggest venues.

However, his workload kept up with him in 1971 when he collapsed on stage from exhaustion. After a brief absence, he returned to the recording studios, releasing several best-selling hits in the early 1970s. He went from owning his own record company to acquiring a celebrity magazine and a modeling firm.

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