Polnareff, Michel

Michel's father, Leib Polnaryov ( 1899 - 1988 ; known under the pseudonym Leo Paul , a Russian Jew, left Odessa for Paris . In France, he became a pianist (accompanied Edith Piaf ) and a composer who wrote music for Yves Montana , Edith Piaf , Georges Getari and Daniel Daryo . Michelle's mother, Breton Simone Lan, was a professional dancer.

Polnaryov was born in Nerak , where the family was forced to flee because of the war with Nazi Germany . After the end of World War II, they were able to return to Paris .

From the age of five, the boy studied piano, at 11 he began to compose songs, and at the age of 12 he received his first prize for solfeggio at the Paris Conservatory .

Having received a certificate of maturity, Michel began to live independently. He served in the army for seven months, after that he worked for a short time in an insurance company, as well as a bank employee. Then, having given up these classes, Polnaryov decided to study music exclusively: he began to play the guitar on the streets, bought in the Paris store “ Paul Beuscher ”, and wrote songs.

In 1966, he won the first award of the Disco Revue competition organized at the Locomotive club, and a contract with the record company Barclay, which, however, refused. At the competition, he met Lucien Morris ( Lucien Morisse ), director of the radio station " Europe-1 ", who became his manager and helped the young musician.

The first disc Polnarev recorded in May 1966 in London . Among other things, his fame was promoted by the fact that he sang not only in French, but also in English (the song “Love me, please love me”), Italian, Spanish. In 1967 he was declared the “Most Popular Foreign Musician of the Year” in West Germany ( West Germany ).

In 1970, Polnerev wrote the music for the film Gerard Uri "The Mania of Greatness ", and in 1971 - the film Nadine Trintignant " This happens only with others ." The song of the same name from the soundtrack (“Ca n'arrive qu'aux autres”) is considered to be one of the main “netlenok” of the musician.

In September 1970, at the age of 41, he committed suicide by Lucien Moriss . This tragedy, as well as the constant persecution of a conservative society, drove Polnarev into a severe depression. He cancels part of the concert tour and goes to the hospital.

(Later, the musician will write the song “Qui a tué grand-maman?” Dedicated to the memory of Moriss. It will be included in the 1971 album Polnareff's.)

Scandals accompanied Polnareff from the very beginning of his musical career.

In 1972, he had to pay a fine of 60,000 francs for an obscene poster advertising his concerts in the Olympia hall — 10 francs for each of the six thousand billboards . On this poster, he was standing in a half-turn, wearing a coquettish women's hat and cambric nightgown, and showed the public naked buttocks .

The singer's extravagance, his “androgyny”, as well as his love for bright costumes, gave rise to rumors about his homosexuality , which was still considered a crime at the time (these sources have not been convincingly refuted or confirmed by any sources). Even such a fairly innocent song of a musician as “L'Amour avec Toi” (“Love with you”) was attacked and could be performed on French radio only after ten in the evening.

And in 1973 , after returning to France from a concert tour, Polnareff learned that his producer Bernard Hay had fled, taking with him all the box office. The singer had to leave for the United States , as he now had nothing to cover his own debts. At the same time, he was charged with tax evasion. The charges were dropped from him in 1978 , but, not having forgiven a fierce persecution in the French press all these years, Polnareff decided to remain on permanent residence in the United States. It was there that one of his most famous songs, “Lettre à France”, was written - an explanation of love for his native country. It is noteworthy that the lyrics of the song do not contain any direct mention of France and can be perceived as an explanation of the love for an unknown woman.

In the 80s, compositions of Polnareff continued to occupy high positions in the charts, and songs from the album Kama-Sutra released in 1990 immediately gained wide popularity in different countries, including with a part of the Russian audience. To the song of the same name from the album ( “Kama-Sutra” ) a video clip was made, which was a shooting in various interiors, mostly darkened. In the frame, every now and then Polnareff himself appears in dark glasses in a white frame, and in the lower right corner the names of the months constantly alternate and the years start counting from December 2030 to May 3739.

Another song from the album, "Good-bye Marylou", echoes the hit "Hallo, Marylou" by American singer Ricky Nelson , who died tragically in 1985 .

Both tracks were in a hot rotation on the Russian-language " Nostalgie ".

Soon after the release of the album, the musician begins to go blind and for a long time disappears from the public. In 1994, he decided on an operation.

A year later, Polnareff gave a concert in Roxy ( Los Angeles ), which was recorded on a CD .

In 1997 the collection of the best songs of Polnareff in three discs was published.

And in November 2004 he released his autobiography , the book Polnareff par Polnareff.

In December 2005 , the singer's triumphant "official return" to France took place, where he gave a series of successful concerts. One of them took place on July 14, 2007 ( Bastille Day ) on the Champ de Mars at the foot of the Eiffel Tower . With the invitation to hold this concert, his friend and admirer, President of France Nicolas Sarkozy, turned to Polnareff.

In late January 2008, the newspaper Le Figaro reported that for the first time Polnareff overtook another celebrity in terms of annual earnings, singer Johnny Halliday ^[4] .

Studio Albums

• 1966 - Love Me Please Love Me;
• 1967 - Le Bal des Laze;
• 1971 - Polnareff's;
• 1974 - Michel Polnareff;
• 1975 - Fame à la mode;
• 1978 - Coucou me revoilou;
• 1981 - Bulles;
• 1985 - Incognito;
• 1990 - Kâmâ Sutrâ .

Concert albums and compilations

• 1972 - Polnarévolution;
• 1982 - Show télé 82 / Public;
• 1996 - Live at the Roxy;
• 2007 - Ze re Tour 2007.

Compilations

• 1991 - La Compilation (reissued in 1998);
• 1997 - Les Premières Années;
• 1999 - Nos mots d'amour;
• 2003 - Passé présent;
• 2004 - Passé simple;
• 2006 - Les 100 plus belles chansons de Michel Polnareff;
• 2009 - Triple Best of;
• 2011 - Le cinéma de Polnareff.

• “L'Humanité” in Russian: Michel Polnareff returns (March 2007)