While he is about to find his audience in Belgium with a series of concerts, Frédéric François returns to a significant anecdote of his beginnings: an unforgettable meeting with Michel Polnareff, his youth idol.
At 74, Frédéric François continues to fill the rooms and seduce his faithful audience. The singer from Sicily starts on the roads with his new album “Everything is forgotten one day”, and several dates are planned in Belgium: October 26 at the Royal Cirque in Brussels, on February 15 at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Charleroi, on April 25 at the Forum in Liège and April 26 at the Royal Theater in Mons.
A competition that changes everything
But before becoming an emblematic figure of French -speaking song, Frédéric François experienced a journey marked by beautiful surprises. One of them dates back to his 16th birthday, when he participated in a singing competition with his group of the time, the wild tigers.
“So me, I was one of the wild tigers and it was my father, who was a bit of impresario, who suggested that I integrate the group”tells the singer at the microphone of Benjamin Maréchal on Bel RTL. Together, they participated in a Châtelet festival in Charleroi. Frédéric wins the first prize and receives a silver microsillon which allows him to record a disc. But that’s not all. The competition also opens the doors of the stage to him, in the first part of two song giants: Johnny Hallyday and Michel Polnareff.
A waking dream
Frédéric François remembers this meeting with Michel Polnareff, his idol: “I go in the first part of Michel Polnareff. It was great! And the contest director, Roger Wanin, said to him: ‘You know, the little singer here, can you accompany him to his home, because you pass by to go to Paris?’”
And that’s how young Frédéric finds himself in a Rolls-Royce, alongside Michel Polnareff. Driving: Paul de Senneville, composer of many hits. “The Rolls stops at Tilleur, near the charcoal, and I go down. I was completely crazy. I did not have a car, no V12, nothing at all”he says. The next day, he proudly tells the story to his friends, a supported photo in support. “They laughed by saying: it is not possible”he still recalls, amused.
Years later, Frédéric François discovers with emotion that Michel Polnareff has not forgotten this parenthesis: “What is great, and I am grateful to him is that when he came to the Arena at Paris lately, in his program, there was the anecdote”. Frédéric François Michel Polnareff
