At 82, retirement is not imminent for Eddy Mitchell, who is releasing his fortieth studio album, Friends. A symbolic figure and for the occasion, the artist surrounded himself with the best, from Alain Souchon to Pascal Obispo via Alain Chamfort and William Sheller. But that's not all since the man who is recovering from a difficult pneumonia and who was forced to postpone the promotion of this album is also releasing a book, Autobiography (Le Cherche Midi, 2024). “I don't ask for anything, but I get asked for something all the time. Even crazy things like going to sing at the birthday or wedding of someone who has a lot of money! I've never done it, I don't 'I don't want it, even for a lot of money'he explains in an interview with Le Parisien, this Friday, November 29.
Still in this interview, the crooner who will rest forever in a town known throughout the world, also talks about the more complicated moments of his life and confides in his wife, Muriel Bailleul. The lovers have been together for more than 40 years and the discreet brunette, mother of his daughter Pamela, managed to cure him of his addictions. “Especially the game! It kept me busy from four in the afternoon until six in the morning. It started at the casingue (the casino) and continued with never-ending poker games. Gambling is a drug. My wife ended up giving me an ultimatum: 'It's the game or me.' And obviously I preferred it“, he explains, before adding: “We've been together for almost fifty years. On the album, she wrote the lyrics to 'Big Jim,' a tribute to (writer) Jim Harrison.”
Eddy Mitchell banned from casino due to gambling addiction
The artist, who still holds a grudge against Johnny Hallyday 7 years after his disappearance, also spoke about his gambling problems with Gala. “I wasted a lot of time at the gaming tables. It also took me longer than expected to pick up, at my wife's request. who couldn't take it anymore”he remembers, before admitting that it wasn't easy to stop: “After being banned from casinos, I still happened to send a guy there and tell him by phone: 'You bet so much, you put 500 on this, on that.' The real turning point was when I was asked to reverse this ban in order to participate in a poker game in Las Vegas. I had to re-sign other papers, and that was out of the question.”
