He sang one of the most famous choruses of the 1960s. Gilles Dreu, who had immense success at the end of the 1960s with the title “Alouette”, died this Tuesday January 7, 2024 at the age of 90 years, in Vals-les-Bains, where he lived with his wife, the photographer Yolande Gervaise. The artist, who announced that he was suffering from cancer in 2020, celebrated his 63rd career at La Nouvelle Eve in Paris in 2022.
“Lark, lark. Poor little creature. Lark, lark, I understand you well. I too have a lot of sorrow in mind.” He is a discreet artist, but one who is inevitably remembered by fans of French song. Gilles Dreu passed away during the night on Tuesday January 7, 2024, at the age of 90, at his home in Vals-les-Bains (Ardèche). It was producer Pierre-Nicolas Cléré who announced it to AFP. In 2020, the artist, who shared the life of photographer Yolande Gervaise, announced that he was suffering from cancer.
We know him, in particular, for the title Larkwhich was a tremendous success when it was released in May 1968. If, the previous year, we had seen it in the film Les cracksalongside Bourvil, this hit, a cover of a musical theme by Argentinian musician Ariel Ramirez, will mark Gilles Dreu’s debut in show business.
“I was the first Frenchman!”
From the end of the 1960s, he sang alongside several stars of the time: he was the American star of Ivan Rebroff at the Olympia in 1968, shared the stage of Bobino with Marie Laforêt in 1970, and recorded the title Moses with Nicole Croisille in 1972. “I was the first Frenchman, after Aphrodite’s Child and the Beatles, he told the magazine Schnockin 2023. Claude François et Johnny were far behind.” As he told this magazine, his song (Lark) “could have gone unnoticed. However, we were in a Latin American atmosphere in 1968, a revolutionary period. I had a physique, mustache and cigar, which evoked a bit of Che Guevara as a poster in all the student rooms.”
In 1973, his popularity was such that Télé Monte-Carlo (TMC) gave him his own show on the small screen, “James Dreu sans trois”. In 1978, Gilles Dreu was chosen by director Jean-François Davy to play in the feature film Surprise sockalongside Michel Galabru, Bernadette Lafont and Michel Blanc. His career on the big screen continued in 1987, under the direction of Claude Chabrol, who gave him a small role in the film The cry of the owlwith Mathilda May and Christophe Malavoy.
In the 1990s, although Gilles Dreu became rarer, he never stopped singing. He has recorded several albums, including Songs from my 20sa record of covers of post-war French song successes. In 2006, he participated in the first edition of Age tendre et tête de bois, before performing, solo or surrounded by other artists, in shows, notably Les vieux fripouilles with the singer Alain Turban and the former Charlot Jean Sarrus, who is inspired by the famous trio Les Vieilles Canailles. In 2022, he celebrated his 63rd career at La Nouvelle Eve in Parissurrounded by many artists (Stone, Fabienne Thibeault…) before performing at the Olympia, in 2023, for an evening dedicated to Jacques Brel.
Original article on Purepeople
