Icon of the yé-yé years, regular at the Olympia, the famous singer of “Lark“is deadthis Tuesday morning, at 90 years old. The news of the death of Gilles Dreu quickly reached Vendée and the small town of Saint-Pierre-du-Chemin. “We lose a great, great friend and a true artist“, slips Jacky Cornu, not without emotion. For 20 years, Gilles Dreu has not missed an edition of “Valentine’s Day of Saint-Pierre-du-Chemin”, a series of concerts organized in February. Last year, he chose this stage to say goodbye and end a career spanning several decades, in front of 350 passionate, lucky people and friends of the artist. “Everyone called him Gillou here.“
“He threw himself into my arms and said: that’s it, it’s over!”
A member of the Saint-Valentin association for 35 years, Jacky Cornu is one of those who brought Gilles Dreu. “He didn’t come to Saint-Pierre-du-Chemin to do a show, he came to see his friends for a weekhe confides. He greeted everyone as soon as he arrived.“In the community, everyone keeps in mind the last performances of this Vendéen at heart. Despite illness and fatigue, he took the stage from Sunday to the following Saturday, his jubilee day.
“In the end, everyone ended up standingrembobine Jacky Cornu. There was a standing ovation and applause that lasted 20 minutes. I remember there was a lot of emotion, there were tears too. I went to see him in his dressing room at the end of the concert, and he threw himself into my arms and said: that’s it, it’s over!“The stage fright had just left him.”He told me: the last time I had stage fright was when I was young in Paris, but now, this evening, I have stage fright. And I had seen him right before he went on stage, and he was shaking. He knew it was the last. And he also knew his state of health.“Lovers of Saint-Pierre-du-Chemin and especially of the Petrovicinians, Gilles Dreux had also dedicated a song to them. It bears the name of the town, the one which today mourns the loss of a friend and a great name in French song.
