our journalist recounts his memories with the singer

The author of the magazine “Jean-Louis Murat – Keeping it close to us” recounts his interviews with the singer who died on May 25, 2023. His character, his attachment to his Auvergne region, his talent as an author, his influence on music French, ten years of dating which marked Richard Beaune.

Jean-Louis Murat had a very bad reputation. The guy was very irascible according to many media and readily fired shots at journalists or even at his colleagues in French music. A reputation that he undoubtedly maintained to make people talk about him in an increasingly moribund record market. If the strategy sometimes bore fruit, it was to the detriment of another aspect of the character, one that interested me more as a journalist: Jean-Louis Murat was also one of the greatest musicians of our time. A maker of songs like few others in our heritage.

When I started interviewing him for France 3 Auvergne, the author of “Sentiment nouveau” and other hits from the 1990s, like “Te Keeper Close to Me” or “If I Should Miss You”, came to release an album labeled “made in Auvergne”. It was titled “Babel” and on the cover, its name was accompanied by that of the Auvergne folk group The Delano Orchestra.

I had interviewed a few artists of his stature. However, I must admit, I was scared to death: Jean-Louis Murat impressed me and above all, I admired his work far too much. In short, I was a die-hard fan and I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to listen to it anymore after this meeting. It was not appreciating the strength of his work, imagining that I would have such bad memories of him that it would be impossible for me to listen to his songs again… The interview was a disaster. I think I got him all the photos from the singer interview. But he was funny and extremely kind. He could have sent me to pasture with my conventional questions. He preferred to bring out a few lines of humor because he had humor in spades, it’s one of the things I discovered when meeting him. Jean-Louis Murat was extremely funny.

He agreed to new meetings afterward and I never interviewed him in the same way again. Above all, I let him talk and it was a real pleasure to listen to him.

During our last meeting, the artist told us about his Auvergne, “his” Bourboule, the town in which he grew up, “his” Clermont, his songs, and finally “his” Jean-Louis Murat. We didn’t record and film everything. We ended the meeting on the terrace of a café in La Bourboule, talking and laughing.

I wanted to put these images in the magazine dedicated to the May Cooperative tribute concert because I didn’t just want to transcribe a concert. I wanted to take advantage of this tribute to paint a portrait of Murat: Murat the musician, Murat the poet, Murat the singer, Murat the Auvergnat.

In this magazine, all these “Murat” are told by his friends, his relatives, the musicians who worked with him and those who would have liked to do so. By listening to covers of his songs by others and listening to the personalities interviewed, we realize to what extent Jean-Louis Murat has seemingly influenced French music. It seemed like nothing because it was something that was rarely said, both during his lifetime and after his death. The singer and author of novels Florent Marchet, who masterfully covers the song “The Interior World”, explains it very well in the magazine and adds that he would even “hurt if Murat’s work was not one day known and recognized“. “We haven’t said it enough.” adds journalist Pascale Clark, speaking of the talent as a melodist of the singer whom she has interviewed dozens of times.

During his last tour, I didn’t interview him, busy with other projects and probably thinking that we would only have to wait one more year for him to release a new record or do a new tour. I regretted it when, like everyone else, I learned of his sudden disappearance. His death hit me like a bomb, causing a great void because I believed Jean-Louis Murat to be eternal.

“Jean-Louis Murat – Keep him close to us” to watch on france.tv