Large white glasses riveted on the nose and a mop of hair falling on the shoulders, the look has not changed since the beginning of the 70s. The hair has just become a little rarer and especially white. For the rest, Michel Polnareff, 80 years old this Wednesday, July 3, 2024, remains this artist recognizable among all, also by his eccentric looks. When the DH met him in Versailles in 2016, in the room where the peace treaty between Germany and the Allies was drawn up in 1919, ending the First World War, he appeared in immaculate white outfit with improbable glasses adorned with multi-colored LEDs flashing in all directions. Provocation, again and again. He has made it one of his trademarks. Fortunately, it is not the only one.
The piano instilled with blows of a belt
Son of a Russian Jewish refugee father who composed songs for Edith Piaf, Yves Montand and Mouloudji, and a mother who was a jazz and tap dancer, his childhood was lulled by the classical music imposed on him by the patriarch at home. It was also the latter who forced him, with blows from a belt and slaps, to take piano lessons from the age of four. He would forever harbor an aversion to classical music, preferring rock and its American spirit. “I used to play Debussy and Chopin. One evening, my father surprised me while I was secretly listening to Radio Luxembourg. Immediate correction! Music too modern!”
After his military service, Michel Polnareff left the family home to live off odd jobs and begging, covering rock standards – “I lived in a metro station, Lamarck-Caulaincourt. I spent two winters there” – before landing a contract with Barclay after winning a… rock competition. A contract he refused for fear of being formatted! He had a precise idea of what he wanted to do in terms of music. His goal: to record in London with guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones, future Led Zeppelin. The label Disc AZ accepted. “La poupée qui fait non” was released on May 26, 1966 and was a hit. History was in motion.
Christophe could not bear to be compared with Polnareff: “I have nothing to do with him”
Bernard Tapie as rival
Other hits that became legendary would follow: “Love Me, Please Love Me”, “Le bal des Laze”, “Sous quelle étoile suis-je né?”, “Le Roi des fourmis”, “On ira tous au paradis”, “Holidays”… Michel Polnareff triumphed. He opened for Dalida and the Beach Boys, played the stars on the stage of the Olympia in 1970…
The public is often unaware that before finding success, the man who now calls himself the Admiral crossed swords with a future captain of industry. A certain Bernard Tapie who was then singing under the pseudonym Tapy. In 1966, he had signed four 45s (he would again release “Réussir sa vie” in 1985), including “Passeport pour le soleil” with which he presented himself against Polnareff’s “Poupée qui fait non”. Believe it or not, it was Bernard Tapie who had won over the jury of a talent show in which they both participated! The story is told in the Netflix series dedicated to the man who was a minister under François Mitterrand.
The Polnarévolution scandal
In 1971, he played keyboards at Johnny Hallyday’s concerts at the Palais des Sports in Paris. There he showed off his new look: big white glasses, wavy blond hair. An artist’s coquetry? A little, but not only. If he hid his eyes behind dark glasses, it was because Michel Polnareff was not only hypermyopic but also had cataracts in both eyes that considerably affected his vision. Terrified at the idea of no longer being able to see, he refused to have an operation. He finally agreed to it only in the mid-90s!
The following year, Polnareff was back at the Olympia and he wanted to make it known. On October 2, some 6,000 posters invaded Paris, particularly the metro, extolling the “Polnarévolution”, the name he gave to his concert, which was innovative because it would be the first in 5.1. The singer appeared there with a large flowered hat, a light blue shirt rolled up to his waist… We could see his buttocks! The scandal was huge. The entire press talked about it, the courts convicted him of indecent assault. No matter the fine, Michel Polnareff had managed to get people talking about him, even if it was not quite as he had imagined. Tony Frank, the poster designer, had confided in DH at the time: “We wanted to provoke a reaction: it didn’t take long to come. But it wasn’t the one we were hoping for. Because, in our minds, it was just a joke, a gag.”
Polnareff: “We could ask Manneken-Pis to turn around!”
Swindled and ruined by his trusted man
The Polnareff rocket has been launched, nothing can stop it. We thought… But that was without counting on a major problem: Bernard Seneau, the singer’s right-hand man. “He emptied my account and also embezzled my tax money. I signed my declarations, but he did not send them. On the other hand, he did not forget to deduct the amount owed to the tax authorities from my account. Which he kept for himself. I was called to court for failure to file my taxes. In August 1973, I found myself swindled and ruined.”
Ruined, that’s the word. Michel Polnareff discovers that he owes a colossal amount to the taxman and that he literally has nothing left. His house? A rented property! His car? Ditto!
Forest National as a refuge land for the scene
Unable to pay the tax, he was forced to leave France for the United States and a very long exile punctuated only by discreet returns to French soil, as in 1978. A crossing aboard the France, a legendary ocean liner of which this was one of the last voyages. “Since I’ve been away from you I’ve been far from myself And I think of you quietly You’re six hours away from me I’m years away from you That’s what it means to be there…” he sings in “Letter to France” in 1977. In 2014, in the documentary The screen lights uphe said : “I hate the idea that some people believe that I fled to try to avoid paying taxes. That is totally false! I fled because I was unable to pay taxes and so that one day I could be able to repay them. It took the administration eighteen years to recognize that I was not responsible and that I had been defrauded.”
He was also swindled on the other side of the Atlantic by a certain Christophe Rocancourt, a Frenchman who was a master in the field, from whom he wanted to buy an armoured van and a weapon.
Meeting with Michel Polnareff: “I have never had so much inspiration!”
Michel Polnareff would have to wait five years before setting foot in France again. It would be in 1978, for his trial for unpaid taxes. In order to perform in front of the French public, he chose Brussels and Forest National. In 1975, buses and trains were chartered to transport French fans, similar to what the Rolling Stones had done in 1973, when they were also in trouble with the French tax authorities.
28 years of waiting
In 1989, the courts recognized the singer’s good faith in his troubles with the tax authorities. A decision that opened the door to Polnareff’s return. He settled into a hotel, the Royal Monceau, for 800 days. There he recorded the album Kama Sutrawith Mike Oldfield on guitar. But he is now a shadow of his former self. Suffering from double cataracts, he remains in the dark and drowns himself in vodka. He is unrecognizable with his many extra pounds and his long beard. He will later explain that it was his way of escaping the fear that inhabits him, that of having an operation on his eyes. An operation that could restore his sight or make him lose it. He will finally agree to go under the knife successfully.
The art of patience according to Polnareff
The rest is a long, very very long wait. Apart from a handful of singles and concerts, Michel Polnareff will take 28 years to give a successor to Kama Sutra and her hit “Goodbye Marylou”. It will be Finally !, released in 2018. But it must be admitted, the magic was no longer there. The singer spent more than a year in Brussels, in the ICP studios, to make it before throwing everything in the trash and starting again.
In the meantime, no one has forgotten the case of the advanced double pulmonary embolism to avoid giving two concerts scheduled in the Salle Pleyel for which the singer said he had never given the green light. A story that caused a lot of ink to flow at the end of 2016. He would state: “If you are (his partner at the time, Editor’s note) “If he hadn’t taken me to the hospital, I wouldn’t be here anymore.”
Recently, it was an advertisement that got people talking about Polnareff. A first at 79 years old for the singer. It was last year. He gave of himself to extol the merits of Yomoni, an online savings management platform.If he had managed his savings better, Michel Polnareff would not have to advertise our savings solutions. We will all go to Yomoni”says the voiceover. “Even me”, concludes the artist. There is no denying that he has a sense of self-mockery that still fascinates.
“If he had saved better, Michel Polnareff would not have to advertise our savings solutions”: this advert with the singer is creating a buzz (VIDEO)
According to Le Figaro, the Admiral has not said his last at 80 years old. The one that the French daily calls “France’s most famous exile” would prepare a surprise for his fans What? “Nobody knows”how the newspaper reports that a new biography dedicated to the singer is available in bookstores. Michel Polnareff. A prince as a hostage is signed by the journalist Ludovic Perrin and published by L’Archipel
