March 14 will mark the 16th anniversary of the disappearance of Alain Bashung. Despite this loss, the singer’s repertoire continues to resonate in the hearts of the French, through his emblematic songs “Osez Joséphine”, “La nuit je mens”, “Vertige de l’amour”, “Madame rêve” or “Ma petite business”. In 2018, the public was able to discover “En amont”, a posthumous record composed of songs recorded during sessions between 2002 and 2008 and produced by Edith Fambuena (Zazie, Etienne Daho). “ I made a big inventory of everything in the house, because Alain had always told me that there was a lot of material. (…) There were a lot of almost finished things around “Petroleum Blue” which were not just an anecdote. I said to myself, it’s a shame to keep this all to myself. I want to share it with everyone » said his widow Chloé Mons at the time.
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An immortal success
“En amont” was therefore a great success with more than 115,000 copies sold and a Song Album Victory in 2019. To present it, it was the title “Immortels” which was highlighted. This song, written by Dominique A, was recorded at the time of “Bleu Petroleum”, the last album released during his lifetime in 2008. But Alain Bashung decided not to keep it on the album in view of its text, he who already knew he was condemned by illness. We therefore had to wait 10 years to discover it and we must believe that the public was touched to the heart. Indeed, the song “Immortels” has just been certified gold single by the SNEP, for more than 15 million plays on streaming platforms in France. According to the SNEP website, this is a first for a single by Alain Bashung, especially in the era of streaming.
However, going back into the archives, we can see that Alain Bashung’s two hits “Gaby Oh Gaby” and “Vertige de l’amour”, released in 1980, were also certified gold at the time for more than 500,000 copies sold each. Regardless, this new certification further proves that the artist’s repertoire remains indeed immortal!
