Solène Delinger
8:30 a.m., June 23, 2024
David Hallyday is the guest of Europe 1 this Sunday morning to talk about “Requiem pour un fou”, his new album composed of covers of his own repertoire and that of his father Johnny. At Julia Vignali’s microphone, the singer confides that he is afraid of “disappointing” the rocker’s fans by reinterpreting their idol’s hits.
Almost seven years after the disappearance of Johnny Hallyday, his son David pays him the most beautiful tribute with Requiem for a fool. This concept album of 19 songs is in fact a mixture of covers of his father’s greatest hits and his own successes.
“I wanted his artistic catalog to work with mine”
“A succession of events brought me there,” explains David Hallyday this Sunday morning on Europe 1. “The initial desire was to recompose the album Blood for blood that I had composed for him. Then, I listened to my first hits again (…) I found that they had aged poorly so I had fun redoing them. Finally I said to myself that it would be great for his artistic catalog to work with mine”, adds David Hallyday for whom this album of covers was a real musical challenge and well beyond that, the craziest project of his entire life.
“I am very proud of this album”
And how can we not understand David Hallyday? Taking on Johnny is quite a responsibility, even if he was obviously the best person to tackle it. At Julia Vignali’s microphone, the rocker’s son admits that he had “pressure” before embarking on the recording of this album. “When you touch sacred repertoire like his, you wonder: ‘How will it go with his hardcore fans?’. I was a little stressed about that. I said: ‘I hope I don’t disappoint them ‘. Because it’s something important.” Despite his fears, David Hallyday says he is “very proud” of Requiem for a fool, an album in which he put all his heart. “This experience taught me new things (…)”, rejoices the father of Emma and Ilona Smet.
David Hallyday will go on tour from November 2024 to defend this latest opus.
