Thirty-four years ago, he made France dance by releasing “Jerk”. As Thierry Hazard celebrates his 62nd birthday, and he has disappeared from circulation for decades, Purepeople has decided to go looking for him. Story of a long, tedious quest, but with an (almost) happy outcome. So what happened to him? We tell you everything!
EXCLUDED Thierry Hazard: It wasn’t a sure thing, but we found the unforgettable performer of Jerk! What did he become ?
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How to find a singer who has disappeared from circulation? This is the mission that we set ourselves when we realized that Thierry Hazardthe unforgettable and yet so forgotten interpreter of Jerk, the hit that made the crowds dance during the summer of 90, was going to celebrate its 62nd anniversary…
At the time the song was released, we would have called information, consulted a good old directory, white or yellow pages or typed “3615 help” on our minitel. Luckily, today there is the internet and even ChatGPT, which means that the quest looked easy…
At least we thought so before coming across articles from colleagues who had obviously broken their teeth before us on the subject. “A thick mystery“, “For 25 years, no one knows what happened to him“, “Impossible to get any news from the singer…“, “He would have moved to the United States“, “He would now be a radio presenter in Tahiti“. Ouch, the task was perhaps going to get tougher.
“Thierry Hazard, whose real name is Thierry Gesteau, is a French singer born June 7, 1962 in Compiègne” tell us Wikipedia. So let’s start at the beginning. Google: “Thierry Hazard”. Great, a first link appears, thierryhazard.fr. It’s the site of an actor who must be in his fifties. Would our singer have reconverted ? A phone number, an agent. The journalist is jubilant… before becoming disillusioned. “Oh no, sorry, the Thierry Hazard I take care of is an actor. He was never a singer“.”Are you sure?” “Sure, you’re not the first to ask.” Missed.
Back to Wikipedia. Next to Hazard’s name, that of a producer, Daniel Glikmans. New joy. This gentleman has a site: glmusic.com. “Space dedicated to the present and past musical projects of Daniel Glikmans. Guitarist, singer, author and composer.“In the first photos, the man has a bald head. That’s a good sign. Under a tab titled 1980’s, he has put together some compositions. No doubt, we’re there. It looks like Goldman or Berger. The synths have fun, no sax or funky guitars like in the Jerkbut Thierry Hazard is not far away. Neither does Daniel’s email. Hop: “Urgent, contact you.“No mention of our wanted singer at this stage, if he deliberately wanted to disappear from circulation, his relatives undoubtedly have instructions. Let’s try to preserve our chances.
When a journalist wants to speak to a singer, he usually calls his record company. But it’s been a long time since CBS, the one that released the Jerk, does not exist anymore. It became Columbia, one of Sony Music’s many labels. It looks complicated, the press officers of these houses are often in a hurry. Their goal is above all to sell recent records, not to help journalists… We will have to call them eight times and send them two emails from two different addresses to obtain this laconic response after four days. “Sorry, I don’t deal with this artist at Columbia. I won’t be able to help you unfortunately.“Okay, we understood it but it gets better reading it. We still dare this answer: “And you would know who could help us.” Great silence. The Sony people must have had a network outage…
By the way, is Thierry Hazard still alive?
The Jerk, it was 520,000 records sold in 1990, and an unforgettable clip with an actor who died too young. But thirty-four years later, we still hear it. Its author must therefore receive royalties. Direction there Sacem. A young operator answers us. Definitely, he’s a millennial. THE “Gogo club“, he doesn’t know. Nor Thierry Hazard. But he advises us to go and browse in the directory of works. There, the name of the rights holder appears, his name is indeed Thierry Gesteau. Miracle, under his, full of names of performers One of them, Jean-Michel Cursan, very kindly tells us that he has already sung the Jerk, but thathe’s sorry, he doesn’t know its author. Damage.
Another interpreter, Gilles Pellegrini, a trumpeter known for the covers he does with his orchestra, also takes our call. He knows Thierry and once worked with him. Very kind, he promises to activate his immense network of musicians and to call us back. He seems confident. U.S. too.
Until a doubt assailed us: but actually, is he still alive? “To find out if a missing person is still alive, you can contact the town hall of their commune of birth or residence.“, we learn from the Public Service website. Good news, there is no need to be related to the person sought to make a request for a birth certificate on which a death, if it had occurred, would be mentioned. Bad news, that risks to be long. A Cerfa copy later, we receive an email which tells us that our request will be processed and that we will receive said birth certificate By mail? Fortunately, the town hall officials? from Compiègne are effective Two hours later, an email informs us that our information, – well that of Wikipedia– are incorrect. We immediately called the civil registry of the city which confirmed to us thatno Thierry Gesteau was ever born in Compiègne. Which also doesn’t tell us if he’s still alive…
Another artist assures us that if he is dead, Sacem will inform us. Return to the authors’ society. And relief. “Yes, he is alive and well. Yes, we have his contact details but no, we cannot give them to you. You can send us a letter with a stamped envelope that we will forward…” Why not.
And couldn’t the Thierry Gesteau track help us? The vice-president of an association called Violon d’Ingres, in the Paris suburbs, bears precisely this name. Music, an association, could that be him? “I am not aware that he was a famous singer. But he is actually around 60 years old. Here is his email, write to him!“, tells us a member. Here we go.
“Maybe try a guy like Jean-Pierre Mader!”
Closing time is approaching and still nothing to eat. Shall we take the 6:17 p.m. busleave the office and slip away under the flashes of strobes, forget this matter?
No, back to Wikipedia which not only tells the truth, but to the point where we are. “The cover illustration is by Serge Clerc“, says the online encyclopedia. This designer always seems to be producing. It is published by Denoël Graphic. Two emails later, he calls us. Very friendly, but…”Wow, but it’s been years. Ah yes, Thierry Hazard. Oh no, sorry, but not at all. I hadn’t even met him to do his cover. At the time, I was working for Rock & Folk and his record company must have called me. But maybe try with someone like Jean-Pierre Mader (who should never have sung Macumba)“
80s stars, but that’s for sure. The troupe is still on tour. They must have at least contacted him. Decibels prod, which produces them, unfortunately seems as eager as Sony to help us. We probably came close to telephone harassment, but our efforts were finally rewarded by a response, an email as abrupt as it was disappointing: “I don’t have his contact, sorry.” Hard.
Mathieu Johann, the former candidate of the star Academy, who went through a complicated ordeal, is a charming boy. He became a press officer and knows many artists. He gives us this advice: “Call Olivier Kaefer for me, here’s his number, he knows everyone.“
Olivier Kaefer is the producer who, in 2006, had the idea of bringing together old glories on stage and who is the origin of the famous RFM Party 80 tour. The concept, almost 20 years later, still works. A film was even released. And he even wrote a book about it: My stars 1980: Behind the scenes of the phenomenon tour.
Miracle, he picks up. “-Thierry Hazard?, he won’t talk to you.” “What do you mean, you know him, you know where he is?” “I know him, we talk regularly, but he has disconnected. It’s all over for him.” “Okay, but can you give us some news?“
Bingooooo! We are well aware of not having unearthed Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès, whose house has been renovated, and that we will need a little more to win the Albert Londres prize, but all the same…
The news, delivered by Olivier Kaefer, is therefore as follows: “Thierry Hazard no longer wants to be Thierry Hazard, he has found his real name and absolutely wants to stay in the shadows. No, he’s not in Tahiti at all, he is in Paris and works as a studio musician. Don’t count on me to give you his contact details, that would be betraying him. He didn’t even want to do anything for the guy from the TF1 show Les 12 coups de midi who was a fan of his. On the other hand, he sometimes comes to see us, on the tour, but he stays in the stands. And between us, he doesn’t have very good memories of this period.“
We won’t know more. But advice to amateurs, if they want to try their luck, on June 30, 2024, the tour Stars 80 stops at Saint-Maurice de Rémens, in Ain. That evening, Gilbert Montagné will even be present on stage, an exceptional guest. Who knows if in the audience, we won’t find, sitting in a corner, the former singer who made us wiggle to his song, without us ever really knowing what the first names of the quadruplets his heroes made were , Joséphine and Roger. You never know, chance sometimes does things well.
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