The music world is in mourning. Jean-Louis Murat died at the age of 71. It was his manager who announced this sad news to our colleagues from France Inter. According Release And The Team, the singer would have succumbed to a pulmonary embolism. Jean-Louis Bergheaud, his real name, was a singer-songwriter who went against the grain of fame. An eternal outsider with an incomparable pen, who signed real hits throughout his career. The Auvergnat leaves behind his three children, including his last two, Justine (born in 2004) and Gaspard (born in May 2007)from his marriage to his ex-wife Laure.
Jean-Louis Bergheaud was born on January 28, 1952, in Puy-de-Dôme. His father is carpenter and his mother is a seamstress. A priori, nothing predisposes him to music, except that his father is an amateur musician part of the Municipal Harmony. His parents divorced and he spent most of his time on his grandparents’ farm in Murat-le-Quaire, an Auvergne village which later inspired his stage name. From the age of 7, Jean-Louis developed an attraction for musical instruments: cornet, saxophone, drum, singing… the little boy shows real predispositions, so much so that his father enrolled him in the Conservatoire.
At the same time, André Gide and DH Lawrence quenched his thirst for poetry and literature while his English teacher introduced him to rhythm’n’blues and jazz. All the ingredients are there to make him a future star of the song. Jean-Louis then defied his father’s ban on continuing his studies, abandoned the idea of taking over the family farm and becomes the family’s first high school graduate. The budding musician married when he was 17 and became a father at 19 to a little boy. A life well launched, quickly overtaken by a sudden thirst for adventure: he divorced and criss-crossed France, living off odd jobs until he was 25 years old.
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A successful solo career
Jean-Louis Murat makes his debut in music with the group Clara, ridden with friends from Clermont-Ferrand. Singer-songwriter and saxophonist, he records with his peers the 45 lap Kill yourself, the people are dead, which allows them to be noticed by critics. Follows the album MuratThen Private Passions in 1984. But success was not forthcoming and the artist went through a period of slack for three years. A stroke of luck in 1987, the Virgin label spotted him and asked him to sign a contract. The singer leaves If I should miss you, which propels him to the front of the stage.
The career of Jean-Louis Murat is launched. Avid for poetry, a mind teeming with ideas and creativity, he hits the mark with his album Cheyenne Autumn, pays tribute to the agricultural world with its mini-album outdoor wallrecorded one of his finest albums Raincoat in 1991, and made a big splash with its title Regret the same year, sang in duet with Mylène Farmer. Very prolific, Jean-Louis Murat releases his sixth opus Venus in 1993, composed in just six days! The artist also talks about personal feelings in Dolores and escape with mustango. The singular writing of Jean-Louis Murat seduces many stars of the song. He writes especially for Johnny HallydayJeanne Moreau and Sylvie Vartan, Isabelle Boulay, Indochina and collaborate with Carla Bruni and the singers Rose and Camille. His latest album, the 24th of his career, will be released in 2021.
When Jean-Louis Murat makes his cinema
In addition to beaming in front of a microphone, Jean-Louis Murat shines in front of the camera. In 1990, he played alongside by Isabelle Huppert and Béatrice Dalle In A Woman’s Revenge, a film directed by Jacques Doillon. The singer and actor produced and starred in the 1996 musical film miss nobody, with Romain Duris and Elodie Bouchez. When he does not appear on screen, he composes the music for certain feature films. This is the case for the movie Pauline and Francoisreleased in 2010, but also I’m not sleepy in 1993.
Interviewed in April 2019 by the Unbreakable in the context of the France of the Yellow Vests, Jean-Louis Murat summed up his career in a few words: “I’ve always been an outsider, and that is what still matters to me today. I will never have the popularity of Mylène Farmer, so what? I go back to the studio with the same pep as the first time. It’s the only and best way to stay motivated. In the time that I have been in this profession, I have seen too many artists victims of the negative effect of success.”
Photo credits: Guillaume Gaffiot/Bestimage
