Daniel Balavoine
Daniel Balavoine grew up in the southwest of France, in the cities Dax and Biarritz. In 1968 he went to Pau and discovered his interest for politics in school. At the same time he joined a band that used to play on weekends. Two years later he went to Paris where he became a member of the band „Presence“. They re- corded a single with the label „Vogue“, but it was only sold 247 times. The Band split and Daniel decided to start a solo career. A few months later he presented his first single which flopped as well. His rise to fame be- gan slowly in 1973, as a chorist in the musi- cal “La Révolution Française“. He was dis- covered by “Patrick Juvet“, a Swiss pop star, who asked Daniel to join him in the studio as a background singer. Finally in 1975, Eddy Barclay signed him to his label. In the same year his first album „De vous à elle en passant par moi“got released. The breakthrough only happened in 1978 with the album „Le Chan- teur“. The title song hit the charts and Daniel Balavoine became a star in the French spea- king countries. Among his masterpieces are the songs „Le chanteur“, „Un autre monde“, „Vendeurs de larmes“, „Loin des yeux de l’Occident“ and „Sauver l’amour“. He died in a helicopter crash in 1986, three weeks prior to his 34th Birthday. Among the passengers was also the Paris-Dakar organisator Thierry Sabine.