Joe Dassin: short biography, personal life, creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

His hits are known everywhere, despite the fact that the famous French chansonnier is no longer among the living. Joe Dassin migrated to France as a little boy, and he was born in the United States. Despite the fact that he mostly "re-sung" other people's compositions, he managed to attract enormous attention to his performance. And the reason for this is his amazing velvety voice.

Childhood

A blue-eyed boy named Joseph Ira Dassin was born on November 5, 1938 in New York. His father worked in the Jewish theater, and his mother was a violinist. After some time, Joe Dassin's father became an assistant to the legendary Hitchcock, and then took up directing.

When the future chansonnier was a cute two-year-old toddler, the family moved to Los Angeles. From childhood, the boy was used to earning money - simply because he liked it. The first earnings were spent on two volumes of Britannica, because he was driven by a thirst for knowledge and a love of reading. Family in Los Angeleslived well, but the head of the family supported the idea of communism, which is why he had to hastily flee to France.

New life

Joe Dassin fell in love with this country at first sight. But a year after the move, he had to go to study in Switzerland. From there, in 1951, he moved to Italy for the same purpose. Then Joe studied in Geneva for a couple of years and finally completed his undergraduate studies in Grenoble. During this time, Dassin became a real polyglot, having learned three languages.

In 1955, a painful blow awaited the young man - his parents decided to divorce, and sensitive Joe experienced this news very hard. He needed an urgent change of scenery, so he enrolled at the Medical University of Michigan. However, three years later, he realized that looking at blood every day was not for him. Transferred to the Faculty of Ethnology, Joe Dassin received a master's degree, after which he took up graduate school. Even while studying (on weekends), the young man began to earn money by singing in a cafe, which brought him $ 50 a day. In America, everything was in order to become famous. But Dassin was irresistibly drawn to France, where he soon went.

Creative activity

Initially, the musician performed folklore compositions, but by the beginning of the 70s he retrained as a pop singer. When he met Jacques Plie, the first fruits of their creativity appeared - Guantanamera and Bip-Bip.

Joe Dassin himself created songs infrequently, preferring to make cover versions of famous hits and perform them in his usualmanner. The compositions became hits, as the singer's charming voice did not leave anyone indifferent.

Breakthrough

The year 1965 came, bringing the French singer overwhelming popularity. Vinyl Les D alton received the status of gold, and after it the hit Siffler sur la colline was recorded, after which Joe Dassin decided to appear in front of the public without prior rehearsals.

Four years later, the hit "Champs Elysees" appeared to the world, which the singer translated from English. At that time, he was known even in America and Africa, and vinyls scattered around the world in millions of copies. It was time for hard work, as it was necessary to stay at the achieved height.

Popularity

In May 72, Joe Dassin released a new song called Taka Takata, which immediately won the hearts of the French and Germans. Russian chansonnier fans know her as "Taka-Taka", which is much more familiar to our ears.

In 1975 the world heard one of his best songs. Joe Dassin also translated and adapted it for himself. Originally the song was performed by Toto Cutugno, and it was called Africa. Then the song migrated to the repertoire of the Albatros group. Dassin translated it into French and modified it somewhat. This is how the hit L'ete Indien was born, which in the Russian variation sounds like "Without You". The song was distinguished by the fact that it began with a recitative, against the background of a soft-sounding melody, and only with an increase in music did he begin to sing. This composition was published in several languages, for which it received another gold.

Soon there was a hit,with whom we associate Joe Dassin - "If it weren't for you" (Et si tu n'existais pas), which in Russia was covered by many performers. And then the no less popular song Salut. In 1976, a new successful hit called “Luxembourg Gardens” was released, the duration of which was 12 minutes. Closer to 1980, Joe Dassin became a world-class star and had many tours in different countries behind him. Throughout his creative career, the chansonnier has released 20 albums, and his songs are still alive thanks to the lips of other artists.

Personal

Like many famous people, Joe Dassin did not talk about the intimate side of his life. He was a modest and even somewhat shy man. Chansonnier built himself a cozy home in France and was happy hiding behind its walls.

Dassin's first wife was Maryse Massiere, with whom he married at the age of 28. However, after a family tragedy (the death of their first child), the couple divorced.

After 10 years, the singer met his true love in the image of a Rouen photographer - Christine Delvaux. Cupid was waiting for Joe Dassin on the doorstep: a simple need to develop the film led him to the altar for the second time. The celebration was held in the rain on January 14, 1978. Christine gave the singer two sons. However, 2 years later, Joe filed for divorce. The reason was constant quarrels with his wife. It was difficult for him to break up, so he completely immersed himself in work. This undermined his he alth, the chansonnier began to increasingly feel chest pain.

Death

It all started 11July 1980 during a concert in Cannes. Joe was pale and ill-looking, but he carried himself with all his might and tried to appear cheerful. However, during the second separation, Joe suddenly fell unconscious. He was urgently hospitalized. Dassin remained in the hospital until the end of the month. This was far from the first heart attack, so the musician did not think that everything was so serious. The doctors recommended that he rest, so Joe Dassin went to Tahiti, but during the flight, the disease again reminded of itself. The musician returned home in a gloomy mood.

Death overtook the chansonnier on August 20, 1980, right at the restaurant table, where he came with friends. The singer simply lost consciousness, and the doctor, who happened to be nearby, tried to resuscitate him. But, alas, to no avail. Joe Dassin was a little short of his 42nd birthday.