Born on November 23: Francis Cabrel, we loved him, we love him and we will always love him
It was in Lot-et-Garonne, in 1953, that Francis Cabrel was born into a family of Italian immigrants.
Sometimes it takes very little to set destiny in motion. For Francis Cabrel, all it took was listening to a Dylan song and the intuition of his uncle who gave him a guitar for Christmas. Both events pushed him to timidly compose his first pieces and to perform regularly at balls, already making a few fans dance. In 1974, he won his first singing competition. With long hair and a hippie moustache, Francis Cabrel sang "Petite Marie", which he dedicated to his wife. This first record gave him a few opportunities, such as opening for Dave. But destiny sometimes takes its time and he had to wait until 1979 to experience his first real success with "Je l'aime à mourir".
Other hits followed, as did the release of his third album. "La Dame de Haute-Savoie" and "L’Encre de tes yeux" propelled him to diamond disc status and headliner at the Olympia. The album "Sarbacane", recorded partly at home, was another success, as was "Samedi soir sur la terre", released in 1994. More than three million records sold! This album included among others "La cabane du pêcheur" and "Je t’aimais, je t’aime et je t’aimerai". The decades that followed were once again marked by success and, in a nod to this little spark that ignited his destiny, the singer also released an album of Bob Dylan covers, of whom he is still a fan. "Every five years, I make my little album and I come out of my countryside to talk about it. It's my natural rhythm!" confesses the man who, today, is on his fourteenth opus and has sold more than 25 million albums. How many flames have been declared by borrowing his words, how many slow songs have led to beautiful stories? Francis Cabrel can boast of having written the soundtrack to the memories of many of us.
(MH with CMa - Photo: © Etienne Tordoir)
Photo: Francis Cabrel on a TV set of RTBf in Brussels (Belgium) in June 1989