Jacques Brel was born 85 years ago. Brel was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed literate, thoughtful and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following in Belgium and France initially, and later throughout the world. He was widely considered a master of the modern chanson. Although he recorded most of his songs in French, he became a major influence on English-speaking songwriters and performers such as David Bowie, Alex Harvey, Leonard Cohen, Marc Almond and Rod McKuen. English translations of his songs were recorded by many top performers in the United States, including Ray Charles, Judy Collins, John Denver, the Kingston Trio, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, Scott Walker and Andy Williams. In French-speaking countries, Brel was also a successful actor, appearing in ten films. He also directed two films, one of which, Le Far West, was nominated for the Palme dOr at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973. Jacques Brel has sold over 25 million records worldwide, and is the third best-selling Belgian recording artist of all time. In July, 1978, after his health began to fail, Brel was flown back to France and rushed to a hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine where doctors discovered a cancerous tumor. He remained in the hospital for six weeks, and then spent the rest of the summer in Southern France. Brel died of a pulmonary embolism Oct. 9 1978,at the age of 49. Here, Brel performs “Jef” in 1964. The subtitles are in Dutch.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 06:36:55 +0000
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