Michel Delpech had his first hit at nineteen with Chez Laurette, a schoolboys' song that opened the concert halls to him. In 1966 he opened for Brel at the Olympia thirty-eight nights running, the harshest apprenticeship there was. Pour un flirt sold more than one million two hundred thousand copies in four months. A pilgrimage to Jerusalem brought him back to Christianity in 1986.
The story
One million two hundred thousand copies in four months: that was the fate of Pour un flirt, in 1971. Wight Is Wight had already passed the million two years earlier.
Born at Courbevoie on 26 January 1946, Jean Michel Bertrand Delpech had his first hit in 1965 with “Chez Laurette”, a schoolboys' song that opened the concert halls to him. In 1966, at twenty, he was the supporting act for Jacques Brel at the Olympia, the Paris music hall, thirty-eight nights running — the harshest apprenticeship French song could offer. “Que Marianne était jolie” followed in 1973.
In 1986 a pilgrimage to Jerusalem brought him back to Christianity, which filled the rest of his life as fully as song did. A cancer of the tongue and throat was diagnosed in 2013; he died at Puteaux on 2 January 2016, and his funeral was held at Saint-Sulpice in the presence of the Coptic Orthodox bishop Abba Athanasios.
He rests in Division 49, a few paths from Anna Karina, Marie Laforêt and Gisèle Halimi: a plot in the upper cemetery where song, cinema and the bar lie side by side.
On site, do not miss
A grave in one of the most walked plots of the upper cemetery: Anna Karina, Marie Laforêt and Gisèle Halimi lie in the same Division.
Visitors' questions
Where is Michel Delpech's grave?
In Division 49, Avenue Transversale No. 1, first row. The Division is also home to Anna Karina, Marie Laforêt and Gisèle Halimi: a well-trodden plot in the upper cemetery, where song, cinema and the Bar lie side by side.
Anna KarinaWhich songs made Michel Delpech's name?
“Chez Laurette” in 1965, Wight Is Wight in 1969 — more than a million copies —, Pour un flirt in 1971, which sold 1.2 million in four months, and “Que Marianne était jolie” in 1973 — four songs that were enough to carry him through fifty years of radio.
Gilbert BécaudDid he sing with Jacques Brel?
He opened for him at the Olympia in 1966, thirty-eight nights in a row. At twenty, singing to an audience that had come for Brel was the harshest apprenticeship French chanson had to offer.
Marie LaforêtHow did Michel Delpech die?
Of cancer of the tongue and throat, diagnosed in 2013, on 2 January 2016 in Puteaux. Having returned to Christianity after a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1986, he was given a funeral at Saint-Sulpice, with a Coptic Orthodox bishop in attendance.
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