Claude François (1939-78) was born in Egypt while his father worked at the Suez Canal. In 1956 following the Suez crisis, the family moved to Monaco in straightened circumstances. This experience endowed him with a strong compulsion to succeed in business activities as well as in musical performance. Known as “Cloclo” to his fans, Claude eventually became a successful and diversified French pop singer, composer, songwriter, record producer, drummer and dancer. His first sortie into the music world was playing drums at luxury hotels along the French Riviera. Eventually, he sold some 70 million records during and after his career.
Claude was a chameleon in the many changes he made in his performance style. He wrote many of his own catchy pop songs but became especially noted for his covers of English and American rock-and-roll music (and later disco) for the French market. In 1962, he covered an Everly Brothers song “Made to Love” and then in 1963 he recorded a French version of “If I had a Hammer” (“Si J’Avais Un Marteau”) and “Walk Right In” (“March Tout Droit”). Claude adopted a Presley-like stage style with slicked-back hair and sequined suits. By 1963 his popularity was such that a famous drawing of Claude by a well-known illustrator Michel Bourdais was widely publicized. Bourdais later wrote an entire book about the drawing.
Claude was a chameleon in the many changes he made in his performance style. He wrote many of his own catchy pop songs but became especially noted for his covers of English and American rock-and-roll music (and later disco) for the French market. In 1962, he covered an Everly Brothers song “Made to Love” and then in 1963 he recorded a French version of “If I had a Hammer” (“Si J’Avais Un Marteau”) and “Walk Right In” (“March Tout Droit”). Claude adopted a Presley-like stage style with slicked-back hair and sequined suits. By 1963 his popularity was such that a famous drawing of Claude by a well-known illustrator Michel Bourdais was widely publicized. Bourdais later wrote an entire book about the drawing.
Michel Bourdais, Claude François, 1963
After a visit to Las Vegas in 1965, Claude amplified his high-energy performances with a troupe of female dancers known as the “Clodettes.” He became known for extravagant stage productions and his “roller skates” dance move when he glided across the stage assisted by roller skate wheels attached to his outfit. When the Beatles came along, he covered their hits in French and then turned to disco. He died in 1978 at 39 years of age by accidental electrocution while standing in a filled bathtub to repair a broken light fixture. It was a demise apparently fueled by a neurotic perfectionism that was evident in his professional life as well as in personal quirks like a compulsive insistence on weekly repainting the white stairway in his residence.
The song selection below (“Comme d’Habitude”) represents a compelling slice of world music history. As explained in the next section, it is a song with a long tail. Other popular songs by Claude are: “Alexandrie Alexandra,” Belles, Belles, Belles,” “Le Lundi au Soleil,” and “Je Vais à Rio.”
Claude François Song
Comme d'Habitude (As Usual)