Four Decades of Daho
Etienne Daho was born in 1956 in Oran, Algeria (then part of France) and spent the early years of his youth in a country torn by the war of independence with France. His father abandoned the family when Etienne was 4 years old. He eventually landed with his mother and two older sisters in the French city of Rennes, on the eastern edge of Brittany. With the assistance of his sisters, he fell into early musical exposure to influences as diverse as The Velvet Underground, The Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, Françoise Hardy and Serge Gainsbourg and made excursions to the punk scene in England.
Rennes
It turned out that Rennes, a picturesque city on the eastern edge of Brittany with cobbled streets and half-timbered buildings, was becoming a hotbed of French contemporary music. Since 1979, it is home to the Trans Musicales and Maintenant music festivals, many concert halls and an opera house. An ancient city, it also has one of the largest student populations in France.
Marquis de Sade artists Franck Darcel,
Thierry Alexandre,
Eric Morinière, Philippe Pascal
Damien Meyer/AFP via Getty Images
The “new wave” (post-punk) French rock band Marquis de Sade (seminal but short-lived, 1977-81), was founded in Rennes in 1977 by singer Philippe Pascal and guitarist Frank Darcel. Les Rencontres Trans Musicales, held for 3-4 days in December each year since 1979, adopted a distinctive profile strong on originality and novel musical forms, aiming for “the next big thing.” All together, except for the pre-Christmas festival weather triumvirate of cold-wind-and-rain, Rennes was a fine incubator for emerging musical talent like Étienne Daho.
While living in Rennes and thereafter, Daho navigated the many successive stages of artistic development that one sees replicated over-and-over in the stories narrated on this website. Artists need to clarify goals, develop musical performance and songwriting skills, formulate a brand identity and construct playlists within a defined musical space, gain a deft understanding of the A&R function at record companies, cultivate public exposure, collaborators and producers, develop a following, and cement a legacy. These outcomes hinge on related behaviors. The trajectory varies individually, but generally it leads from early appearances on streetcorners, bars and gigs, to music halls and a strategic release of recordings on singles, EPs and LPs, carefully crafted studio albums and extemporaneous live albums, social media, music festivals and concert tours, promotion and marketing. The process often concludes with album compilations, duets, residencies and other packages of established materials.
Daho came equipped with a silky-smooth voice and has a personal style that is well-adapted to stage performance. During the 1970s, he hung out in Rennes with musicians like Philippe Pascal and Franck Darcel at Marquis de Sade and Elli Medeiros and Jacno at Stinky Toys, composed some songs, formed a band, organized concerts, performed at the “Transmusicales,” and actually landed a contract with Virgin Records during their early entry to France. Daho’s first LP was released in 1981 and others followed in 1984, 1986 and 1988. The release of singles “Weekend à Rome” in 1984 and “Tombé pour la France” in 1985 created a sort of "Dahomania" around the country. His music style has ranged over pop, synth-pop, surf-rock, club music, orchestral, and rock. Over the years, his output reached 22 albums, 82 singles and EPs, and 16 compilations.
Daho’s accomplishments over more than 40 years have been widely recognized by French professional associations. With 7 nominations for the Ministry of Culture’s “Victoires de la musique” awards, he has been one of the most frequent nominees. In 2008, his album “L’Invitation” received a best album award. In 2013 he received the “Grand prix de la chanson française” by SACEM (French association music authors, composers and editors). In 2021, the “Académie française” awarded him the “Grand Medaille de la Chanson Française.” Most recently, he received the “Prix Spécial de la SACEM” in November 2024.
Étienne Daho Songs
As elsewhere on this website, the featured songs reflect a combination of personal taste, the criteria of “chanson,” and the existence of an interesting “story behind the song.”
Le Premier Jour (du reste de ta vie), The First Day of the Rest of Your Life, 1998\
Comme un boomerang (with Dani), Like a Boomerang (Album: Daho Live 2001)