Monsieur 100,000 Volts
Gilbert Bécaud (né François Silly, 1927-2001) was a French singer, composer, pianist and actor. He was widely known as "Monsieur 100,000 Volts" in recognition of his on-stage dynamism and energy. Bécaud was not only high-energy (40 years of touring, up to 250 concerts per year); he was multilingual and multitalented—an occasional actor, a brilliant pianist, a song-writer, composer and singer. He wrote and composed hundreds of songs. In 1962, he collaborated with Louis Amade and Pierre Delanoë on a two-act, tragic medieval love story as an opera set in the Irish Aran Islands, “L’Opera d’Aran,” that premiered in October at the Théatre des Champs Elysées. Some of his songs resembled those of Charles Trenet with firm delivery and occasional melodramatic vocal twists but he was more like Sinatra and Aznavour in appearance and stage persona. The high energy of his performances often elicited a raucus audience response christened “Bécaudmania.” While Bécaud was a songwriter, he worked closely with other lyricists like Louis Amade, Maurice Vidalin and Pierre Delanoë on his large portfolio of songs. Ironically, he and Delanoë
released a 1957 song "Salut les copains" ("Hello buddies") that in 1959 became the name of a famous radio show and magazine that fostered the yé-yé movement for which the two musicians had little regard.
Bécaud began as a pianist in cabarets and nightclubs and composer for film. He accompanied Édith Piaf's husband-to-be Jacque Pills and she encouraged him to start his singing career, as she did with Montand, Moustaki, Aznavour and others. His most cherished performance venue became the Paris Olympia music hall under the management of Bruno Coquatrix. He debuted there at its re-opening in February 1954 and headlined in 1955, attracting 4,000 people--two times the capacity--on his first night that ended with seats broken by his rabid fans. He topped the bill there in excess of 30 performances--a venue record.
His signature stage garb was a navy-blue suit, white shirt and polka-dot tie (“cravate à pois”), with his left hand cupped to his temple (to modulate his voice). The tie was a good-luck charm dating from an early job interview when his mother cut fabric from her dress for a necktie to make him presentable. A pianist, Bécaud insisted on sawing short the front legs on his performance piano so he could maintain eye contact with the audience. Ed Ochs described in “Billboard” a typical Bécaud concert in October 1968 at the Cort Theater in New York (now the James Earl Jones Theater): “Courting the audience with crisp, color -conscious word pictures. Bécaud charmed, crooned and cavorted, tinkling on the piano, grimacing in the lights and weaving among his marvelous five-man band.” From 1975 until his death, Bécaud liked to recharge his batteries at his country home “La Buissiere” in Le Poitou (Vienne) and on his houseboat "Aran" docked on the Seine river.
La Buissiere
Although Bécaud himself never achieved the widespread foreign recognition of Aznavour, Piaf or Montand, he was one of the most consequential French “chansonniers” and his songs acquired indirect international resonance through many English language adaptations. Best-known among them are: Let It Be Me (“Je t’appartiens”), What Now My Love (“Et maintenant”), The Day That the Rains Came Down (“Le jour où la pluie viendra”). He also co-wrote “Love on the Rocks” ("L'Amour est mort") and "September Morn'" ( “C’est en septembre,” 1978) with Neil Diamond.
A heavy smoker, Bécaud died of lung cancer in 2001 on his houseboat on the Seine River in Paris.