“The most beautiful prayers are poems”

In this new album, you revisit poets you love. Is this a kind of artistic testament?

I started writing when I was 11. Poems, dramas, tragedies and songs. I place poetry so high that even the most beautiful songs remain, in my eyes, below. Poetry saved me from everything; it has punctuated all the seasons of my life. It’s the love I have for him that pushed me to make this album. He had been close to my heart for a long time.

What guided the choice of these texts?

Each of those that I have retained has contributed to this great edifice that is the rumor of love. But the main criterion was the resonance of the words within me.

You seem to have a particular admiration for Arthur Rimbaud. What does it mean to you?

Rimbaud revolutionized poetry. All his work is extraordinary, especially if we think of the rejection he suffered from the official poets of his time when he wrote The drunken boat, at 16 years old. He was a genius. For him, poetry was only valuable in the flash of inspiration. Some criticized his tumultuous life, his drinking binges. But, for me, this existence is a summary of his destiny: death at 37, leaving a dazzling mark.

Do other poets resonate with you?

Baudelaire, without hesitation. I discovered The flowers of evil at the age of 11. I also think of Victor Hugo, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Valéry and René Char. I also invited verses from Malherbe, du Bellay, Jarry, Verlaine, Racine and even Shakespeare into this album…

While we are used to hearing you sing, here you are declaiming…

It is in fact a recitative album with a musical background. I wanted to highlight what matters most to me: words. I brought together the greatest poems of French literature, from the 15th to the 20th century. I then cut them out and assembled them to create a mosaic of meanings and emotions. It is also a collective work with the arrangements and music of Augustin Charnet. My faithful friend, the accordionist Sergio Tomassi, provided sound recording and artistic coordination.

You once said that “poetry is sacred”…

Poetry is the inaccessible star! It allows the soul of each poet to reach far and wide and resonate with other souls. Some of the most beautiful Christian prayers are poems.

What place does faith occupy in your journey?

I am Catholic. With sometimes more than two hundred dates per year, my tours have not allowed me to attend mass regularly. But I defend my Christian convictions, even if, today, it is difficult to fully embrace one’s faith without being categorized.

Hence your choice in 2021 to get married in church…

After eighteen years of relationship, Luana, who is a believer, and I wanted to unite before God and men, in the Saint-Pierre-du-Gros-Caillou church, a stone’s throw from our home, in Paris. I wanted to give him this moment that goes beyond words. The religious ceremony with the dress, the oath…, it was wonderful.

Two car accidents have marked your life. How do we overcome such tragedies?

In 1965, at the age of 22, when I was starting my career, the car in which I was with Jean-Claude Ghrenassia, brother of Enrico Macias, and the pianist Liliane Benelli with whom I was in a relationship, hit a tree. The only survivor, I have had physical and psychological after-effects all my life. The solidarity of the artistic community – Barbara, Régine and others – helped me, as did my rage for life and my desire to return to the stage despite pessimistic medical prognoses.

On the other hand, when my parents died (also in a car accident, editor’s note) I triumphed with the musical Napoleon … We had to continue to put on the show. I drew strength from it to face fate. At other difficult times, I was able to count on the women in my life: Michèle (died in 2016), with whom I lived for forty-six years; then Luana, for twenty-two years.

Your father, Georges Chauvier, a baritone, sang operetta but was unable to make a career. Was it to realize your dream that you became a singer?

He could have made a living from his art, but my mother, who had a very strong character, did not want him to go on tour, out of jealousy. She shattered his dream. And my father retrained as a beverage representative. In a way, I pursued this path for him as much as for myself. I still had him sing with me in February 1984 a few months before his death in December, on the occasion of my twenty years of career, at the Grand Rex, in Paris.

As for your son Frédéric, he did not follow in your footsteps…

He was first a magician, before launching into audiovisual production. I believe that during his childhood he suffered from my absences during my tours. Today we see each other often and he knows how much I love him.

Did you want to organize a farewell tour in 2021. To leave things before they leave you?

The Covid-19 pandemic prevented me from doing it. I finally decided to stop performing without doing this final tour, because I can’t stay up for long. Since my accident in 1965, only my right leg supports me; it has carried my entire career. Out of respect for my audience, I refuse to perform seated. I saw stars like Serge Reggiani or Charles Trenet singing seated during their last appearances. I did not want to offer such an image. More out of realism and humility.

What is the secret of such a long career?

The tragedies I experienced touched people facing similar difficulties, and my moments of happiness allowed me to write songs that spoke to others. On stage, I never saved myself, and that counts too. I have always been sincere with myself and with the public. This is undoubtedly why he has been faithful to me for sixty years.

In 2023, the Victoires de la Musique celebrated you as a “sacred monster” of the music hall…

I was very moved. Singer Calogero’s speech was sincere, and the recognition of the younger generation touched me. I think I place myself, after those I consider to be the four greats of French song – Brassens, Brel, Aznavour and Bécaud – in a second line with the generation of Souchon, Cabrel, Julien Clerc…

What is your view on French song today?

I don’t know if we can still envisage a career like mine or that of artists of my generation. Rap occupies a huge place and live performance is going through a difficult period. The public focuses less on the texts or the performances. It’s the TikTok era, with texts that seem sloppy and often infested with anglicisms. And with artificial intelligence and all these new technologies, I am not very optimistic for the future generations of French song. Still, there are some promising talents.

Do you still have a dream or a crazy project?

I have already accomplished much more than I ever imagined. Napoleon propelled me to stardom, and I inaugurated the Palais des Congrès in Paris in 1975. I did the job I wanted and I sang at the Olympia, which I had dreamed of since I was 11 years old. Today, I feel myself getting older physically, but, intellectually, I remain young and curious, with things still to accomplish: a next album, if I have the strength…

What would you like people to remember about you in sixty years: the poet, the singer or the man in search of meaning?

I’m not a poet, I’m just a singer and lyricist. I just want someone to say about me: “He wrote beautiful songs.” »