Almost six years after the death of Johnny Hallyday, a new biographical book is about to see the light of day. Patrick Roussel, who was the rocker’s driver and bodyguard from 1999 to 2015, has indeed decided to publish a book entitled “Everyone called him Johnny” in which he looks back on these many years spent alongside Johnny Hallyday.
Impossible for him not to mention the fact that the death of the rocker generated a legal and moral battle between his widow Laeticia Hallyday and his eldest children, Laura Smet and David Hallyday. We remember that Laeticia Hallyday had proudly brandished a will in which Johnny Hallyday claimed not to want to give anything to his elders who would have already been spoiled during his lifetime. Shocked, Laura and David then embarked on a legal battle to contest this will…
After a trial and several months of tackles by the media, it was finally in July 2020 that the two parties had managed to “find an agreement” concerning the distribution of Johnny Hallyday’s inheritance. If Laura Smet did not get a check, she did however manage to get her hands on some personal items dear to her heart, such as “a sofa, a statue, cowboy boots…”.
This Thursday, June 8, 2023, our colleagues from Gala have published some excerpts from this book and Patrick Roussel returns to the fact that Johnny avoided singing his song “Laura”, written for his daughter. “I never saw the artist perform Laura on stage. I don’t know why, or maybe not. A tacit prohibition. Johnny himself did not mention this piece…” he wrote.
He continues and indirectly evokes the legacy: “Laura, she spoke to me about it. She confided to me, even recently: ‘I don’t care about the rest. Me, at least, I have my song'”. In the 2020 agreement, Laura Smet has indeed obtained the copyright of this famous song which is dedicated to her. His brother David has meanwhile obtained the rights to the album “Sang pour sang”, composed with his father.
ES