Admired by the great names of the French scene, the artist never knew the celebrity of Jacques Brel or Serge Reggiani. He died at his home near Avignon on Sunday July 16.
His death was overshadowed by that of Jane Birkin. This Sunday, July 16, the singer Henri Tachan died at the age of 83, near Avignon. Acclaimed by Serge Reggiani, Juliette Gréco, Pierre Perret and many others, he never knew the same fame. His provocative title “Une pipe à pépé”, taken from his album In public (1982), in which he defends the sexuality of the elderly, marked his contemporaries.
Spotted in Montreal by Jacques Brel
Born in 1939 into a family of Armenian origin in Allier, Henri Tachan – his real name is Tachdjian – first embarked on hotel studies before embarking on a prolific career as a singer. After a waiter experience at the Ritz, he left for Montreal in 1962, where he was spotted in a cabaret by a certain Jacques Brel.
Back in France, the artist signs a first record, Bad Blows, at Barclay, in 1965. The same year, he won the prestigious Grand Prix of the Charles Cros Disc Academy. In the afterword to the album, Brel predicts a great career for the young beginner: “The lion is unleashed! Hear him roar… This one roars loudly and will roar for a long time”.
Known for his sharp pen, the singer spared no one in his texts: the police and the Church, the army, the reactionary bourgeois, the hunters, the rednecks… He who did not have his language in his pocket told the World in 2002 : “I started under de Gaulle, continued under Pompidou, continued under Giscard, and under Mitterrand I was ignored. It was great, finally, censorship, you had an enemy. Today, I don’t know how to Who do I contact Multinationals? Big Brother?. The singer has however always refused the label of committed artist, which he shot in 1976 in Ni gleft, neither center nor right.
Very discreet since the release of his last album, Rain and shine (2007), his 18th, Henri Tachan was above all a poet, a singer with texts.