The Belgian singer and composer died at the age of 77, his partner announced on Tuesday.
The Belgian singer and composer Lou Deprijck, who claimed authorship of the hit That Plane For Me of Plastic Bertrand, died at the age of 77, his partner announced on Tuesday September 19.
“My darling, my man… I accompanied you until your last breath as you wanted… You will be my one and last love”wrote on Facebook Vanessa Vanderkimpen, herself an artist, specializing in imitations of Michael Jackson, to announce the death of her companion.
That Plane For Me, Lou Deprijck’s punk-sounding hit, has been covered numerous times, notably by the American rock groups Sonic Youth and Red Hot Chili Peppers. In 2006, the Coca-Cola brand chose That Plane For Me for an advertising campaign in Southeast Asia.
A provocative artist
Born in 1946 in Lessines, in French-speaking Belgium, Lou Deprijck was a figure in Brussels night and party life in the 1970s and 1980s. He was a friend in particular of Grand Jojo, who sang We are thirstyand the filmmaker Jan Bucquoy, who notably directed The sex life of Belgianswillingly provocative artists like him and presenting themselves as the heirs of surrealism.
Lou Deprijck took over his “underpants museum”, originally opened in the center of Brussels, from Jan Bucquoy to install his collections of underwear that belonged to celebrities in his house in Lessines.
A legal saga
Singer, composer, producer, Lou Deprijck remains especially associated with the legal saga surrounding That Plane For Me, a hit released at the end of 1977 and quickly became a global phenomenon. In 2010, based on an expert report requested by a Belgian court, Lou Deprijck claimed to be himself the interpreter of the song (which he composed) and not Plastic Bertrand.
“The report (…) reveals that with the sentence endings noted on the tapes, we can only attribute the voice to a Ch’ti or a Picard”he told the Belgian media Last hour in 2010, “And If between Plastic and me, there is one who knows Ch’ti and Picard, it’s definitely me! Everyone knows that I am from Lessines.” For his part, Plastic Bertrand, whose real name is Roger Jouret, who is now 69 years old, has always opposed this in two Brussels judgments, at first instance and on appeal in 2006, designating him as the legal interpreter of the song.
In its repertoire of works, Sacem also presents Plastic Bertrand as performer of the hit while it presents Francis “Lou” Deprijck as composer and Yvan Lacomblez as author.