Almost 80 years old, Dave is no longer afraid to speak. The one who never had his tongue in his pocket decided to write everything that was on his heart, and published his memoirs this Thursday, November 2, by Talent Editions. Baptized How not to be in love with youthese look back on his great career, from the Netherlands to France, but also on his personal life, strewn with pitfalls, paralyzed by a homosexuality that he has always accepted, but which he had to tame, year after year. For more than fifty years, the singer of Vanina has been in a relationship with the lyricist Patrick Loiseauwith whom he remained in a civil partnership for a long time, before finally marrying her, a few years ago, on the advice of their friend Marc-Olivier Fogiel.
But if he never hid his homosexuality, Dave had to learn to live at a time when it was still taboo. In the 70s and 80s, the singer had formed a beautiful friendship with the comedian Coluche, but he nonetheless remained offended by the remarks that his friend could make about his sexuality. As he reveals in his story, Dave came to blows with Coluche after a dinner at the restaurant that got out of hand, during which the gritty jokes of the actor who died in 1986 in a motorcycle accident offended the former juror of France has an unbelievable talent.
“He’s not homophobic at all!”
“There was actually a Coluche album at the time which said: They say Dave is a man, but that’s not true, he’s a woman. And he had made an allusion as a result, Coluche and I obviously, I am one of the people who really like Coluche’s humor” tempered the singer before explaining the real reasons for their quarrel which, however, did not last: “And we were in some kind of restaurant, we came out to fight”. Fortunately, that evening, the two men did not go to the restaurant alone, and it was singer Eddy Mitchell who separated them!
“I think it was Eddy Mitchell who separated us! They told me afterwards that I was lucky because it seems that he fought very well. So, we didn’t fight “ continued Dave. However, there was no question of the two friends getting angry… Their quarrel only lasted one evening, and their friendship continued until the disappearance of the founder of Restos du coeur. : “Afterwards, it went very well with Coluche. He was a friend. It ended well, he was not homophobic at all, at all! I would say that I even have almost the same fault as him, we hurt when we want to be funny.”