This July 3, 2022, Eddy Mitchell celebrates his 80th birthday. A birthday that he is celebrating, one can imagine, surrounded by his loved ones, starting with his wife of more than four decades, Muriel Bailleul and his children, Eddy (born in 1962), Marilyn (born in 1965) and Pamela (born in 1982). Time passes, many of his friends left like one of the members of the Vieilles Canailles, the legendary Johnny Hallyday whom he considered his “half brother“. As for his “last session”, to use the title of one of his magnificent songs, the French crooner has already thought about it, making an unexpected revelation.
A discreet and modest man, Eddy Mitchell had however broached a delicate subject, death, in an interview for The Parisian in 2015. And it was with great detachment that he raised the issue. With his wife Muriel, the singer decided to be buried in Saint-Tropez, where he has lived with her for more than thirty-five years: “She has an appointment at the cemetery, to take care of our concession. Me, I would prefer to be charred, but my children want to meditate on a grave. So, as long as it is, as much as it is here.”
City full of stars, the city of Saint-Tropez also welcomes many personalities in its cemetery. This is how the location they will have will be located near a very special figure: Eddie Barclay, who died in 2005. What enchants the wife of the famous “Schmoll”: “She is delighted, we will have the concession next to Barclay.” The two men knew each other well and the interpreter of On the road to Memphis had spoken with tenderness and humor about his relationship with the one who was his producer, at the microphone of Europe 1 in 2020: “At the start it was a bad start since we couldn’t see each other because of two shitty contracts he had made me sign. He wanted to give me 1%, so I didn’t want to do a promo. So each time, he had to make me an extension cord, and since there was only one TV channel, they had to.“
Two musical figures who have worked together for a long time and who are both very attached to Saint Tropez: “I love Saint-Tropez and I ended up buying a house there before Barclay. Barclay was going to Cannes, to the Martinez hotel, I remember it well. Then one day he discovered Saint-Tropez and he s had an absolutely brilliant barrack built. And there, he received everyone.” While waiting to find him in the paradise of white evenings, Eddy Mitchell will continue to delight us with his immense talent and his glibness for a very long time, we hope.