Marc Cerrone is a composer and musician, considered in the world of disco as the invincible king. In 1976 he composed Love in C minor, a piece classified as a “UFO” by many since it is 16 mn 30 long, with its prominent bass drum, its violin choirs, its enormous bass and its gasps of pleasure. This piece will also mark the beginning of a hitmaker, selling millions of copies as for each title he will release. will be born supernatural (1977), Give me love (1977), I am music (1978), titles classified as essential which allowed many to feel sexy, to forget their problems and especially to have this desire to dance.
More than 45 years after its debut, this genre continues to be present and Cerrone has just released a new album, a double vinyl designed as a long mix, Cerrone by Cerronesixteen of his greatest titles revisited.
franceinfo: Cerrone by Cerrone immersed you in your titles at the time of their creation. What does this career represent for you?
Cerrone: I look at it almost like I’m a voyeur because I haven’t seen the years go by. For eight years, I’ve taken turntables listening to my record label to perform on stage. But instead of being on the instrument, on my drums with 14 musicians, it’s true that I only play my repertoire. And in fact, it gave me the idea to take a cappellato reproduce them as we produce today when we have Ableton, by putting the strings of Love in C minor inside, Give me love and mix it up a bit. And out came a set. It’s a bit like people listening to this whole album, we spend an hour with them to make them dance at home.
It’s true that the title Love in C minor was released in 1976. You are 21 years old. The success will be really immediate, that is to say that it will be a hit very quickly. In the United States, it will be a tidal wave. How did you experience this notoriety ?
For several years, I always experienced it as: they are crazy, what! It was a bit excessive. I ran and worked a lot to try to live up to the success that was coming, and I never wavered. It’s been 50 years and I’m still here. On each date that I do, whether in front of 3,000 people or 25,000 like in Le Touquet a few weeks ago, well, I get crazy nervous because I say to myself: they are crazy! It’s wow! Will have to deliver.
You have always been quite different. Were you different, already a child or not?
I was very turbulent.
The drums come into your life because your mom needs to channel your emotions, you get permanently kicked out of college. It is a disaster. You have also experienced the separation of your parents very badly and it seems that this battery saves you in a way.
“In the end, my mother didn’t just give me the instrument I hadn’t thought of, she gave me my best friend.”
Six months later, as I was much wiser and much more focused on my work, my mother took me to the record store. When I sat down on drums, I took the drumsticks. I started making a rhythm. The guy was flabbergasted: “But he knows how to play your son!” From the moment my mother told me she would buy a drum set, of all the music I heard on the radio, I didn’t hear the voices, I only heard the drum set. I listened well to what they were doing and it impregnated me. It’s practically a drug, but a good drug.
Did you doubt at times?
It’s not at times. All the time, I doubt. That’s why when there were successes, I said to myself: it’s not possible! Today when I listen supernatural, when I do it on stage, obviously I corrected everything, but when it came out, there were what are called buns. Nobody heard them. Even musicians with whom I have been able to work have said to me: “Oh, are you sure?“I had to show them. I am in perpetual doubt.
The starting point for the love of music is Otis Redding. There was Chicago, Jimmy Hendrix, Santana too.
Hendrix, my first concert!
“When I saw this drummer that was Hendrix, I said to myself: ‘it is not possible, I want to do this!’
Real great personalities, real great artists too. Today, you are picked up everywhere and by many. We can cite: Public Enemy, Daft Punk, Run DMC, The Sea, Rohff, Modjo, Paul McCartney, Bob Sinclar. How does it feel to be taken over by this generation?
It honors me.
Not that it’s a new generation, but the old one too like Paul McCartney!
So that was very surprising. It was even staggering. It came in the middle of a lot of things that were happening, it was he who made me want to say to myself: come on, I’m doing it, I’m going. At the end of his letter, as there was a CD to listen to, he said to me: “If it suits you, we do 50/50 on everything“. Suddenly, the record company kept saying to me: “Marc, you can’t let this happen“. So I called everyone back a bit and I said: listen, you do what we call clearance of everything and it’s 50/50. Whoever doesn’t want to, we don’t do it anymore. . And it went off in an incredible way. After that took me to the 2000s where I was flattered a lot by DJs who said to me: “You are the one who paved the way. Without you, we would exist, but we would not be recognized as artists“Today, I tell myself that it’s thanks to them. This last decade, it’s really them who carry me. It’s crazy that.
We will end right on Give me love. I think it’s the song that represents you the most, finally. Does it stick with you?
Yes, I live it well. I am faithful in my infidelity.