“Fall the snow”, “My hands on your hips”, “Permit me, sir…”, “The girls by the sea”… Since the 1960s, Salvatore Adamo has been playing hits until he has become today a true legend of French song. And, at 79, the eternal seducer does not intend to retire! In this new year 2023, the Italian-Belgian artist is back in stores with a new album called “In French Please! (In French, please!) where he has selected a series of Anglo-Saxon standards that he uses in his own way. The icing on the cake, he was accompanied on this new project by the very trendy Swiss musician and singer Stéphane Eicher who, for the occasion, produced the cake. As part of the promotion of the musical opus, the two men granted, this Sunday, January 15, a long interview to our colleagues from the “Journal du dimanche”. During the exchange, Salvatore Adamo confided that he was inspired by his own life for certain songs:
“They all resonate with me. That said, even the songs I write aren’t necessarily autobiographical. (…) Fortunately, I did not experience all the heartaches that I sang about. I would have shot myself in the head”, begins by declaring, not without humor, the singer-songwriter.
The Salvatore Singers #Adamo and Stephan #Eicher to @leJDD : “on musical curiosity, we are quite brothers” https://t.co/DdroVaN4ew via @LeJDD
— Jean-Francois Guyot (@JFGuyot) January 14, 2023
This song, “I renamed it ‘The Man of my life’ in memory of my father”
But “There is still a very moving one”, retorts Stéphane Eicher, who then speaks: “Man of the hour from Pearl Jam. A sublime ballad on the mourning of a son after the death of his father. When Salvatore recorded it, I felt that it was necessary to leave him alone, not to give him advice and to give him time”, explains the interpreter of the tubesque “No friends like you”. Salvatore Adamo, touched, takes over: “I renamed it ‘The Man of my life’ in memory of my father”, he says before explaining the circumstances of the death of his parent. “He died of hydrocution trying to save my niece from drowning. I was 23 years old. I had written a song to pay homage to him, but I never recorded it. It can still be found on Youtube: it is called ‘Paris 60’. My father played a determining role in my career even if I started without his knowledge, in secret. He was an opera lover. I already had the voice I have today. Because of her, I got kicked out of the choir by the priest. And then, he toiled every day at the mine to pay for my studies in a Catholic institution. It wasn’t for me to end up as an acrobat”, concludes Salvatore Adamo. A beautiful tribute, all in modesty and deaf sorrow… in the image of this singer of rare elegance.
See also: Stéphanie Fugain, the singer’s ex-girlfriend, lets loose on her repertoire: “It’s not my style!”
VF