Nancy musicians continue to keep the “Beatles” alive, 60 years after the group’s end

“Les Rapaces”, a group founded by Guy, Jacky and Zouzou, three childhood friends, celebrate 60 years of musical career. Originally from Nancy, the “French Beatles” tell their story.

Raptorsit’s a story of friends that began more than 60 years ago. Far from Liverpool, in the Boudonville district, on the heights of Nancy, Guy, Jacky and Zouzou created a music group. They cover the songs of the most popular group in the history of rock: THE Beatles.

When asked why they chose THE Birds of preyJacky laughed softly. “It was the fashion for animals,” he answers. Nothing could be simpler, nothing more obvious to represent their determination to the point of imposing themselves as the “French Beatles”.

Their epic is that of a group of young people who dreamed of music and freedom. At over 75 years old, these friends remember their youth as if it were yesterday. This is the story of their meeting, of the “Beatlemania” that brought them together to their first steps on stage. “We met in the neighborhood,” says Guy.It wasn’t a casting group where you go and find the people who act the best. We did it for fun, out of a shared passion.”explains Jacky.

When they met, each of them contributed their bit. Guess how the band’s singer, Jacky, was chosen for the role of John Lennon? He was the only one who was in high school and learning English. Then, they had to decide who would play the guitar. Zouzou had one, so Guy started creating his own. And he’s proud of it: “Here is a relic,” he said, taking out his old guitar. “It’s the first one I played with. I made it myself when I was 13. Out of plywood, with poplar on the sides, because at that time, we made scale models. Everything is homemade. We made do with what we had on hand.”

At 15, they had formed their band. But they lacked one essential thing: a rehearsal room. So, they went to see the priest. “He lent us a rehearsal room on the condition that the girls couldn’t come in,” Zouzou says, laughing. Did they respect the rule?Of course not”, Guy shamefully admits. But that’s a secret. And after all, today, there is a statute of limitations.

At that time, there were no cassettes or media to reproduce the Beatles’ music. So how to do it? Without sheet music, reproducing a band’s song was much more difficult than making a cover today. To overcome this difficulty, cinema was their best school of learning. “The cinemas were permanent. You could stay all day and evening with a single ticket. The showings were repeated. To visualize a specific scene, you could watch the same film several times in a row.,” Guy recalls. For example, Jacky watched the movie Help! eight times. They observed how they played, the notes they made, and they transcribed the score on a piece of paper. that is how Raptors experienced the beginnings of their group.

The teenage adventure of Birds of prey lasted until 1968, two years before the end of the real Beatles. The band later reformed in the 1980s and still perform live today. a dozen concerts, in bars, fairs, anecdotes and nonsense galore.

For Guy, Jacky and Zouzou, the soul of the group remains alive. Sixty years of scenes, sixty years of Beatlesand memories full of my head which they tell in an upcoming book that will be released soon.