trials, sketches by Coluche, mentor of Claude François… a life in the shadows in the star system of the 1980s

A small record seller turned talent scout, Paul Lederman, who died at the age of 84, was the impresario of big stars, from Claude François to Coluche and Les Inconnus, great adventures that sometimes ended in court.

With his flair and an unparalleled business sense, Paul Lederman was for decades an essential kingmaker. Also adding to his list of conquests Hervé Vilard, Mike Brant, Michel Polnareff, Christophe, Michèle Torr, Thierry Le Luron and Renaud, this record seller became a talent scout. He died at the age of 84.

“My talent is to discover talents before others, that’s all… When I audition an artist, I try to look at what the eye can’t see. It’s my psych side” he told the magazine Paris Match in 1997.

A savvy producer, Paul Lederman also ensured substantial revenue by selling hundreds of thousands of themed compilation records in the 1980s (The best slow dances, The most beautiful love songs, The greatest classic hits…). “Paul is a luxury plumber, he is a manufacturer of tubes like there is no other“, said Thierry Le Luron, imposed by Lederman when the whole showbiz world thought that an imitator could never become a star.

Born in May 1940 in Morocco, then under French protectorate, Paul Lederman is the son of very modest Polish Jews.We were short of money, but we had everything else.“. In 1945, the family arrived in Marseille before settling in Paris. He left school early and at the age of 15 got a job as a record seller in Versailles and then at the Puces.

“While selling records, in a real frenzy, I started listening to thousands of songs“. Endowed with an extraordinary auditory memory, he only needs to listen to a piece once to record it.

A major asset for someone who spends his evenings at the Golf Drouot, which quickly became the “Temple of Rock” in Paris. It was there that he met Lucky Blondo, whom he made his first artist with the song Pretty little Sheilaranked number 1.

Then he discovered Claude François, a still unknown 20-year-old drummer, and got him to sing Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful And If I had a hammer. He invented with his protégé a new way of leading an artist’s career, taking care of it from A to Z: psychologically, artistically, promotionally and financially. Very close to “Cloclo”, he named his first two children… Alexandre and Alexandra (the third is called Jessica).

Paul Lederman has no equal when it comes to finding new gems, like Coluche, whom he met in 1974 at the Café de la Gare. The comedian loved to tell the story of their first meeting, which was decisive for him.He told me ‘if you listen to me carefully, you’ll become a star’. I thought he was crazy, but I did as he said and, a few months later, I had become Coluche…“.

With this comic, he is at the origin of several strokes of genius, like the true-false candidacy for the 1981 presidential election, which gave him immense media coverage, and the famous Le Luron-Coluche “marriage”…

A guardian angel that his detractors also depict as a shark with long teeth. He is sometimes accused of exploiting the qualities of his artists in every sense of the word.I make money, but that’s not the driving force.“, the person concerned swept away.

“An exploiter is content to exploit. I work eighteen hours a day and so I am the ‘exploited’ but I don’t complain, I like it.“.

With Les Inconnus, which he launched, the collaboration ended in court. Lederman accused the trio of having violated their contractual obligations, but lost his case. Same story with Coluche’s sons, in open conflict with him since their father’s death in 1986 over copyright on a series of sketches. At the end of a judicial marathon, the impresario was ordered to pay them more than a million euros in 2019.