On October 17 and 18, the Philharmonie de Paris gives two concerts dedicated to the timeless and abundant repertoire of William Sheller. From Emily Loizeau to Jeanne Cherhal, from Alex Beaupain to Albin de la Simone, via Calogero and Florent Marchet, the French pop scene honors the artist now retired from the scene. These evenings are linked to the release of a cover album.
For half a century, his melodies and texts have amazed his audience and nourished the inspiration of songwriters of all ages and all musical genres. If William Sheller, 77, parted ways with his piano and ended his career as a singer and “Symphoman” so adept at mixing styles, his songs still run through the streets. Tuesday October 17 and Wednesday October 18, twelve artists from pop, song, variety or rap will appropriate part of this precious repertoire in order to revive it on the stage of the Cité de la Musique at the Philharmonie de Paris, near La Villette. The evenings are sold out, but new tickets are regularly put back into service…
Piano-voice in the spotlight
Six artists will be scheduled for both evenings: Emily Loizeau, Alex Beaupain, Florent Marchet, Malik Djoudi, Jeanne Cherhal and Laura Cahen. All singing and playing piano, as if echoing the great era of Shelling alonethe magical piano-voice album released in 1991 – which contained an unpublished track that became the emblem of his career: A happy man – and all the intimate concerts offered at that time to a delighted audience…
The featured artists of the concerts Simply Sheller will be joined, on each of the two evenings, by guests. This October 17, we will be able to hear the singers Calogero, Albin de la Simone and the pianist Yvan Cassar. On Wednesday 18, it will be the turn of rapper-singer Eddy de Pretto, singer Cyril Mokaiesh and pianist Sofiane Pamart to join in the celebration of the author of Spiral notebook.
The two concerts Simply Sheller from the Cité de la Musique accompany the album of the same title which was released on Friday October 13 (Barclay/Universal Music). This recording brings together sixteen songs from the singer’s repertoire, covered by seventeen performers, a good number of whom will be present at the Philharmonie. There are also artists like Véronique Sanson, a great friend of William Sheller, who sings Proud and crazy about youand Vincent Delerm, admirer of the singer, who takes up The Daughters of Dawn.
Furthermore, the young Zaho de Sagazan, one of the sensations of the moment, performs Viennaa song by Barbara that Sheller recorded for a charity record in 1992. In 1973, the Lady in Black invited the young composer to live with her so that he could arrange the arrangements for her album. The wolf. She also suggested that he sing his own music, an idea which turned out to be very judicious.
William Sheller is also featured in a compilation Best Of released October 13 by Panthéon/Universal. Definitely very present in the news, the artist is also visible on the big screen. He is starring in the film The Poet’s Bride by Yolande Moreau, at the invitation of the latter. While he greatly enjoyed the experience of playing a “zany priest” Abba lover, he claims not to be “not about to start again”, he confides on the website of First. Although he has abandoned the stage, he has not abandoned composition: he is currently working on the music for a play by the Greek poet and playwright Aristophanes.
Simply Sheller, Cité de la musique, Philharmonie de Paris
Tuesday October 17 and Wednesday October 18, 2023
Florent Marchet, Emily Loizeau, Malik Djoudi, Alex Beaupain, Jeanne Cherhal…
Guests of October 17: Calogero, Albin de la Simone, Yvan Cassar
Guests of October 18: Eddy de Pretto, Cyril Mokaiesh, Sofiane Pamart