Jean-Pierre Bourtayre, vice-president

This profession of faith was made by Eddy Mitchell, and in 1996, Jean-Pierre Bourtayre gave a fine illustration of it. By then he was well acquainted with the world of music; after all, his father was a composer, writing hits for Tino Rossi, Trenet and Chevalier.

Jean-Pierre Bourtayre was a born musician and composer; the art of writing tunes was second nature to him. He started off at the Conservatory, but was kicked out – the twist was too much. This man was more “yéyé”, a child of rock, of tender age but with a tough line, and he was just the right choice for Dick Rivers, Richard Anthony, Hugues Aufray (Adieu Monsieur le Professeur), and Eddy Mitchell (S'il n'en reste qu'un, L'épopée du rock), not to mention the Eurovision Grand Prix in 1971 with Un banc, un arbre ou une rue for Séverine, and, on the way, Il était un prince en Avignon for Esther Ofarim.

In 1971, he met Claude François, and became THE partner, until the end, alternating roles — composer, producer, and most importantly, friend — over the seven years spent writing hit after hit for the idol (Viens à la maison, Chanson populaire, Le chanteur malheureux, Le téléphone pleure, Alexandrie, Alexandra, Magnolias for ever), until that tragic Saturday in 1978, when everyone in France turned a tearful gaze to Paris and the boulevard Exelmans, for Cloclo (Claude) was no longer.

The same year also marked the beginning of a grand friendship between Jean-Pierre and Etienne Roda-Gil: first there was the musical comedy 36 Front Populaire, with Jean-Claude Petit, (winning the Rolf Marbot award for Ça commence comme un rêve d'enfant by Julien Clerc), and then songs for Gérard Lenorman (Boulevard de l'Océan), Françoise Hardy (La Villégiature) and others.

The early 80s meant disco music, with the new wave surging, and our composer became production manager (France) for WEA: the man who experienced anguish at the keyboard discovered the stress of business. Next he teamed up with Jacques Revaux at TREMA where he would work for another great star, Michel Sardou, writing with Revaux, and composing the music of Vladimir Illitch, Io Dominico, Chanteur de jazz, and Musulmanes.

And there was more to come. Twenty years later, only one was left, and he was the one, and wild about both sound and pictures. He had written the music for the Grand Meaulnes, for the series Arsène Lupin Gentleman cambrioleur and l'Arsène, both by Dutronc, for the Schumaster series, L'Espion de l'Empereur, and also the theme tunes for the television programs “Stars” and “Champs-Elysées”, presented by Michel Drucker with Jean-Claude Petit. More recent works include the musical comedy Belles, belles, belles (at the Olympia in 2003), and the song Je voyage for Charles Aznavour (Album, 2003-2004).

Can a few brief words say everything that should be said about this one-man band who admits that he composes as if breathing, and who, one day, even managed to get Tino to sing Life begins at 60? We could say that he is both a peaceful and anguished “record man”, with a rocker’s heart, offered ever so generously, and all the best keyboards will vouch for that.