Jacques Higelin

Jacques Joseph Victor Higelin (18 October 1940 – 6 April 2018) was a French pop singer who rose to prominence in the early 1970s.

Early life

Higelin was born on 18 October 1940. His father, Paul, a railway worker and musician of Alsatian descent, introduced his two sons to various forms of music, while his mother, Renée, of Belgian descent, raised them both.

Career

Higelin's entertainment career began at age 14, when he left school to work as a stunt double. While playing a number of minor roles in motion pictures, Higelin was taught to play the guitar by Henri Crolla, a French-Italian jazz guitarist and a composer of film scores. By the early 1960s, Higelin was attending the René Simon drama school, where he won the François Perier award.

For two years beginning in 1961, Higelin served in the French military in various countries. Upon returning to France, he resumed his film career but increasingly began to focus on music. By the end of the decade, he had become very active in the artistic underground in Paris and began to channel his music towards radical activism.

Higelin began attracting popular attention through his live concerts, typically held in smaller venues, and released his first solo album in 1971. By the middle of the 1970s, Higelin had become one of France's most successful pop musicians, and he remains influential to this day.

In the 70's Higelin was in a relationship with a French-Vietnamese woman called Kuelan Nguyen. She accompanied him during the recording of an album at Château d'Hérouville Studio, where Iggy Pop was also recording his debut solo album "The Idiot". Iggy Pop became infatuated with Nguyen, who rejected him, but the incident inspired the song China Girl (song), which later became a hit when re-recorded by David Bowie.

Personal life and death

Higelin had three children, all of whom became artists:

• Arthur H, singer, born to Nicole Courtois in 1966
• Kên Higelin, actor, born to Kuelan Nguyen in 1972
• Izïa, singer, born to dancer Aziza Zakine in 1990. Higelin married Zakine in 2011.

Higelin died on 6 April 2018 in Paris.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums (non-charting)

• 1971 – Jacques "Crabouif" Higelin
• 1976 – Irradié
• 1976 – Alertez les bébés !
• 1978 – No Man's Land
• 1979 – Champagne pour tout le monde, and Caviar pour les autres... (also released as a double album under the title Champagne et Caviar, currently the standard edition)
• 1980 - La Bande du Rex
• 1982 – Higelin 82
• 1985 – Aï (double album)
• 1988 – Tombé du ciel
• 1991 – Illicite
• 1994 – Aux héros de la voltige

Studio albums (charting)

Live albums (non-charting)

• 1981: Higelin à Mogador (triple album, 2 CDs)
• 1983: Casino de Paris (1 album, 1 CD)
• 1986: Higelin à Bercy (triple album, 2 CD)
• 1990: Follow the Live (double album, 1 CD)
• 1992: Higelin Le Rex (double album, 1 CD)

Live albums (charting)

Albums with Brigitte Fontaine

• 1966: 12 chansons d'avant le déluge
• 1976: 15 chansons d'avant le déluge, suite et fin

Album with Areski Belkacem

• 1969: Higelin et Areski

Compilations

• 1973 – Jacques Canetti présente Jacques Higelin
• 1980 - Inédits 1970
• 2005 - Entre deux gares