Alain Bashung
| Alain Bashung | |
|---|---|
Bashung in 2007
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Alain Baschung |
| Born |
1 December 1947 Paris, France |
| Died | 14 March 2009 (aged 61) Paris, France |
| Genres | Rock |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, actor |
| Years active | 1966–2009 |
| Labels | Barclay |
| Website | www |
Alain Bashung (French: [alɛ̃ baʃuŋ]; born Alain Baschung 1 December 1947 – 14 March 2009) was a French singer, songwriter and actor. In France, he is considered one of the most famous singers in French chanson and French rock. He rose to prominence in the early 1980s with hit songs such as "Gaby oh Gaby" and "Vertige de l'amour", and later had a string of hit successes from the 1990s onward, such as "Osez Joséphine", "Ma petite entreprise" or "La nuit je mens". He has had an influence on many later French artists, and is the most awarded artist in the Victoires de la Musique history with 12 victoires obtained throughout his career.
Alain Baschung (he later dropped the "c" from his surname) was the son of a Breton mother working in a rubber factory and an Algerian father, whom he never knew. His mother remarried, and at the age of one, Bashung was sent to Wingersheim, near Strasbourg to live with his stepfather's parents. He spent his childhood in the countryside, in a rather conservative environment, alongside a grandmother who did not speak French. He discovered music during his childhood, notably Kurt Weill's Mahagonny, and began to practice with a Rosebud harmonica offered to him when he was five. He also practiced basketball and cycling and sang in the church choir of Wingersheim.
He came back to Paris in 1959, where he discovered the great chanson artists, and then rock artists such as Gene Vincent, Buddy Holly (whom he admired deeply), and Elvis Presley. While studying (before dropping out after he was awarded a BTS in accountancy from the École nationale de commerce in 1965), he formed a band called Les Dunces playing folk music and rockabilly.
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