Fabrice Emaer

Fabrice Emaer (1935–1983) called "The Prince of the night" was an impresario whose nightclubs le Sept, Le Bronx and le Palace, were the premier spots in Paris nightlife in the 1970s and early 1980s, celebrated in memoirs and songs like Amanda Lear's 1979 song "Fashion Pack" which declared, "In Paris you got to be seen at Maxim's / The Palace / The 7 and then go Chez Regine."

Born May 1, 1935, Francis Paul Emaer grew up in Wattrelos near Lille in northern France. His father was a traveling salesman for the local spinning mills, and his untimely death left the family impoverished.

At seventeen, he left his family and traveled North Africa and the French Riviera, before settling in Paris. By then, he had changed his name to the more elegant Fabrice, and worked as a stylist and make-up artist.

He opened his first club, "Le Pimm's Bar," in 1964. Le Pimm's evolved into the premier gay club on Saint-Anne Street, situated in the heart of the gay neighborhood near L'Opera that was packed with bars, bathhouses, and prostitutes. The clientele was almost exclusively gay men who were there to cruise.

He had different ideas in 1968 when he took over another place down the block at 7, Saint-Anne Street. The Sept (7) had a restaurant on the ground floor with a small dance floor in the basement which he decorated simply, with mirrors on the walls and a ceiling with multicolored lights that flashed with the music.

"...the greatest innovation of Le Sept was that it was defined by glamour, not homosexuality. Everyone came -- gay, straight, and the undecided. 'You didn't have to be rich, you didn't have to be famous,' says former Le Sept DJ Guy Cuevas, 'you had to be beautiful.'"

Emaer himself fit the bill. He was handsome and charming. When Guy Cuevas took over at the turntables, the Sept became the "epicenter of disco" , attracting all of Paris. Visitors might see Francis Bacon, Nureyev, Roland Barthes, Bianca and Mick Jagger, Andy Warhol, Fred Hughes, Karl Lagerfeld, Yves Saint Laurent and Kenzo.

...
Wikipedia