Les Charlots
| Les Charlots | |
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Les Charlots
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| Background information | |
| Origin | France, |
| Genres | Rock, comedy, parody |
| Years active | 1966–2011 |
| Associated acts | Antoine, Les Problèmes, |
| Past members | |
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1966 – 1971 |
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1971 – 1976 |
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1976 - 1986 |
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1987 – 1997 |
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1997 – 2008 |
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2008 - 2011 |
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2011 – 2013 |
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2013 – present |
Les Charlots was a group of French musicians, singers, comedians and film actors, who were popular in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.
The group was active first from 1965 to 1966 as "Les Problèmes", under which name they made an album with the French singer Antoine. They renamed themselves Les Charlots and remained active from 1966 to 1997, then again briefly from 2008 to 2011 (as a duo). Les Charlots means "the clowns" or "the idiots" rather than being a direct reference to Charlie Chaplin, who was generally called Charlot in France.
Their light-hearted comedy style was influenced by the style of popular Italian group Brutos and by the anarchist humor of the Marx Brothers.
The five members were Gérard Rinaldi (vocals / saxophone / accordion), Jean Sarrus (bass / backing vocals), Gérard Filipelli, a.k.a. "Phil" (guitar / backing vocals), Luis Rego (rhythm guitar / piano / backing vocals) and Jean-Guy Fechner (drums / backing vocals).
Filipelli was nicknamed "Phil" as there were two "Gérard" in the group.
Each member was easily recognizable : Rinaldi was the straight good-looking one with the crooner voice, Sarrus was the small one with the moustache and funny mimics, Filipelli was the tall blonde one who often found himself accidentally bare-assed in their films, Rego was the sarcastic Portuguese one and Fechner was the tall one a big bushy beard.
Rinaldi and Sarrus were musicians in various short-lived groups ("Les Rebelles" and "Les Tarés", for Sarrus) and they first met in 1963. They became friends and decided to form a rock band. In 1964, they were joined by Luis Rego, then in 1965 by Gérard Filipelli and Donald Rieubon on drums.
In 1965, they became the backing band for French sensation, singer Antoine under the name of "Les Problèmes" ("The Problems") or sometimes "Antoine et les Problèmes" ("Antoine and the Problems"). They recorded two of Antoine's greatest hits, "Les Elucubrations d'Antoine" and "Je Dis ce que je pense, je vis comme je veux", two songs that they parodied years later as Les Charlots with, respectively "Contre-élucubrations Problématiques" and "Je dis n'importe quoi, je fais tout ce qu'on me dit". Basically, the group was to Antoine what The Band was to Bob Dylan.
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Wikipedia