Philippe Auclair
| Louis Philippe | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Philippe Auclair |
| Born |
24 June 1959 (age 58) Normandy, France |
| Genres | Chamber pop |
| Occupation(s) |
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| Years active | 1984–present |
| Labels | |
| Associated acts |
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| Website | louisphilippe |
Philippe Auclair (24 June 1959), also known by his moniker Louis Philippe, is a French singer-songwriter, musician, news correspondent and football journalist who has been active from the mid-1980s onwards. He is associated with the short-lived él record label, where he served as an in-house writer and producer. Since the label's demise (1989), he has grown into one of the 'elder statesmen' of indiepop.
Born in Normandy, Philippe first recorded for Belgian label Les Disques du Crépuscle, under the names "The Border Boys" (the "Tribute" 12-inch EP, produced by Andy Paley, who'd worked with The Ramones and the Modern Lovers previously), and 'The Arcadians' (one single and one album, It's a Mad, Mad World, 1986, later re-released on a variety of labels as Let's Pretend). On the advice of A&R man Mike Alway, Louis Philippe moved to London in late 1986, and soon became one of the major figures of cult indie label él Records (1986–1989), a subsidiary of Cherry Red Records for which he recorded five singles and three albums (Appointment With Venus, 1987; Ivory Tower, 1988; Yuri Gagarin, 1989). He also appeared in one guise or another — as songwriter, arranger, backing vocalist or instrumentalist — on more than half of all the label's releases. él, now considered to be one of the most influential labels of its time, was, however, not a commercial success in the UK; but it scored a string of independent hits in Japan, where Louis Philippe (whose "You Mary You" was él's best-selling single) became an iconic figure for the so-called Shibuya-kei, or 'Shibuya Sound'.
Following the demise of él in 1989, he turned to Japan to pursue his career, with the support of celebrity fans such as Cornelius. A number of albums followed, all of them released on the Trattoria label: Rainfall, 1991; Jean Renoir, 1992, both of them recorded with multi-instrumentalist Dean Brodrick; "Delta Kiss", 1993; Sunshine, produced by Bertrand Burgalat, 1994; Jackie Girl, 1996, the first of his records to feature XTC guitarist Dave Gregory; 'Azure', recorded with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, and Nusch, a collection of Francis Poulenc mélodies, 1999. All these albums were conceived and realised with the help of long-time collaborator, pianist and double-bassist Danny Manners. Trattoria's help enabled him to find licenses for these records, first in France, Britain and Spain, then in the USA, where he'd assembled a limited but devoted fanbase. These critically well-received records consolidated his "cult" status in the indiepop world; a couple of them charted: "L'Hiver te va bien" reached the Top 30 in France in 1994, while "She Means Everything To Me" reached the no.1 spot on the Campus Radio Charts in the USA in 1998, following an appearance at New York's CMJ Music Marathon. However, crossover success still proves elusive, despite the accessibility of his music and the regard he's held in among pop connoisseurs.
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