Introducing Michel Polnareff

Michel Polnareff, born in Nérac (Lot-et-Garonne) on 3 July 1944, is a French singer-songwriter who was very popular from the mid-1960s until the early 1980s.

Michel learned piano by age five and was a very good music student. He learned the guitar, and after his studies, he began to play his guitar on the steps of the Sacré Cœur.

It was Lucien Morisse, then director at Europe 1, who made him sign with AZ. His first disc, La Poupée qui fait non (1966), was an unexpected success. Its new musical style and Polnareff's atypical image, crossed borders.

Polnareff also played with his image: black glasses, fancy trousers, and ambiguous provocations. His song L'Amour avec Toi could not be played before 10 pm because it was considered "pornographic" at the time in France (the song is mild by today's standards). From 1969 on, Polnareff was hugely successful: tours, music videos, hits.

During a world tour, he learned that Bernard Seneau, his manager, had run off with his money, leaving him broke. Unable to pay his debts, and crushed by the death of his mother, he left France for the United States, where he lived in anonymity.

Polnareff made a surprise return to France in 1989. Without any promotion, "Goodbye Marylou" invaded the airwaves and became a hit. For a year and a half, Polnareff was locked up at Royal Monceau in Paris and  recorded Kama Sutra, with Mike Oldfield adding some guitar parts. This album debuted in February 1990 and marked Polnareff's true return.

While his commercial success is considerably smaller nowadays, he is still active and critically respected (...)

Source of the introducing: WIKIPEDIA.

Some Michel Polnareff songs may be found from this page.