biography
| name: |
Hallyday, Johnny
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| |
originally Jean-Philippe Smets
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pronunciation:
[aleeday]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1943– )
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| biography:
| Rock star, born in Paris, France, the ‘idol of the young’. Brought up amongst travelling show-people, he first sang on stage in 1956 in Copenhagen. Having discovered Presley at the cinema, he gave himself an American-style name, and launched his long career with an appearance in the programme L'Ecole des Vedettes. A star of the ‘yeye’ generation (‘Viens danser le twist’), he appeared at L'Alhambra from 1960 and at L'Olympia, and continued through the 1970s with little decline in popularity. In 1983 he began appearing again at L'Olympia, at Parc des Princes in 1993, and at Le Stade de France in 1998. One great success was ‘Retiens la nuit’. Less successful was his career in the cinema; he appeared in Clouzot's Les Diaboliques and acted with Godard and Costa Gavras in Conseil de Famille, Détective, La Gamine, and Pourquoi pas moi. His autobiography is titled Destroy. He married another star, Sylvie Vartan (divorced 1980), and their son, David, is a musician. |
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