Arno

Arno's raspy delivery steeped in whiskey and smoke, his blues-tinged soundscapes, and his biting words frequently invited comparisons to raw street poets such as Serge Gainsbourg and Tom Waits. Arno Hintjens entered the world in Ostende, Belgium, on May 21, 1949, and first appeared fronting several obscure R&B-tinged outfits such as Freckle Face and Tjens-Couter. In 1977 he and longtime associate Paul Decouter launched TC Bland alongside Ferre Baelen and Rudy Cloet; after the ensemble adopted the name TC Matic it became one of the more prominent European acts of the early 1980s, landing hits with "Elle Adore le Noir" and "Putain Putain." Following a 1985 tour supporting Simple Minds the group disbanded, and Arno released his self-titled solo debut the next year, nearly all of it composed in English. His 1988 follow-up Charlatan reinforced his roguish image yet also revealed a gentler facet through a poignant reading of the Jacques Brel standard "Le Bon Dieu." After moving to Paris he composed and tracked his third album, 1990's Ratata, led by the single "Lonesome Zorro." He next took part in the short-lived Charles et les Lulus with Roland Van Campenhout and Adriano Cominotto, cutting a self-titled collection filled with blues numbers written by Willie Dixon and Sonny Boy Williamson. Traveling to Nashville, Arno captured his subsequent solo record, 1993's Idiots Savants; following yet another side project, Arno et les Subrovnicks, which included former TC Matic drummer Cloet, he turned to cinema and supplied the score for Marion Vernoux's Personne Ne M'aime.

Having written and performed almost exclusively in English throughout his career, Arno switched to French for 1995's chart-topping Les Yeux de Ma Mere, an album that explored styles ranging from jazz to tango. He made his screen-acting debut portraying a homosexual swimming instructor in Jan Bucquoy's Camping Cosmos, then prolonged his recording break with the 1997 concert set Arno (En Concert à la Française). His next studio effort, Give Me the Gift, was tracked in English and issued solely in the United States, where it attracted scant notice; he subsequently returned to film work, scoring Michel Piccoli's Alors Voilà and appearing as a co-star. Another blues project issued under the alias Charles and the White Trash Blues preceded his next official solo outing, 1999's A Poil Commercial. The acoustic collection Arno Charles Ernest arrived in 2002 and featured the duet "Elisa" with French pop legend Jane Birkin. On 2005's French Bazaar he again sang exclusively in French and received the Victoire de la Musique award for Best Pop-Rock Album. Arno resumed his screen involvement with 2006's Komma, the first of several cinematic ventures that also encompassed Ex-Drummer and J'ai Toujours Voulu Être un Gangster. He resumed recording in spring 2007 with Jus de Box. Arno died on April 23, 2022, while undergoing treatment for cancer; he was 72 years old.