Biography
Bill Deraime, born Alain Deraime on February 2, 1947, in Senlis, Oise, emerged as a French blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose path opened up in the early 1980s and extended well beyond, yielding numerous albums deep into the new millennium. As a teenager he developed a strong passion for American sounds, above all blues, soul, and folk. In 1968 he relocated to Paris amid the peak of France’s social upheaval, embracing a bohemian existence that involved street performances, the creation of an underground folk venue, and participation in volunteer efforts. Throughout the 1970s he assembled several groups, one of them Bill et Flo alongside his wife, which issued commercial recordings toward the decade’s close, while his musical direction shifted steadily toward the blues. His first solo long-player, the self-titled Bill Deraime, appeared in 1979 on the Argile label and reflected his personal take on the genre. Recognized as among the earliest French artists to approach blues with purist intent, Deraime soon secured a contract with RCA and issued a sequence of albums in the first half of the 1980s: Plus la Peine de Frimer (1980), Qu'est Ce Que Tu Vas Faire? (1981), Entre Deux Eaux (1982), Live à l'Olympia (1983), Fauteuil Piégé (1984), and Energie Positive (1985). Although he achieved modest commercial traction during those years, including the hits “Faut Que J'me Tire Ailleurs” and “Babylone Tu Deconne” plus appearances at Paris’s L'Olympia, mounting industry demands prompted him to step away for a period in the late 1980s. He later returned to recording, and despite intervals of reduced activity he continued to produce a steady stream of albums that carried into the new millennium.
Albums
