Henri Dès

Henri Dès launched his recording career with a full-length album in 1977 and quickly established himself as one of the leading Francophone creators of children’s music. Born Henri Destraz in Renens, Vaud, Switzerland, on December 14, 1940, he relocated to Paris in 1960 intent on pursuing music professionally. Although commercial breakthrough eluded him during the height of the yé-yé era, he refined his songwriting throughout the 1960s and achieved notable recognition by winning the Sopot International Song Festival in 1969. That victory led to his selection as Switzerland’s entrant in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest, where the song “Retour” placed fourth. The same year saw the Liberty label issue his 7" single “Alle Mädchen Sind Gefährlich.” By the early 1970s he had shifted his focus toward children’s repertoire; after coming close to representing Switzerland again at Eurovision in 1976 with “C’est Pour la Vie,” he issued his debut album, Cache-Cache, on his own Productions Marie-Josée imprint. From that point he maintained a steady release schedule of roughly one album every year or two, extending well into the twenty-first century with titles including La Petite Charlotte (1979), Flagada (1980), L’Ane Blanc (1982), Dessin Fou (1984), Les Trésors de Notre Enfance, Vol. 1 (1985), Le Beau Tambour (1986), La Glace au Citron (1988), Toni et Vagabond (1989), Les Trésors de Notre Enfance, Vol. 2 (1990), Les Bêtises (1991), Le Crocodile (1993), L’Évasion de Toni (1994), Far-West (1995), On Peut Pas Tout Dire (1997), Du Soleil (1999), C’est le Père Noël (2001), Comme des Géants (2002), Polissongs (2005), and L’Hirondelle et le Papillon (2008). A retrospective double-disc set, 15 Gâteau, appeared in 2007 to gather many of his most enduring tracks.