Jacques Higelin

Born on October 18, 1940, in the working-class village of Brou-sur-Chantereine east of Paris, Jacques Higelin grew up under the influence of a father who balanced railroad duties with a deep passion for music and actively nurtured his son’s early urge to perform. Jazz soon captured the boy’s attention, prompting him to take the stage at local cinemas and enter radio talent contests while still in short pants. By his early teens Higelin had already left school behind, landing initial stunt-work contracts that gradually expanded into steady employment on film sets. There he crossed paths with Sidney Bechet and composer Henri Crolla, the latter introducing him to the guitar. After a short period at the René Simon School of Drama and two years of compulsory military service, he returned to cinema and café-theater engagements. By the middle of the 1960s he had attracted enough notice to receive his first recording offer, resulting in the consecutive releases Douze Chansons d’Avant le Deluge and Quinze Chansons d’Avant le Deluge—both sets of Boris Vian material cut alongside Brigitte Fontaine. Increasingly committed to song as a vehicle for his leftist convictions, Higelin emerged in the early 1970s as a cherished figure within Paris’s artistic underground. His 1971 solo debut, Jacques “Crabouif” Higelin, consisted solely of original compositions. The mid-decade rock climate allowed him to discover a fresh approach on BBH 75, an album followed several years later by Irradié. A combination of raw musical energy and meticulous attention to lyric craft came to define his output. From the 1980s onward through the 1990s and into the new century he maintained a steady pace of writing and recording, issuing fresh material at regular intervals that culminated with Amor Doloroso in 2006.