French rock stalwart Paul Personne, whose stage name offers little personal insight, ranks among the generation's most celebrated and widely admired blues-rock artists. Born Rene-Paul Roux in Argenteuil in 1949, he initially embraced the songs of Edith Piaf and Charles Aznavour, yet an encounter with Johnny Hallyday and Eddy Mitchell prompted him to set aside the accordion in favor of guitar and drums. At 17 he launched the fleeting L'Origine, the first of several ensembles he would lead across the next ten years, among them the 15-piece La Folle Entreprise, Bracos Band, and Backstage; the last of these yielded two albums in the late '70s before dissolving. Under the Paul Personne moniker he issued his self-titled solo debut in 1982, then reached a commercial high point the following year with Exclusif, which contained the hit singles "Comme un Etranger" and "Ça Va Rouler." Unable to match that achievement, he receded from the spotlight for the rest of the decade until a warmly received appearance at the Quebec Festival revived his momentum. Thereafter he became a fixture of the French blues-rock circuit, earning the Bus d'Acier in 1991, joining childhood idols Mitchell on the 1993 album Rio Grande and Hallyday for a Parc des Princes concert, and issuing a succession of well-regarded records that included Rêve Sidéral d'un Naïf Idéal, his first project with an external producer, Ian Taylor. Personne maintained a strong touring profile through the 2000s and, in 2007, scored another chart success by teaming with singer/songwriter Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine for the joint release Amicalement Blues.
