Richard Clayderman

Richard Clayderman, born Philippe Pagès, cultivated a refined and richly textured instrumental style within popular music that earned him the distinction, as recorded in The Guinness Book of World Records, of being "the most successful pianist in the world." His recordings consistently achieve multimillion sales, while his live performances sell out with notable speed. Variety’s assessment of his 1985 appearance at Carnegie Hall highlighted that "(Clayderman's) main appeal lies in his youth and boyish good looks...coupled with his gentlemanly charm and his thick French accent, they promise to rope in the romantically inclined middle-aged Yank ladies who cotton to this ilk of soothing entertainment." Nancy Reagan once described him as "the prince of romance."

Trained in classical technique by his father, Clayderman gained admission to the Paris Conservatory of Music at age twelve. Four years afterward he won first prize in a conservatory piano competition. Although steeped in that tradition, he turned toward popular repertoire once he began his professional work. Serving as the opening act on a tour with French rock musician Johnny Hallyday helped him reach listeners across borders. Encouraged by producers and composers Oliver Toussaint and Paul de Senneville, he recorded his first album, Ballade Pour Adeline, in 1977; it eventually surpassed twenty million copies and reached thirty-eight countries. He adopted his stage name from his Swedish grandmother and has since maintained an active schedule of international concerts that draw ardent crowds. A 1987 concert aired on Chinese television reached an audience exceeding eight hundred million.

His catalogue now exceeds two hundred albums, issued on or licensed to numerous labels around the globe. Within those releases he has interpreted light classical pieces, love songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber, soundtracks from Bollywood films, and traditional melodies from Germany, Turkey, and Japan. The same adaptability that broadened his appeal worldwide also produced a consistent, non-confrontational sound that secured a devoted following among late-middle-aged listeners comparable to the audience attracted by fellow European light-classical figure André Rieu. During the early 2010s Clayderman experienced renewed mainstream attention, partly through retrospective appreciation of his style and partly through deliberate promotion that placed him within the period’s classical-crossover surge. His 2013 Decca release Romantique, perhaps his most widely noticed project to date, blended film themes, pop and light-classical standards, and a new version of his signature composition, "Ballade pour Adeline."