To speak to Pierre Perret, you always had to go through Rebecca, his wife and manager. We had her on the phone again in November to plan a meeting at their home, in Nangis (Seine-et-Marne) during the release of a new album and a new book planned for next spring.
This will be our last conversation with this woman, as warm as she is discreet, who did not want to be photographed with her Pierre… We learned this Monday morning of Rebecca’s disappearance from someone close to the couple. She died during the night from Saturday to Sunday at the age of 88.
Pierre Perret’s historic accordionist, Gilles Lecouty, alias Gilou, is “devastated”. “It was Pierre who called me yesterday morning,” he told us this Monday from Le Mans, where he lives. Rebecca was not sick. She had a bad fall down some stairs about ten days ago… She was his pillar, his muse, his manager, his accountant, his driver, his editor… One never went without the other, it’s going to be hard for Pierre. He is strong, writing can save him. »
Perret will rename his wife Simone… Rebecca
Between Rebecca and Pierre, it’s a love story spanning almost seven decades! They met at the very beginning of his career, in 1957, in Perret’s record company. Simone Malzaltarim, her real name, was then a secretary at Barclay. They have a spat over the reimbursement of a plane ticket and Perret invites her to one of his concerts, at La Colombe. She falls under his spell. And vice versa.
He is 23, she is 19, he very quickly moves in with her. “When I started writing, I lived with her, in public housing, in Gennevilliers (Hauts-de-Seine), Pierre Perret told us in 2021. It was a bit of hell to work, so I looked for a quiet place, not too far from Paris. » It was Rebecca who found it in 1964 in Nangis, at La Garde de Dieu, a place where Joan of Arc had pitched her bivouac in 1429.
Previously, the two lovebirds got married on August 18, 1962 in Castelsarrasin, Pierre’s hometown, in Tarn-et-Garonne. They had two twins the same year, Anne and Alain, and a second daughter, Julie, in 1963. Her disappearance in 1995 at just 32 years old was a “huge tragedy” which they almost never spoke publicly.
It is Perret who will rename his wife Rebecca. In one of his memory books “ A cappella: Des Trois Baudets à l’Olympia”, he explained that he found that the etymology of this first name and the slang expression “to do Rebecca”, meaning “to get angry” fit perfectly with the character of his partner. “She had character and some people were afraid of her,” confirms Gilou. But Pierre was extremely busy all the time and someone had to do the dirty work. »
“We formed a very united team, we had a wonderful bond”
Gilou arrived “in the Perret family” at the end of 1966 in Nangis. “I played a piece on the accordion for Pierre and he immediately hired me,” he says. We haven’t left each other since. With Rebecca, we formed a very united team, we had a wonderful bond. He was an admirable person, who did everything so that Pierre only had to think about music, writing and the stage. She managed everything in the shadows. »
“I called her the boss,” says Gilou. When I found her at a gala, I asked her CHow is the boss? She always asked me to tell her a funny story. She had a lot of humor. Once, she made a guy believe that on Sundays, when I wasn’t working for Pierre, I played at mass…”
Gilou blames the blow. “I’m waiting for news from Pierre,” he explains. Her musicians and technicians, we are all devastated by the disappearance of Rebecca. For thirty years, it is the same team that has supported Pierre. We are a family. » A family who lost a pillar. “And even more than that,” sighs the accordionist.