Death of Gilles Dreu at 90, performer of Alouette, success of the 60s

The singer Gilles Dreu, interpreter of Larka 1968 success, died this Tuesday, January 7, early in the morning at the age of 90 at his home in Vals-les-Bains (Ardèche), producer Pierre-Nicolas Cléré announced to AFP on behalf of the family. The artist went public with cancer in 2020. The same year, he released a sixteenth and final studio album, The Friends Counter, new songs in the form of duets with notably Serge Lama, Fabienne Thibault, Didier Barbelivien, Stone and Gérard Lenorman.

In 2022, Gilles Dreu celebrated his 63rd career on the stage of La Nouvelle Eve in Paris. He performed one last time at the Olympia in 2023 during an evening in tribute to Jacques Brel, with other artists. After starting out in small Parisian cabarets from 1959, the singer was spotted by Léo Missir, the emblematic artistic director of the time. He had his biggest success in 1968 with Larkwritten by hitmaker Pierre Delanoë, adaptation of an Argentinian song.

« I was the first Frenchman, after Aphrodite’s Child and the Beatles. Claude François and Johnny were far behind! A great success is the encounter of a work with the right performer and at the right time », Confided Gilles Dreu to the magazine Schnock in 2023. « The song could have gone unnoticed. However, we were in a Latin American atmosphere in 68, a revolutionary period. I had a physique, mustache and cigar, which evoked a bit of Che Guevara as a poster in all the student rooms “, he added. “ Initially, (actor and singer) Jean-Claude Pascal refused this song. My whole life has been a misunderstanding! », he added.

More than 200 songs

Gilles Dreu recorded more than 200 songs, without repeating his first and only major success. Born Jean-Paul Chapuisat on July 31, 1934, the man whose pseudonym was inspired by Dreux, his hometown, returned with the tours Tender age and wooden head. He has performed regularly as a solo artist in recent years.

Gilles Dreu, who was also an actor for cinema and TV series, said goodbye in February after a final concert in Vendée: « I will no longer be a singer tomorrow morning. Tonight is really the last time. And, even though I bragged about never having stage fright, tonight I did. ».