Singer and lyricist Jean Guidoni died at 74

The singer Jean Guidoni, a unique artist who left his mark on the French scene with his sulphurous and theatrical universe, died Friday in Bordeaux, at the age of 74, his press secretary announced to AFP. Jean Guidoni died this morning “following a devastating illness,” said this source.

Born in 1951 in Toulon, in a modest environment with Corsican roots, he was first a hairdresser before leaving everything to go to Paris, in order to take his first steps in singing in the 1970s.

Skip the ad

Guidoni did not fit the variety mold of the time. A free electron without compromise, the songs offered to him fit neither with his personality nor with his inner demons.

His meeting with the lyricist Pierre Philippe, particularly known for his adaptations of texts by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, proved to be a decisive turning point in his trajectory.

It is on stage that the singer lets his exuberance and provocation explode: he plays with the attributes of feminine seduction, wearing fishnet stockings as well as stiletto heels and sporting a white make-up face. I walk in the cities, Tramway northern terminus or Death in Venice are among the titles that have attracted a loyal audience.

L’album Crime of Passionreleased in 1982 and set to music by modern tango figure Astor Piazzolla, remains one of the singer’s most popular. Between harsh texts about life and theatrical expressionism, the opus is presented as an “opera for a single man”.

Always on the fringes of commercial constraints, Jean Guidoni then took up the pen himself. On The Red Point (2007), he collaborates with Dominique A, Philippe Katerine, Jeanne Cherhal and Mathias Malzieu. Its 17^e album studio, Eldorado(s)was published in April. Jean Guidoni, whose favorite Parisian venue was the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, performed on stage again on June 24, at the Café de la Danse in Paris.