Dick Rivers, a French rock pioneer

PORTRAIT

Dick Rivers died on his 74th birthday. As if the singer at the houpette had struggled to the end to bow at the same age as Johnny Hallyday, also dead at the age of 74 on December 5, 2017. With Eddy Mitchell, these two were, in the early 1960s, "smugglers" of culture, that of the American rock'n'roll fifties, a culture that has irrigated the entire career of Dick Rivers, interprets colorful.

Dick, in the shadow of Elvis

Johnny, Eddy, Dick. Of the three surnames inspired by American culture, that of Dick Rivers is the most offbeat. The most referential too. This name, which he chose at the very beginning of his career, is that, a few letters from the character that plays Elvis Presley in Loving you (Frantic Love in VF), the second film shot by the King: Deke Rivers. The son of a butcher, the young Hervé Forneri (the real name of Dick), born in Nice, very quickly falls in love with American music, which he discovers in contact with the US military of the US garrison installed after the war and until in 1966 in the bay of Villefranche.

Elvis Presley, whose mythical first self-titled album was released in 1956, forever changed the life of young Hervé, then 11 years old. As an adult and successful singer, he had the chance to meet his idol after a concert at the International Hotel in Las Vegas in 1969. "Somewhere, that was the dream of my life," he said. he in an interview. He will also pay tribute to him by celebrating his 50th birthday at a concert at Disneyland Paris on the day of Elvis' birthday in January 1997.

Wild Cats, one year all rock

His love of rock, of Elvis Presley but also others, like Gene Vincent or Carl Perkins, Hervé Forneri transmits it quickly on stage. In the early 1960s, he created Wild Cats, a group he founded with friends from school, the brothers Jean-Claude and Gérard Roboly, Gérard Jacquemus and William Taeïb. All take names to American consonance. The group released a first single in May 1961 - Dick was then only 15 - and continues the publications. These are often adaptations of American classics, like It's not serious , adapted from Cliff Richard, another legend of rock, or Do you know it? , rereading Ray Charles's What I'd say . But it is with an original title, Twist in Saint-Tropez , that the Wild Cats break the barracks in April 1962, a furious title become mythical.

The Wild Cats, which have for the duration of Eddy Mitchell's Black Socks, are enjoying growing success, filling the rooms where, sometimes, the rock madness, seizes the public. A group concert at the Palais des Sports in Paris ended in a row brawl ... After sixteen months of madness and success, Dick Rivers left the group in September 1962 to embark on a solo career. He is only 17 years old but he has already marked the history of French rock.

Classics with frenchy sauce

In solo, Dick Rivers digs his furrow. He cultivates his image of rocker, with houpette, leather jacket and cowboy boots. Like his elders, he sees rock as a lifestyle choice, not just songs. Without the Cats, Dick is more crooked, taking over the Beatles ( Love me do who becomes I'm crazy ) or by adapting Roy Orbison.

Go away , replaying Go now Moody Blues:

He also does not forget his blues roots, and his French version of the Moody Blues hit Go Now , entitled Go away , reaches the top of the hit parade of Hello friends , mythical show of Europe 1. Became unavoidable, it appears on the "photo of the century" taken by Jean-Marie Périer and which brings together 46 artists of yé-yé years.

Dick Rivers is dead (announcement of his manager on Twitter). The "photo of the century" of Hi the Buddies loses a face. pic.twitter.com/IQB9kfY6zB

In the 1970s, the past yé-yé wave, Dick Rivers found with Alain Bashung a playmate and rock comrade. The rock machine , rockin 'along ... the river's country side and rock' n roll star : the album titles that the two men record together speak for themselves.

A man of references and symbols

Throughout his long career - he was still shooting last year - Dick Rivers played with the references and symbols of the culture he cherished. There is the look, the titles of the songs and albums, of course, but also the places. In 1967, he went to the United States to record in studios at Muscle Shoals in Alabama, in the heart of America, studios that saw the Rolling Stones, Joe Cocker, Bob Dylan, JJ Cale and ... Eddy Mitchell.

READ ALSO - When Dick Rivers confided in the microphone of Europe 1: "I've never been a tube guy"

After the 1980s, where he is doing more in variety, maybe picking up what remains his biggest hit, Nice Bay of Angels , Dick Rivers returns to fundamentals, during a joint tour with Francis Cabrel, during which he performs on stage of rock classics in English.

Like a crazy river , adaptation of Buddy Holly's Words of Love :

In the process, he recorded a tribute album to Buddy Holly, who died at 21. In 1995, he released Full Sun , one of his best albums in the opinion of critics, he defends on stage surrounded by American musicians. He performs in festivals alongside Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis, pays tribute to an album to 1960s stripper Linda Lu Baker or records his version of Johnny Cash's I walk the line . And like his idol Elvis, he also rubs himself in the movies (The Furet of Jean-Pierre Mocky in 2003) and even tries to write, with two novels, whose titles are unequivocal on their inspiration: Plot in Memphis (1989) and Texas Blues (2001). Experienced in experiments, Dick Rivers also hosted radio shows and even presented an erotic show ...

An original true to its roots

Dick Rivers was never afraid of doing too much, even asking Lucky Luke's creator, Morris, to cover one of his albums, Mississippi Rivers , in 1976. That pronounced Americanism, his style up to the last, nourished mockeries and caricatures, the most famous remaining that of Antoine de Caunes in Nowhere else , with the character of Didier muddle.

For those of my generation, with #DickRivers it's also a bit of Didier muddle that goes away @ antoinedecaunespic.twitter.com / DvtO0eb7LD

In the last part of his career, Dick Rivers, cult singer for the new generation, has multiplied the prestigious collaborations: Axel Bauer, Mickey 3D, Benjamin Biolay ... He also proved his eclecticism, working with the singer of the Paris metal band Darkness dynamite, or recording a reprise of the title Africa of Rose Laurens alongside Julien Doré ... Until the end, Dick Rivers embodied the breath of freedom of rock.