Dick Rivers joins Elvis in rockers' paradise

Dick Rivers in 2006. © Eric CATARINA

04/24/2019

Dick Rivers died on Wednesday, April 24, 2019 from illness, the day of his 74 years. The former singer of the Wild Cats, Twist's interpreter in Saint-Tropez has joined his idol of all time, Elvis Presley, in the paradise of rockers. Dick Rivers never stopped imposing his American influences, record after disc, claiming them, by leading a French career apart, tinged with blues, country, and of course rock. Always with his crooner voice.

Hervé Forneri was born artistically on April 24, 1961, when he was only 16, when he released his first single with Les Chats Sauvages. He chose a name sounding Anglo-Saxon from a film with Elvis Presley, Loving you . It will be Dick Rivers. With the members of his group, they are then the rivals of the Black socks, the formation of Eddy Mitchell. Even inspiration, even want to discover the French music phenomenon that is rock'n'roll.

Worked out, black leather, banana, cowboy boots and a sinister look, Dick Rivers will soon start a solo career. In March 1964, he leaves Dick . Just you , the flagship piece of the album is a success. He surfs on the wave Hello Buddies and accompanies the wave of sounds and rhythms from across the Atlantic by adapting French standards Beatles, Moody Blues or Roy Orbison. He went to Canada where he began a successful tour, a love story that lasted throughout his career.

The 70's are more complicated for Dick Rivers who attends the end of the yéyé sequence. He starts to work with Alain Bashung and has a few successes: Marilou , Rock'n'roll Star and especially Mom does not like my music . Passionate about the history of rock, he collaborates with radio RMC since January 83 and hosts a radio show. He also publishes his memories of rocking in Hamburger, pan-bagnat, rock'n'roll . He also collaborates with the Golden Gate Quartet on a concept album titled Linda Lu Baker and soon tries to write novels.

Throughout his career, Dick Rivers has been an interpreter. With a warm voice, he appropriates the music and words of others. And if the first part of his career is strongly marked by his love of America, the second part shows his attachment to the French song. In the 90s, he collaborated with Francis Cabrel, André Manoukian, or Philippe Labro. Later, in the 2000s, he uses Mickey 3D, -M-, Benjamin Biolay, Mathieu Boggaerts or Axel Bauer. On the album, Mister D , released in October 2011, he sings the words of Jean Fauque, the former lyricist of Alain Bashung. Oli Le Baron and Joseph d'Anvers will be the two songwriters in charge of these last albums.

Victim of a bad fall in 2014, he had to give up the scene at the time of the release of Rivers . In 2018, he joined the troupe Age Tendre et tête de bois and took advantage of this experience on large French stages to find his audience in small rooms, especially in Nice, where it all started with the Wild Cats, 57 years ago.

By: Patricia Blettery

Dick Rivers

France - French Song - Rock

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