Paris (AFP)

The singer Alain Barrière, known for hits like "My life" or "She was so pretty" in the 60s but also for his troubles with the taxman, died Wednesday evening at the age of 84, announced to the l 'AFP his agent, Fabien Lecoeuvre.

Already a victim of several strokes in recent years, Alain Barrière suffered another before the death of his wife in early December. He died Wednesday evening in Carnac (Morbihan), following a cardiac arrest, said Lecoeuvre.

The singer had to give up the scene in 2011 (he had to go to the Palais des Congrès in Paris) after two strokes. Since then, weakened, he fought against the disease.

Served by a charming voice with deep resonances and a Cary Grant smile, he interpreted songs with pleasant melodies, mixtures of poetry with simple words and romantic revolt, hummed, for some, from generation to generation.

Promoted star in 1964 after "My life", a tormented lament which remains his most famous title, the popular singer quickly experiences a vacuum and will try until the end of the 1980s several returns.

For twenty years, Alain Barrière was pursued by serious financial difficulties, after the expensive construction of a hotel-discotheque complex in Carnac, the "Stirwen" ("white star"), declared bankrupt.

Crushed by debts, revolted by tax reminders, the singer, depressed, declared in 1989: "I lived through hell. They screwed up my career. Either I solve the problem with the taxman or I'm screwing myself up. " This Homeric battle found its epilogue in 1998.

After successive exiles in the United States and Canada, he did not return definitively to France until the 1990s, where he had attempted to revive himself.

- Aborted return -

Alain Barrière, whose real name Bellec, was born on November 18, 1935 in La Trinité-sur-Mer (Morbihan), to a family of Breton fishmongers. Engineer graduated from Arts and Crafts in 1955, he worked for one year at Kléber-Colombes, before preferring the guitar and poetry.

At the beginning of the 1960s, the boss of Olympia, Bruno Coquatrix, noticed him at a song contest where he appeared with a pseudo, Alain Barrière. Her career exploded in 1963, with "She was so pretty", which represents France in the Eurovision competition. The following year, released his first album, "My Life", and he starred at the Olympia.

Until 1969, tubes ("La Marie-Joconde", "Nothing but a man", "Les Guinguettes"), discs ("You" in 1966, "Looking at the sea" in 1969) and tours were linked .

But Alain Barrière, stubborn and unwieldy, annoyed by show biz, creates his own production house and buys an old mill near Mantes (Yvelines) where he will live in retreat for a few years.

However, he found success for a time with "Tu t'en vas" (1975), interpreted in duet with Noëlle Cordier which sold a million copies.

Denouncing the harassment of the taxman, he moved to Los Angeles in 1977 with his family, returned to France in 1981, recorded two albums which did not have the expected success, went into exile again in Quebec.

Back in France, he published two albums simultaneously in 1998, one devoted to his great successes ("30 years in songs, my life"), the other of new releases ("Barrière 97").

Retired in his native Brittany, he published in 2006 his autobiography, "My Life", and found Olympia in 2007. In 2010, a "best of" appeared, with 53 titles. But these return attempts were shattered the following year by his health problems.

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