Paris (AFP)
Kim Wilde, Mary Quant or Amélie Colbert: Laurent Voulzy returns for AFP on the muses of his repertoire, real or fictitious, on the occasion of a best-of, "Florilège", scheduled for this Friday (at Columbia / Sony).
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"The nights without Kim Wilde" (1985), from the fantasy to the convertible.
When the English star is on TV, Laurent Voulzy, magnetized, records it on the VCR.
At the tea break of a session with his accomplice Alain Souchon, he shows him the video.
"He understands why she makes me dream (laughs), then we attacked the song on her", remembers Voulzy.
What if she put her voice there?
"I called a friend in his record company, I can still hear him say to me: + well let's see ... +".
Voulzy meets her on a TV set.
"I hardly dare speak to her, she says to herself + but what is this guy? + (Laughs), but ask for a model".
Bingo.
Head to a studio in the English countryside.
And Kim Wilde says to the microphone: "Laurent, it is time to sleep now / Take off your glasses".
"We then had dinner in a pub with her and her family, then she took me back to London, in her convertible, one summer evening under the moon, whereas before I was watching her on TV (laughs). We have been friends ever since ".
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"Mary Quant" (2001), mini-skirts and Beatles
"I experienced the arrival of mini-skirts and everything was transformed, not just the clothes, it was revolutionary for a whole time," recalls Voulzy.
"It was Alain who had the idea of making a song about Mary Quant", an English designer who helped popularize the mini-skirt.
This track musically exudes Voulzy's love for the Beatles.
"To make it sound + Swinging London +, my drummer brought back an old drum set, the same as Ringo Starr's. It never left my house again (laughs). My drummer said he bought it from New York, and I wonder if the Beatles, instead of traveling with their instruments, could not already find them there ... ".
On December 18, Paul McCartney's new solo album came out: "It's good, it's my birthday, he must have done it on purpose! (Laughs)".
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"Amélie Colbert" (2001), mirror of the soul
This time it is about a character invented by Voulzy - "I found a name that sounded very West Indian" - but which allows him to give himself up.
"It's a song that has been sleeping in me for a long time, it's the bottom of my soul, and it's also how I feel about Guadeloupe, where I was only 35 years old (he was born there is 71 years old in metropolitan France, where his mother had gone, his father remaining on the island, editor's note) ".
"But Guadeloupe, I knew a little at home, through dancing, cooking, drinking, Creole, and what my mother told me about the governor's ball."
The song, which is based on a biguine, evokes these skins, black and white, which give another color to life when they mix, a humanist and anti-racist theme that we will find in "The Sun Gives".
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Alain Souchon, the other man who loved women
The interview revolves around female figures, but a male first name keeps coming back, with Alain (Souchon).
But, by the way, how did it start?
"The first time we met, it was at the CEO of our record company, who had invited his artists, those who were successful - Yves Simon, Antoine - those who had little success, like Alain , and those who didn't, like me (laughs) ".
"We each sang something, I told him I liked his song, and Alain thought I was kidding him: + ah yeah, you play the Beatles with nice chords and me, my little thing, you find that good ... + (laughs) ".
"Then I was offered to make the arrangements for him, I said + why not? +. After two weeks, we were both + I'm ten +".
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