Paris (AFP)

"Where are the women ?"

and "I love America" ​​will resurface in the playlists: Swiss singer Patrick Juvet, disco star in the 70s with these titles, has died at the age of 70, his agent told AFP on Thursday Yann Ydoux.

The artist's body was found in an apartment in Barcelona.

The causes of death are not yet established.

"There will be an autopsy, I had it on the phone three days ago, I found it good," said his agent.

“It's very sad,” Amanda Lear, who knew him well, told AFP. “We practically debuted together at the start of the disco period. I remember a duet in binoculars for the Carpentiers (variety TV show famous from the years 1960 to 1980) on the song of the + Demoiselles de Rochefort + ".

"It had been talked about at the time because he assumed the fact of being effeminate, with long hair and a lot of makeup like Bowie," she continues.

Amanda Lear insists that he "was a prisoner of his hits of the time".

"He had to sing + I Love America + and + Where are the women? +. We didn't ask him anything else even though he had recorded a lot of other songs."

"He was very frustrated. He was not very happy. He had retired to Spain because France was sulking him a bit. He lived in Barcelona. We last saw each other there. He didn't drink. more. He was telling me he was trying to get out. "

- addictions -

Juvet's career "has had ups and downs, good times, others less, a bit like Renaud", summarized Yann Ydoux, who met the singer 22 years ago.

“Where are the women?”, To the immense success, appeared on “Paris by Night”, album of 1977. This album is the fruit of the collaboration between Juvet (composer and performer) and Jean-Michel Jarre (lyricist).

At the end of "Where are the women," Juvet had received numerous insulting letters from the Women's Liberation Movement (MLF) for words deemed too sexist.

We heard in particular "They no longer talk about love / They wear short hair / And prefer motorcycles to birds / They have in their eyes / Something of a robot ..."

"I Love America", another hit on the dancefloors (1978), was born from Juvet's meeting with renowned producers of the genre, Henri Belolo and Jacques Morali, and was co-signed with Victor Willis, pillar of the Village People.

Little known to the general public, Daniel Balavoine began his career as a chorister for Juvet.

The 1990s were a crossing of the desert for Juvet, who sank into various addictions as he himself recounted in the media.

The "Tender Age and Wood Head" tour, from the 2000s had put him back in the spotlight.

In this "all-star" of popular stars, we found alongside him artists such as Dave, Sheila, Michèle Torr or even Stone and Charden.

"When I found him for this tour, he was coming out of a difficult patch, Christophe Dechavanne, tour producer told AFP. This job is difficult when you are not constantly on top. I had the pleasure of seeing him regain an immense taste for life and the stage. He took care of him with a diet. I was happy to witness all that ".

"Patrick still had plenty of plans, including a new album as a songwriter," added his agent.

© 2021 AFP