Jean-Patrick Capdevielle
Jean-Patrick Capdevielle (born December 19, 1945) is a French songwriter, composer, singer, musician and painter who influenced the French rock scene in the 1980s.
| Jean-Patrick Capdevielle | |
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.jpg) Jean-Patrick Capdevielle in November 2016 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | December 19, 1945 Levallois-Perret |
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| Website | jpcapdevielle |
With a mixture of American and British influences, Capdevielle's work is characterised by his raucous voice. Many of his lyrics are based on anarchist and visionary concepts, with rhythms commonly seen in 1960s London and late 1970s New York club scenes.
Biography
Capdevielle was born on December 19, 1945 in Levallois-Perret (near Paris). He received his High School Diploma when he was 15 years old, then went on to study medicine and law. He eventually became a journalist and was a photographer for various French magazines including, Salut les copains, Mademoiselle Age Tendre, SuperHebdo, Actuel (dedicated to counter-culture), and Lui or Paris-Match. Soon after, he became an artistic director and created a teen magazine, which he sold soon after.
In the 1960s he traveled to the United States and lived there for two years in a Volkswagen camper van. He also lived in London where he met The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and he became a close friend of Eric Clapton.
In 1970, he moved to settle in the Balearic Islands, Ibiza, where he devoted himself to painting and composing music. In 1978, Capdevielle received an electric guitar as a gift from a friend and started writing his first songs. They led to the recording of his first record. The record "Solitude", described as "Reggae in French" and produced by Ketchup Music (a label owned by French/American artist William Sheller), was quite successful. When this record label stopped operating, this initial success allowed him to sign a contract with CBS.
In August 1979, Capdevielle's first album was released, Les Enfants des Ténèbres et les Anges de la rue. But unexpectedly, the song on the B-side, entitled "Quand t'es dans le Désert", was more successful on the radio. Thirty-five years later, Capdevielle is still remembered for this song in France.
The second album, /2 was released in 1980 and was also highly successful. The songs "C'est dur d'être un héros" and "Oh Chiquita" sold respectively 150,000 and 200,000 copies.
His first two albums have been certified as platinum albums, with more than 200,000 copies sold, and was classed amongst "The Top 100 Essential French Rock Albums" by the Rolling Stone magazine in 2010.
Between 1980 and 1982, Capdevielle completed three concert tours with two tours at the Olympia and one at The Palais des Sports in Paris.
In 1982, Capdevielle released his third album L'Ennemi Public, recorded at Bearsville Sound Studio (next to Woodstock) with the participation of renowned American musicians such as Wells Kelly (the accompanist of Meat Loaf. The lyrics of the first song "Tu es pas fait pour ça" directly denounces the influence of the media: "They judge you in the name of the laws they invent / For them you are always on the dirty slope / You have to leave your carousel / If nobody protects you / They weigh your rage by the weight of their schemes / Apparently you have to sell everything in a window / You have to know how to crawl on the ground / To become a real pop singer."
In 1983, a live album Dernier rappel was released. Capdevielle surprised his audience, as this music was very different to his previous albums. For example, with Mauvaise fréquentations in 1984, Capdevielle provides a series of very personal, dark, even minimalist songs. Some of these songs were reflected negatively in the media.
Capdevielle returned in 1988, with "Nouvel âge", which remains one of his most unknown albums. This album also featured personal introspections and dark connotations. The album "Vue sur cour" was released in 1990, and also went relatively unnoticed. Capdevielle then explored blues-rock in 1992 with Vertigo, which was recorded in Nashville, this also remains relatively unknown.
Parallel to his musical career, he experienced other artistic activities. He hosted a TV Show, Les Totems du Bataclan between 1985 and 1986 on a famous French TV channel and in 1986, he acted in a telefilm L'Enigme des Sables directed by Philippe Valois.
He also co-founded a production company with Paco Rabanne, Cadrages, which produced the feature film, directed by Mira Nair, Salaam Bombay that won the Caméra d’Or at the 41st Cannes Film Festival in 1988.
He also authored Linda William's musical success Traces released in 1988 and, the same year, participated to the charitable French song "Liban" with other French artists.
In 1993, he moved to the United States, where he studied cinematic techniques at UCLA in California. When he returned in 1995, he directed several video clips, including "Si tu te bats (If you fight)" (Renaud Hantson) and another one for Richard Cocciante.
In 1995, he also released the album Politiquement correct (a compilation signed on the Sony Music label, with four new titles).
In 1997, reconnecting with his old passion for classical music, he wrote, composed and directed Carmine Meo for the soprano Emma Shapplin, an album of contemporary opera, sung in 14th century Italian. The CD and the subsequent tour were an international success and the CD sold more than two and the half million copies; obtaining 39 Gold records and 17 Platinum records.
In 2001, Capdevielle wrote and composed a neo-romantic opera, still in the 14th century Italian : Atylantos… A legend of Atlantis, with Chiara Zeffirelli, Elena Cojocaru, Jade Laura Angelis and Nikola Todorovitch. The final goal still remains to produce a show based on this album.
In 2005, he co-produced the album Pop Tasty, which was written and composed by Montparnasse band.
In 2007, he wrote lyrics for several songs on David Hallyday's album released that year. In the same year, his 13th album Heretique #13 was released.
In 2008, Capdevielle supported Sweet Air in taking part in the Baltimore project in support of the hostages of the world.
In 2015, after 6 years of writing and composition, he decided to write 11 songs. The first drafts of these songs were released on social media and Capdevielle decided to launch a campaign on the crowdfunding platform KissKissBankBank. Within a few hours, the budget needed to achieve the album recording was reached and even exceeded. The album Bienvenue au Paradis (Capdevielle 14th) was recorded in "Britannia Row studios" in London and in Paris, and the Premium Version Album was released in November 2015 on his official website.
Following the release of this album, the "Welcome to Paradise" Tour, a participation tour was organised by his fans in French speaking countries for a year.
He recorded a live album during this tour, which was released in 2017.
Discography
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Solitude (45 Single) | Ketchup Music |
| 1979 | Les Enfants des ténèbres et les Anges de la rue | CBS |
| 1980 | /2 | CBS |
| 1981 | Le Long de la jetée | CBS |
| 1982 | L'Ennemi public | CBS |
| 1983 | Dernier Rappel (Live) | CBS |
| 1984 | Mauvaises Fréquentations | CBS |
| 1985 | Planète X | CBS |
| 1986 | "D'où viennent les danseuses" (45 Single) | CBS |
| 1987 | Nouvel Âge | WEA |
| 1990 | Vue sur cour | WEA |
| 1992 | Vertigo | Virgin France |
| 1995 | Politiquement correct (compilation) | TriStar |
| 2007 | Hérétique #13 | O+ |
| 2015 | Bienvenue au Paradis |
References
External links
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