Elli Robert Fitoussi (born 1 January 1947), better known as F. R. David, is a French musician. He is best known for his 1982 hit single "

Words A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no conse ...

Career

F. R. David was born Elli Robert Fitoussi in

Menzel Bourguiba Menzel Bourguiba ( ar, منزل بورقيبة, Manzil Būrgībah, lit=House of Bourguiba), formerly known as Ferryville, is a town located in the extreme north of Tunisia, about from Tunis, in the Bizerte Governorate. Toponymy The town's na ...

, then in the

French protectorate of Tunisia The French protectorate of Tunisia (french: Protectorat français de Tunisie; ar, الحماية الفرنسية في تونس '), commonly referred to as simply French Tunisia, was established in 1881, during the French colonial Empire era, ...

, to a Tunisian Jewish family. In

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, David began his music career as Robert Fitoussi. He first performed with French garage band Les Trèfles. After one EP, they mutated into Les Boots, but achieved very little commercial success. Adopting his new stage name, he went solo in 1967 and recorded some orchestral pop psych with Michel Colombier, including a version of

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

' "

Strawberry Fields Forever "Strawberry Fields Forever" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released on 13 February 1967 as a double A-side single with " Penny Lane". It represented a departu ...

" ("''Il Est Plus Facile''"). He enjoyed minor hits with the Éric Charden penned "Symphonie" and a cover of the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in ...

' "Sir Geoffrey Saved the World", but this success did not last. He then created Aztec Records with Sonopress & Carrer and started producing with Michael Haubrich and they wrote and produced several groups. The first was called Cockpit, followed by David Cast, Doc & Prohibition Group, Ragga, Alain Maria, Freddy Meyer, and DD Daughterdydawn with Vangelis Papathanassiou. During the early 1970s, David formed the progressive rock group David Explosion but their one album was not a success. He was a guitarist for

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ( el, Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; el, Βαγγέλης, links=no ), was a Greek composer and arranger of ...

in the early 1970s. With Vangelis, he also appeared as vocalist on some of his early 1970s albums. David's voice is also heard on the 1974 single "Who" by Vangelis under the name 'Odyssey'. David then joined French rock band

Les Variations Les Variations was a French rock band from the late 1960s to mid-1970s, that sang in English and was known for its rock guitar- based music. Its three members were born in Morocco and were of Jewish origin. They were France's first band to h ...

, appearing on their final album ''Café De Paris'' (1975), which featured an early rock-disco crossover "Superman, Superman". When the band broke up, he went solo again. His personal "trademarks" are his sunglasses and his guitar (a white

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuousl ...

). His most recognised song was his

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

" in 1982, which sold eight million records worldwide, topped various

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

around Europe in late 1982, and reached No. 2 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in spring 1983, surpassing a rival version by 1960s hitmakers the Tremeloes, and going on to becoming the 22nd best-selling single in the UK during 1983. The song appears in the Oscar-nominated film for Best Picture, '' Call Me by Your Name''. The song is a catchy, slightly plaintive synth-led mid-tempo ballad sung in a slender, high-pitched voice. During the 1990s, he took time out from his own music career and focused on writing and composing for other well known artists. David released another album, ''Words – '99 Version'' in 2000 which contains mostly covers. In 2009, he released the album ''Numbers'', which was in collaboration with other musicians and featured songs that David himself most preferred. Between 2010 and 2011, he went on a national French tour of 52 concerts.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

* ''Rocker Blues'' (1986, Argentina only) * ''Greatest Hits'' (1991) * ''Best of F. R. David'' (2000) * ''Songbook'' (2003)

Singles

Discography in other formations

;with Les Trèfles * ''Sont ils innocent?'' (EP, 1965) ;with Les Boots * "Laissez briller le soleil"/"Trop tard"/"Le cerf-volant"/"Demain" (EP, 1966) * "Les gens sont méchants"/"Ali Baba"/"Vingt ans"/"Twen" (EP, 1966) * ''Tout Va Bien'' (Compilation, 1997) ;with Cockpit * ''Cockpit'' (album, 1971) * "Fifi"/"Father Machine" (single, 1971) * "Bright Tomorrow"/"Lena, Lena" (single, 1971) * "Mister Hardy"/"8 Days and a Wake Up" (single, 1972) ;with Les Variations * ''Café de Paris'' (album, 1975) ;with King of Hearts * ''Close, but No Guitar'' (album, 1978)

References

External links

F. R. DAVID's Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:David, F. R. 1947 births English-language singers from France French male singer-songwriters 20th-century Tunisian male singers Les Variations members Living people People from Bizerte Governorate Tunisian Jews Tunisian emigrants to France Carrere Records artists Columbia Records artists Epic Records artists Sony Music artists Singers from Paris 20th-century French male singers 21st-century French male singers