Edmond Vartan (born Edmond Vartanian; 10 August 1937 – 19 June 2001) was a French musician, bandleader,

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

, and

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

descent.

Life and career

Vartan was born to Armenian parents in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, and moved to France with his parents and younger sister Sylvie in 1952. He worked as a

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

player in Paris

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

clubs, including the Blue Note, and in 1961 gave up his law studies to work as a full-time musician and A&R man for

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

. Sylvie Vartan Timeline, ''Sylvissima.com''
Retrieved 22 September 2019 He worked with jazz enthusiast

Daniel Filipacchi Daniel Filipacchi (born 12 January 1928) is the Chairman Emeritus of Hachette Filipacchi Médias and a French collector of surrealist art. Career Filipacchi wrote and worked as a photographer for '' Paris Match'' from its founding in 1949 b ...

on the radio programme ''Pour ceux qui aiment le jazz'' ("For those who love jazz"). They also wrote songs together, including "Le transistor", a 1961 hit in France for Frankie Jordan, and then worked on the popular radio show '' Salut les copains''. After Jordan recorded "Panne d'essence" (a version of Floyd Robinson's "Out of Gas") as a duet with Sylvie Vartan, her brother Eddie continued to work with both artists in the early 1960s. He also released records under his own name as a bandleader, and worked with many French singers, notably as the musical director and producer of

Johnny Hallyday Jean-Philippe Léo Smet (; 15 June 1943 – 5 December 2017), better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and Pop music, pop singer and actor, credited with having brought rock and roll to France. During a career ...

, who became Sylvie's husband. Among the musicians regularly used by Vartan was English guitarist Mick Jones, later of

Spooky Tooth Spooky Tooth was a rock band originally formed in Carlisle, England, in 1967. The band was principally active between 1967 and 1974, and re-formed several times in later years. History Prior to Spooky Tooth, four of the band's five founding ...

and Foreigner. Eddie Vartan became a leading producer in the French

yé-yé ''Yé-yé'' () or ''yeyé'' () was a style of pop music that emerged in Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe in the early 1960s. The French term ''yé-yé'' was derived from the English "yeah! yeah!", popularized by British beat music ban ...

pop scene of the 1960s, and also produced Nick Garrie's cult 1969 LP, ''The Nightmare of J. B. Stanislas''. As a songwriter, Vartan's successes included "Jésus-Christ", a 1970 hit for Johnny Hallyday. "Mort d'Eddie Vartan", ''Liberation'', 23 June 2001
Retrieved 22 September 2019 Eddie Vartan, Credits, ''Discogs.com''
Retrieved 22 September 2019 Vartan also worked on film soundtracks, notably working on the 1968 film ''

À tout casser À, à (a-grave accent, grave) is a letter of the Catalan language, Catalan, Emilian-Romagnol language, Emilian-Romagnol, French language, French, Italian language, Italian, Maltese language, Maltese, Occitan language, Occitan, Portuguese language ...

'' and also with directors

Georges Lautner Georges Lautner (; 24 January 1926 – 22 November 2013) was a French film director and screenwriter, known primarily for his comedies created in collaboration with screenwriter Michel Audiard. Lautner's ventures into other genres were less ...

Michel Deville Michel Deville (13 April 1931 – 16 February 2023) was a French film director and screenwriter. Deville started his filmmaking career in the late 1950s, paralleling the emergence of the French New Wave directors. He never achieved the level o ...

, and

Michel Audiard Paul Michel Audiard (; 15 May 1920 – 27 July 1985) was a French screenwriter and film director, known for his witty, irreverent and slang-laden dialogues which made him a prominent figure on the French cultural scene of the 1960s and 1970s. He ...

. He published a memoir, ''Il a neigé sur le mont Vitocha'' ("It snowed on Mount

Vitosha Vitosha ( ), the ancient ''Scomius'' or ''Scombrus'', is a mountain massif, on the outskirts of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Vitosha is one of the symbols of Sofia and the closest site for hiking, alpinism and skiing. Convenient bus lines and ...

") in 1994. He died in 2001, aged 63, from a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

, and was buried in his home village of Loconville. "Eddie Vartan est mort", ''Le Parisien'', 23 June 2001
Retrieved 22 September 2019 His son is the actor

Michael Vartan Michael Vartan (born November 27, 1968) is an American actor, known for his role as Michael Vaughn on the ABC television action drama '' Alias'', his role on the TNT medical drama '' Hawthorne'', and his role on the '' E!'' drama '' The Arrangeme ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vartan, Eddie 1937 births 2001 deaths Bulgarian emigrants to France French people of Hungarian-Jewish descent French musicians French record producers Musicians from Sofia