Jean-Claude Vannier (born 1943) is a French musician,

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

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 ...

. Vannier has composed music, written lyrics, and produced albums for many singers. Vannier is regarded as an important musician in his native country; music critic

Andy Votel Andrew Shallcross (born 4 November 1975), known as Andy Votel, is an English musician, DJ, record producer, graphic designer and co-founder of Twisted Nerve Records and the reissue label Finders Keepers Records. As musician Violators of t ...

noted his Eastern music influences and named him a pop-culture icon of 1970s France, alongside

Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative rel ...

and

Jane Birkin Jane Mallory Birkin ( ; 14 December 1946 – 16 July 2023) was a British and French actress, singer, and designer. She had a prolific career as an actress, mostly in French cinema. A native of London, Birkin began her career as an actress, ...

. He also was the conductor for Marie-France Dufour's song " Un train qui part" in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1973 The Eurovision Song Contest 1973 was the 18th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the country's victory at the with the song " Après toi" by Vicky Leandros. Organised by the European ...

Early life

Vannier was born during a bomb scare in

Courbevoie Courbevoie () is a Communes of France, commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine department of the Île-de-France region of France. It is a suburb of Paris, from the Kilometre zero, center of Paris. The centre of Courbevoie is situated from the ci ...

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a department in the Île-de-France region of France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west and ...

. His parents "absolutely hated artists. There was absolutely no way I was going to pursue a career in music", until he turned 18 and had the right to do so. Self-taught, he began playing the piano at age 18, later arranging for Michel Magne and Alice Dona, his first notions of orchestration taken from the books of the "Que sais-je ?" collection.

Career

Vannier collaborated on several film soundtracks including: ''Les Guichets du Louvre'' by Michel Mitrani, '' La Horse'' by Pierre Granier Deferre, ''Paris Nous Appartient'' by Robert Benayoun, ''Slogan'' by Pierre Grimblat, ''Projection Privée'' by François Leterrier, ''L'amour Propre'' by Martin Veyron, ''La Nuit Tous Les Chats Sont Gris'' by Gérard Zingg, and ''Comédie d'été'' by Daniel Vigne. Besides his own concerts and diverse musical entertainments, Jean-Claude staged numerous shows for artists such as Véronique Sanson's show with the Prague Symphonic Orchestra at Paris' Châtelet Theatre, Jane Birkin at the Olympia, "Children's Opera", for which he also composed the music, and for the Festival of Avignon. Jean-Claude Vannier has written and recorded six solo albums. Each release has been played live, at venues such as the Campagne Première Theatre, the Ranelagh Theatre, the Théâtre de la Ville, the Dejazet Theatre, the Trottoirs de Buenos Aires, the Auditorium des Halles, and the Théâtre des Abbesses. "L'enfant assassin des mouches" is a concept album by Vannier that was released by Night & Day in 2003. This instrumental album, which inspired Serge Gainsbourg to write the well known cruel tale, was originally recorded in 1973. Finders Keepers, a UK record label, released it in 2005 with outstanding quotes from Jarvis Cocker, Jim O'Rourke, David Holmes, Tim Gane, Andy Votel International release in 2006 by Finders Keepers. "Because Music" republished the album in October 2008, and it since attained a more notable cult classic status. Vannier performed an enormous live show ''L'enfant Assassin des Mouches & Melody Nelson'' at London's Barbican on 21 October 2006 with guest vocalists

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp (band), Pulp, he became a reluctant figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Cocker h ...

Badly Drawn Boy Damon Michael Gough (born 2 October 1969), known by the stage name Badly Drawn Boy, is an English indie singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Gough chose his stage name from a character in the show '' The Magic Ball'', which he saw on TV ...

Brigitte Fontaine Brigitte Fontaine (born 24 June 1939) is a French singer of avant-garde music. She has employed numerous unusual musical styles, melding rock and roll, folk, jazz, electronica, spoken word poetry, and world. She has collaborated with Stereola ...

, The Bad Seeds’

Mick Harvey Michael John Harvey (born 29 August 1958) is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist, he is best known for his long-term collaborations with Nick Cave, with whom he formed The ...

and lead singer from

Super Furry Animals Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys (lead vocals, guitar), Huw Bunford (lead guitar, vocals), Guto Pryce (bass guitar), Cian C ...

Gruff Rhys Gruffudd Maredudd Bowen Rhys (; born 18 July 1970) is a Welsh musician, composer, producer, filmmaker and author. He performs solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals, which obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He forme ...

. The musicians used for the album were Dougie Wright,

Big Jim Sullivan James George Tomkins (14 February 1941 – 2 October 2012), known professionally as Big Jim Sullivan, was an English guitarist. Best known as a session guitarist, he was one of the most in-demand studio musicians in the UK in the 1960s ...

Herbie Flowers Brian Keith "Herbie" Flowers (19 May 1938 – 5 September 2024) was an English musician specialising in bass guitar, double bass and tuba. He was a member of groups including Blue Mink, T. Rex and Sky and was also a prolific session musician. ...

and Vic Flick, who all joined Vannier for the concert. BBC Concert Orchestra, Crouch End Festival Chorus, a children's string quintet were part of the show On 22 and 23 October 2008 this show, conceived, arranged and orchestrated by Jean-Claude Vannier, was performed at the Cité de la Musique with guest vocalists :Mathieu Amalric, B at the Cité de la Musique with guest vocalists Alain Chamfort, Mathieu Amalric, Brigitte Fontaine, Brian Molko (Placebo), Martina Topley Bird, Daniel Darc, Clotilde Hesme, Seaming To. The Lamoureux Orchestra, the Yound Choir of Paris, and the children's string quintet were part of the show. The rhythm section was : bass : Herbie Flowers - guitars: Claude Engel and Thomas Coeuriot - drums: Pierre Alain Dahan - keyboards : Gérard Bikialo, and a sound effects man : Michel Musseau. Vannier has also performed in other artistic fields such as watercolour paintings exhibited (Windsor and Newton Award 1984) at the Autumn Salon, journalism (writer for Nouvelles Littéraires, Glamour and the Journal Littéraire), the radio (comic gardening and cooking shows for France Culture) and directed a video for Maruschka Detmers. In 1990 he also published his first collection of short stories, ''Le club des inconsolables'' ("The Club of the Inconsolable", published by Fixot). In May 2019, he announced a new project with heavy metal vocalist

Mike Patton Michael Allan Patton (born January 27, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, producer, and voice actor, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock bands Faith No More and Mr. Bungle. He has also fronted and/or played with Tomahawk, The ...

, entitled '' Corpse Flower'', with an album due in September that year.Mike Patton (Faith No More) Has a New Project Called Corpse Flower; Listen to the First Single
MetalSucks. 17 May 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2019.

Discography

Solo albums

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

: ''L'Enfant assassin des mouches'' (Insolitudes) *

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

: ''L'orchestre de Jean-Claude Vannier interprète les musiques de Georges Brassens'' *

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

: ''Jean-Claude Vannier'' *

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

: ''Des coups de poing dans la gueule'' *

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

: ''Pauvre muezzin'' *

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

: ''Jean-Claude Vannier'' *

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

: ''Public chéri je t'aime'' *

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

: ''Pleurez pas les filles'' *

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

: ''En public & Fait à la maison'' (2 CD)

Arrangements

Filmography

Feature films

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

: '' Qu'est-ce qui fait courir les crocodiles ?'' by Jacques Poitrenaud *

: '' Paris n'existe pas'' by

Robert Benayoun Robert Benayoun (12 December 1926 in Kenitra, Morocco – 20 October 1996 in Paris) was a French film critic and author, and one-time member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival of 1980. He wrote books on Tex Avery, Woody Allen, Buster Keaton, ...

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

: '' Projection privée'' by

François Leterrier François Leterrier (; 26 May 1929 – 4 December 2020) was a French film director and actor. He entered the film industry when he was cast as the lead in Robert Bresson's film ''A Man Escaped'' (1956). After this he assisted other directors before ...

: ''

Les Guichets du Louvre ''Black Thursday'' () is a French film from 1974 directed by Michel Mitrani. Based on a semi-autobiographical 1960 novel by Roger Bousinnot, the film portrays the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in 1942, when French police arrested over 13,000 Jewish inhabita ...

'' by

Michel Mitrani Michel Mitrani (1930 - 1996) was a French film director and screenwriter. He was the founder of the Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels in 1987. His 1974 film ''Black Thursday (film), Les Guichets du Louvre'' was entered into the 24t ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

: '' La Nuit, tous les chats sont gris'' by Gérard Zingg *

: '' L'amour propre ne le reste jamais longtemps'' by Martin Veyron, compositeur et acteur (le pianiste) *

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

: '' Ada dans la jungle'' by Gérard Zingg *

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

: '' Comédie d'été'' by Daniel Vigne *

: '' Bienvenue à bord'' by Jean-Louis Leconte *

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

: '' Je m'appelle Victor'' by Guy Jacques *

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

: '' La Poudre aux yeux'' by

Maurice Dugowson Maurice Dugowson (23 September 1938 – 11 November 1999) was a French film director and screenwriter. His 1975 film ''Lily, aime-moi'' was entered into the 25th Berlin International Film Festival. The following year, his film ''F comme Fairbank ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

: '' La Tour Montparnasse infernale'' by Charles Nemes *

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

: '' Sauvage innocence'' by Philippe Garrel *

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

: '' Les Amants réguliers'' by Philippe Garrel *

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

: '' Aux Abois'' by Philippe Collin *

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

: '' Leur morale... et la nôtre'' by Florence Quentin *

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

: '' Microbe & Gasoline'' by

Michel Gondry Michel Gondry (; born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker and producer noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. Along with Charlie Kaufman, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one o ...

Television

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

: ''Personne ne m'aime'', by René Dubois *

: ''Que le jour aille au diable'', by Paul Vermus *

: ''La Belle by Fontenay'', by Paule Zajderman *

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

: ''La Clé des champs'', (6 episodes) by Charles Nemes *

: ''Les coquelicots sont'', by

Richard Bohringer Richard Bohringer () is a French actor, singer, writer, and film director. He is the father of actresses Romane Bohringer and . Early life Bohringer was born in Moulins, Allier, France, to a French mother, Huguette Foucault and a German fathe ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

: ''Dessine-moi un jouet'', Hervé Baslé *

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

: ''Sa mère la pute'', by

Brigitte Roüan Brigitte Roüan (born 28 September 1946) is a French director, screenwriter and actress.This article borrows largely from a profile of the artist in ''The New York Times''. Riding, Alan. "When the Tables Are Turned in Adultery's Secret Rooms", ' ...

: ''Le Baptême du boiteux'', by Philippe Venault *

: ''Le Champ Dolent, le roman by la Terre'', d’ Hervé Baslé

References

External links

Jean-Claude Vannier website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vannier, Jean-Claude 1943 births Living people People from Courbevoie French rock musicians French composers French male composers French music arrangers