Alain Souchon (; born Alain Édouard Kienast ; 27 May 1944) is a French singer-songwriter and actor. He has released 15 albums and has played roles in seven films.

Profile

Alain Souchon was born in

Casablanca, Morocco Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic coast of the Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a population of about 3.22 million in the urb ...

. His family on his mother's side is Swiss, and he has dual French-Swiss nationality. Six months after he was born, his family moved to France. When he was 15 his father died in an accident. His mother sent him to a French high school in England, but due to problems registering he decided to stay in London and work. Upon returning to France he took up guitar, influenced by English and American music. In 1970, he married and had his first son continuing to play in the cabarets and bars in the

Rive Gauche The Rive Gauche (; Left Bank) is the southern bank of the river Seine in Paris. Here the river flows roughly westward, cutting the city in two parts. When facing downstream, the southern bank is to the left, whereas the northern bank (or Rive Dr ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Souchon signed his first contract in 1971 with the Pathe-Marconi label but had no success. Bob Socquet, the artistic director of RCA encouraged him to perform his song "L'amour 1830" at the Rose D'Or of Antibes contest. Souchon then began to collaborate with composer/arranger

Laurent Voulzy Lucien Voulzy (, born 18 December 1948), better known as Laurent Voulzy (), is a French singer-songwriter, composer, and musician. Life and career Voulzy was born in Paris, France. He originally led the English-pop-influenced Le Temple de Vénu ...

(b. 1948); they would write together, but each released albums under his own name. Souchon's first hit was "J'ai 10 ans" (1974), from the album of the same name. He continued releasing albums and in 1978 wrote the theme for

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French filmmaker, actor, and critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. He came under the tutelage of film critic Andre Bazin as a ...

's 1979 film '' Love on the Run'' (''L'amour en fuite''). At this time his second son was born. In 1980, he was invited to perform at

l'Olympia The Olympia (; commonly known as L'Olympia or in the English-speaking world as Olympia Hall) is a concert venue in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France, located at 28 Boulevard des Capucines, equally distancing Madeleine church and Opéra ...

. He also began his acting career, most notably starring in the 1983 film '' L'été Meurtrier''. Following the album 'On avance', he left RCA and signed with Virgin Records at 40 years old. In 1989 "La beauté de Ava Gardner" was voted best title of the year by the Victoires de la Musique. Then came Souchon's biggest hit "

Foule sentimentale "Foule sentimentale" is a 1993 popular song written, composed and performed by the French artist Alain Souchon. The song was released as a single in October 1993 and was the first one from his 1993 album ''C'est déjà ça''. It achieved success i ...

" from 1993's million-selling ''C'est déjà ça''. At the 20th anniversary of the Victoires de la Musique in 1995, Alain Souchon received the award for best "Chanson Originale" for his song "Foule Sentimentale." In 1996, he received the "le Prix Vincent Scotto" award given by the SACEM (Societe des Auteurs Compositeurs) for his song "Sous les Jupes des Filles". Souchon returned in 2005 with the hugely successful album ''La vie Théodore'' which contained the hit single "...Et si en plus y'a personne".

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

*^A Re-release

Compilations

Singles

*Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts

Awards

Victoires de la musique *1986: Music Video of the Year (''La Ballade de Jim''), directed by Philippe Bensoussan *1986: Song of the Year (''Belle-Île-en-Mer'') *1990: Song of the Year (''Quand j'serai KO'') *1991: Album of the Year (''Nickel'') *1994: Male Artist of the Year *1994: Song of the Year (''Foule sentimentale'') *1996: Album of the Year (''Défoule sentimentale'')

Globes de Cristal Award The Awards (English: Crystal Globe Awards) is a set of awards bestowed by members of the French Press Association recognizing excellence in home art and culture. The annual formal ceremony and dinner at which the awards are presented happens e ...

*2006 : Best Male Singer

References

External links

*
Official site

Biography of Alain Souchon
from

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the State media, state-owned international radio news network of France. With 59.5 million listeners in 2022, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Souchon, Alain 1944 births Living people Musicians from Casablanca Male actors from Casablanca French male film actors French male singer-songwriters French singer-songwriters French people of Swiss descent