Henri Salvador - Biography
By J Poet
Henri Salvador had one of the longest and most important careers in French show business. He is credited with introducing rock’n’roll to French music, inventing the music video, and inspiring the bossa nova with the relaxed vocal phrasing of his song “Dans Mon Ile,” which he played for his friend Antonio Carlos Jobim, one of bossa’s creators. In his long career, he was a jazz and blues singer, rock’n’roller, chansonier, comedian, writer of children’s music, performer, recording artist, TV and movie star, and record company impresario. He had just started work on a new album when he died of a brain aneurysm at age 90 in 2008.
Henri Gabriel Salvador was born in French Guyana in 1917. His father was Spanish and his mother was a Caribbean Indian. When Salvador was seven, the family moved to Paris where Henri discovered jazz. He was fascinated by Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Django Reinhardt and taught himself to play guitar. He started a jazz guitar duo with his brother André, and by 1933 they were making a living playing in cabarets. Henri was the star; his between song comedy routines and expressive face winning them a large audience. In 1935, they had a long residency at Jimmy's Bar one of the city’s top cabarets. Django Reinhardt saw Salvador and hired him for and early version of le Quintette du Hot Club de France.
Salvador played with Reinhardt for less than a year, signing on to be the guitarist for American jazz violinist Eddy South. He joined the Army in WW II and when most of France fell to the Germans in 1940, he escaped to the free zone in the south. He played with Bernard Hilda's jazz band in Cannes before joining Ray Ventura et ses Collegiens, the most popular French jazz band at the time. Ventura was Jewish and relocated to Argentina for the duration of the war; the band made many successful tours of South America and was well known in Brazil.
Salvador moved to Brazil in 1942 to star in a musical review. He picked up a love for Brazilian music which stayed with him for the rest of his career. He returned to France with Ventura at the end of the war and soon started his own band, which was immediately successful. He made his first recordings in 1946 for Polydor and starred with Ludmilla Tchérina and Yves Montand in the film Le Chevalier Bayard in 1947. The title track of his first 78 RPM album Le loup, la biche et le chevalier was a huge hit and won the French Grand Prix du Disque. Songs from the album are included on the two disc set Le loup, la biche et le chevalier 1946-1950 (2003 Fremeax et Associes France.)
In 1956, he made his first tour of the US and appeared twice on the Ed Sullivan Show. He came back with a handful of rock’n’roll records and with the lyricist Boris Vian, started writing and recording rock songs under the pseudonym Henri Cording. At first the songs were parodies of rock, but Salvador soon embraced the style, as did many other young singers. Vian died suddenly in 1959, but Salvador continued on, writing the lyrics himself. Henry Cording and His Original Rock and Roll Boys (1956 Philips France), later reissued as Henri Salvador Alias Henry Cording and His Original Rock and Roll Boys (2002 Uni France) was his first rock album. Under his own name he also made Dans Mon Ile (1958 Barclay, 2002 Uni France) and Un Certain Sourire (1959 Barclay, 2002 Uni France.)
In 1961, Salvador appeared for three months on Italian television and decided that TV was the way to present his music. In 1962, he hosted a French TV variety show and created a music publishing business with his wife (and manager) Jacqueline. He hit with several French translations of American hits, including “M. Boum Boum” (“Mister Bassman”) as well as his own rock tunes between. Some are collected on M. Boum Boum (2001 EMI France.) He also scored hits with several humorous tunes including “Juanita Banana,” “Twist SNCF,” and “Minnie petite souris (Minnie the little mouse.)” The whimsical film clips he made for these three songs are considered the first French music videos.
Salvador started his own Rigolo label in 1964 and his first single for his own logo "Zorro est arrive," a French translation of The Coasters’ “Along Came Jones,” was a hit, as was the album Zorro est arrive (2001 EMI France.) This era is also represented on the two CD set Essentials (2004 EMI International.)
In the late 60s, Salvador produced five TV specials and in 1973 launched Dimanche Salvador, a Sunday lunchtime show. In 1977, he starred in three TV special, one especially for kids and made the children’s album Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. His first greatest hits collection, the two LP set Le Monde Merveilleux d'Henri Salvador (1975 Philips France) was another best seller.
Salvador made a series of children’s albums, including a spoken word disc of LaFontaine's fables, but when his wife passed in 1976, he went back to more mature themes on Salvador 77 (1976 Rigolo France) and Les Canotiers (1976 Rigolo France.) Salvador/Vian (1979 Rigolo France) marked the 20th anniversary of Boris Vian’s death with new recordings of 12 hits from their collaborative years. His last album on his own logo was Live du Spectacle de la Porte de Pantin (1982 Rigolo France) a two LP set of his live show, which had run for two months that summer. It was his first live gig after deciding to present his music only on TV and record. Hits from those years are compiled on Rigolo (1995 Sony Versailles France.)
Salvador signed with EMI for Henri (1985 EMI France) and Des Goûts et des Couleurs (1989 EMI France.) He was made a Chevalier in the Legion d'Honneur in 1987. He did the French voice over dubbing for the crab Sebastian in the 1989 French version of Disney's The Little Mermaid. Salvador appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1991 and made Monsieur Henri (1994 Sony Tristar France) in New York backed by the city’s top jazzmen. It included a cover of Eric Clapton's “Layla.” In 1996, he got a lifetime achievement award at the Victoires de la Musique Awards, performing a duet with Ray Charles to celebrate the event.
In 2000, Chambre avec vue (EMI France, 2002 Blue Note US) a collection of new tunes and covers, went double platinum within weeks of its release. Salvador’s blend of chanson, jazz, bossa nova and other Caribbean influences still sounded fresh and his less is more vocals were still on the money. A duet with Françoise Hardy on “Le fou de la Reine,” a song they wrote together, was one of the album’s standout tracks. At the Victoires de la Musique (French Grammys) that year, Salvador took home awards for Best Male Artist of the Year and Best Variété Album of the Year. President Jacques Chirac made him a Commandeur de l'Ordre national du mérite in 2001. He followed up with an extensive European tour and went on to dates in New York, Tokyo, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and his first concert in his birthplace French Guyana.
Ma chère et tender (2003 EMI France) introduced 12 more tunes in the bossa/blues bag and with melodies that matched anything he’d ever done, and contributions from lyricists Guy Béart, Bernard Dimey, Michel Modo, Jean Drejac, Maurice Pon, and Robert Nyel. The next year he was given UNAC’s (France’s National Union of Songwriters and Composers) lifetime achievement award and was inducted into the Légion d'honneur.
Salvador jokingly called his last album, Révérence (2006 V2 France, 2005 Circular Moves US), his posthumous collection. The title translates as “bowing out,” and was recorded with in Brazil with Brazilian superstar producer Jaques Morelenbaum. It featured duets with Caetano Veloso on “Cherche la rose,” Gilberto Gil on “Tu sais je vais t'aimer,” a cover of Jobim’s “Eu sei que eu vou te amar” with French lyrics by Georges Moustaki as well as a French version of Ray Charles’ “Hallelujah, I Just Love her So” called "Alleluia! Je l'ai dans la peau. He celebrated his 90th birthday in 2007 with concerts at Le Sporting, in Monte Carlo, and the Salle Pleyel and Palais des Congrès in Paris. He died suddenly at home on February 13, 2008.
Salvador’s hits have been endlessly repackaged, but Ses plus grande (2001 Universal France) 36 songs on two CDs is a good place to start. The three disc box Des Chansons Plein La Tete (2003 WEA International) gives a more in depth look at his oeuvre.