Biography

Brassens, a singer-songwriter and poet, was born in Sète, a town in southern France, the 22 October 1921 and he died on the 29 October 1981.

20 years after his death, he is considered again as a model for the artists. Now an iconic figure in France, he achieved fame through his elegant songs with their harmonically complex music for voice and guitar and articulate, diverse lyrics; indeed, he is considered one of France's most accomplished postwar poets. He has also set to music poems by both well-known and relatively obscure poets, including Louis Aragon (Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux, Victor Hugo (La Légende de la Nonne, Gastibelza), Jean Richepin, François Villon (La Ballade des Dames du Temps Jadis) and more.

His most famous songs are: Les copains d’abord et Les amoureux des bancs publics. His repertoire counts more than 196 songs and 12 albums During World War II, he was forced by the Germans to work in a labor camp at a BMW aircraft engine plant in Basdorf near Berlin in Germany (March 1943). Here Brassens met some of his future friends, such as Pierre Onténiente, whom he called Gibraltar because he was "steady as a rock." They would later become close friends. After being given ten days' leave in France, he decided not to return to the labour camp. Brassens took refuge in a slum called "Impasse Florimont," in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, where he lived for several years with its owner, Jeanne Planche, a friend of his aunt. Brassens remained hidden there until the end of the war five months later, but ended up staying for 22 years. Planche was the inspiration for Brassens's song Jeanne.

He received this honours : Le prix de l’académie Charles Cros, le Prix de Poésie de l’Académie Française et le Grand prix du Disque.