Who Was France Gall Husband, Michel Berger? The Talks Today

May 2024 · 3 minute read

A lot of people have shown interest in the husband of France Gall, a french singer who died in 2018, Michel Berger.

The French singer France Gall, who inspired the original version of the song that became a worldwide hit for Frank Sinatra as My Way, has died in a Paris hospital aged 70, her spokeswoman announced.

Michel Berger was a French singer and songwriter. He was a leading figure in France’s pop music scene for two decades as a singer; as a songwriter, he was active for such artists as his wife France Gall, Françoise Hardy, or Johnny Hallyday. He died of a heart attack at age 44.

Who is France Gall?

Photo taken on December 1, 1965 in Paris shows French singer France Gall during the recording of the television program “Soft France”. / AFP PHOTO / Ina / Bernard PASCUCCI

Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall (9 October 1947 – 7 January 2018), known professionally as France Gall, was a French yé-yé singer.

In 1965, aged 17, she won the Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg. Between 1973-92, she collaborated with singer-songwriter Michel Berger.

Who is Michel Berger, husband of France Gall?

Berger was born Michel Jean Hamburger on November 28, 1947, in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, the son of Jewish parents, Dr. Jean Hamburger and Annette Haas, a concert pianist of Swiss-Jewish origin.

Berger first became known to the French public in the 1960s as the singer of the hit song Salut les copains, after which he became a record producer and songwriter for EMI and where he wrote amongst others Les Girafes for Bourvil in 1967.

In the early 1970s, he moved to Warner Music where he produced the early albums of Véronique Sanson, and Allah once again in 1989. In 1973, he was responsible for producing the album Message Personnel, the title track of which relaunched Françoise Hardy’s career. He also produced the single Je suis moi for Hardy. Berger started writing for France Gall in 1974, produced all her albums from 1975 on, and married her on 22 June 1976.

In 1978, he composed the musical: Starmania, with lyrics by Luc Plamondon. The musical starred Gall, Claude Dubois, Daniel Balavoine, Diane Dufresne, Nanette Workman, Éric Estève and Fabienne Thibeault. It was a big success in France in the 1980s and 1990s. An English version, entitled Tycoon, was released in 1991 with lyrics by Tim Rice, but it did not achieve the success the original version had in France.

Unfortunately, the two musicals Berger worked on immediately after Starmania did not fare well. In 1980, Berger partnered with producer Jérôme Savary and lyricist Luc Plamondon to produce the musical La Légende de Jimmy, inspired by the life of James Dean.

However, this bombed. Berger’s next musical project, Dreams in Stone, was conceived as an American musical, co-arranged with Michel Bernholc, and recorded in the United States, with lead vocals by singers Rosanne Cash, Bill Champlin, Lynn Carey, Jennifer Warnes, and Bill Withers, among others. Though the show itself never saw the light of day, the album was nevertheless released in 1982. The album was a complete flop and is not generally known outside of a few fan sites.

Berger also scored several film projects over the years, which included Mektoub, a 1970 film by Algerian director Ali Ghalem, Robert Benayoun’s Sérieux comme le plaisir in 1975; Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s Tout feu, tout flamme in 1982; and Rive Droite, rive gauche, a 1984 film by Philippe Labro. He was known for his Orangina advertisement jingle.

Berger was one of a handful of French artists who participated readily and actively in humanitarian acts: in 1985, he worked exclusively for Action Écoles alongside Gall, Richard Berry and Daniel Balavoine, then later for Ethiopia with Renaud (Chanteurs Sans Frontières) and for Les Restos du cœur with comedian Coluche.

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