Michel Polnareff -

Michel Polnareff is a French singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer who emerged in 1966 with “La Poupée qui fait non” and “Love Me, Please Love Me,” followed by hits including “Le Bal des Laze,” “On ira tous au paradis,” “Lettre à France,” and “Goodbye Marylou.” His Disc’AZ run culminated with the 1971 song-cycle “Polnareff’s”. He courted international audiences with a 1975 self-titled album on Atlantic. In 1976, he scored the electronic thriller Lipstick.

Background

Michel Polnareff was born July 3, 1944, in Nérac, Lot-et-Garonne, France, to pianist-composer Leib Polnareff, who worked as Léo Poll, and dancer Simonne Lane. His parents took refuge in Nérac under the German occupation, and the family returned to Paris in the postwar years. Poll wrote songs for Édith Piaf and worked as a pianist and arranger. Lane worked as a modern-jazz and tap dancer.

Polnareff began piano study around age five and attended Cours Hattemer in Paris. Polnareff won a first prize in solfège at age eleven from the Conservatoire de Paris. He spent part of 1957 in Dorset on an English-language stay. Polnareff later completed seven months of military service at Épinal and Montluçon, where he played bass drum in the military band.

Polnareff returned to civilian life around age twenty and worked briefly as a bank clerk and insurance salesman in Paris. He left the family home and bought a guitar with his savings. Polnareff busked on the steps of Sacré-Cœur and at Paris café terraces with rock standards and original songs. He took songs including “La Poupée qui fait non” and “Love Me, Please Love Me” to London publishers.

Polnareff returned to Paris with plans to perform his own material. André Pousse then invited him to the Disco Revue rock contest at La Locomotive. Polnareff performed a Buddy Holly song on February 12, 1966, and won the first prize, a Barclay recording contract. He declined the Barclay contract. School friend Gérard Woog introduced Polnareff to Lucien Morisse, program director of Europe 1 and head of Disc’AZ. Morisse signed Polnareff to Disc’AZ and became his manager.

Polnareff set London recording sessions as a condition of the Disc’AZ deal, with guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones among the session players. He worked with lyricist Frank Gérald on “La Poupée qui fait non” and “Love Me, Please Love Me.” Disc’AZ issued the four-song La Poupée qui fait non EP in May 1966, followed in June by the Love Me, Please Love Me EP. Disc’AZ assembled ten tracks from the London sessions and French EPs for the November debut LP Michel Polnareff.

Discography:

Michel Polnareff (1966)
Volume 2 (1968)
“Polnareff’s” (1971)
La folie des grandeurs (OST, 1971)
Polnarevolution (1972)
D’Artagnan l’intrépide (OST, 1974)
Les trois mousquetaires (OST, 1974)
Michel Polnareff (1974)
Michel Polnareff (1975)
Lipstick (OST, 1976)
Coucou me revoilou (1978)
Bulles (1981)
La vengeance du serpent à plumes (OST, 1984)
Incognito (1985)
Kâma-Sûtra (1990)

Sources

AJPN — Michel Polnareff: birth in Nérac, wartime refuge, return to Paris, piano study, conservatoire prize. (AJPN)
Le Parisien — autobiography extract: Cours Hattemer and Léo Poll family background. (leparisien.fr)
RTL — “Michel Polnareff, l’éternel provocateur”: bank and insurance work, London publishing trip, February 12 contest chronology. (RTL.fr)
France Inter — 1970 Radioscopie archive: Gérard Woog, Lucien Morisse, Disc’AZ contract, London sessions, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. (Radio France)
Universal Music Japan — biography: early training, military service, first two EPs and November 1966 debut-LP chronology. (UNIVERSAL MUSIC JAPAN)
Encyclopédisque: May and June EP chronology and original French LP Michel Polnareff, Disc’AZ LPS 11. (Encyclopédisque)
MusicBrainz: London-session personnel associated with “La Poupée qui fait non.” (MusicBrainz)