Laurent Voulzy
Musical artist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lucien Voulzy (French pronunciation: [lysjɛ̃ vulzi], born 18 December 1948), better known as Laurent Voulzy ([loʁɑ̃ vulzi]), is a French singer-songwriter, composer, and musician.
18 December 1948
Laurent Voulzy | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Born | Lucien Voulzy 18 December 1948 Paris, France |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Singer-songwriter |
| Instrument | Guitar |
| Years active | 1969–present |
| Website | laurentvoulzy.com <FR> |
Life and career
Laurent Voulzy was born in Paris, France. Early in his musical career, he led the English-pop-influenced group Le Temple de Vénus before joining singer Pascal Danel as a guitarist from 1969 to 1974. Voulzy is best known for his long-standing songwriting collaboration with Alain Souchon, as well as for his own successful solo career as a singer.
He achieved international recognition with the 1977 hit single "Rockollection", which combined original French lyrics with excerpts from classic rock songs in English.[1] Among his other major hits are "Paradoxal Système", which reached the Top 10 in France, and "Le Soleil Donne", a multilingual song featuring lyrics in French, English, Portuguese, and Spanish.[2][3]
Another notable success was the double single "Belle-Île-en-Mer, Marie-Galante"/"Les Nuits Sans Kim Wilde", the latter inspired by English pop singer Kim Wilde.[4][5][6][7]
Other popular titles in his discography include "Bopper en larmes", "Le Cœur Grenadine", and "Désir, désir".[8] Voulzy's music also found success in Belgium, Switzerland, and Québec, often incorporating multiple languages in his lyrics, including English,[9] Spanish,[10] Portuguese,[11] and German.
In 2005, Voulzy co-produced and co-composed Nolwenn Leroy's second album, Histoires Naturelles.
His 2006 album La Septième Vague topped the French charts. It included a cover of "All I Have to Do Is Dream" by the Everly Brothers, recorded as a duet with Irish singer Andrea Corr. The track was released as a single and featured on The Corrs' compilation album Dreams: The Ultimate Corrs Collection.
In 2007, Voulzy recorded a duet with French guitarist Jean-Pierre Danel for Danel's album Guitar Connection 2. The song reached No. 7 on the French charts in 2008. That same year, he also toured throughout France.
In 2011, Voulzy released the album Lys and Love, which featured the song "Ma seule amour", a duet with Roger Daltrey, lead singer of The Who.[12]
Discography
Studio albums
| Year | Album | Record label |
Peak positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FR [13] |
BEL (Fl) |
BEL (Wa) [14] |
SWI [15] | |||
| 1979 | Le Cœur grenadine | RCA | ||||
| 1983 | Bopper en larmes | |||||
| 1992 | Caché derrière | Ariola | 9[16] | |||
| 2001 | Avril | RCA | 3 | — | 4 | 50 |
| 2006 | La Septième Vague | 1 | — | 1 | 7 | |
| 2008 | Recollection | 2 | — | 1 | 20 | |
| 2011 | Lys & Love | Columbia | 2 | — | 1 | 30 |
| 2014 | Alain Souchon & Laurent Voulzy (joint album with Alain Souchon) |
Parlophone | 1 | 117 | 1 | 8 |
| 2017 | Belem | Columbia | 5 | — | 4 | 31 |
| 2020 | Florilège | 43 | — | 20 | 95 | |
Live albums
Compilations
Singles
- 1977: "Rockollection"
- 1978: "Bubble Star"
- 1979: "Le Cœur grenadine"
- 1979: "Karin Redinger"
- 1979: "Cocktail chez Mademoiselle"
- 1980: "Surfing Jack"
- 1981: "Idéal simplifié"
- 1983: "Bopper en larmes"
- 1983: "Liebe"
| Year | Title | Peak positions | Sales | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FR [13] |
BEL (Wa) |
SWI | |||
| 1984 | "Désir désir" (duo with Véronique Jannot) |
29 |
| ||
| 1985 | "Belle-Île-en-Mer, Marie Galante" / "Les Nuits Sans Kim Wilde" (featuring Kim Wilde) |
20 | |||
| 1987 | "My Song of You" | 31 | |||
| 1989 | "Le soleil donne" | 21 | |||
| 1992 | "Paradoxal Système" | 10 | |||
| 1993 | "Le pouvoir des fleurs" | – | |||
| "Caché derrière" | – | ||||
| "Le rêve du pêcheur" | 37 | ||||
| 1995 | "Rockollection (Live 95)" | 37 | 39 | ||
| 2001 | "Une héroïne" | – | – | ||
| 2002 | "La fille d'Avril" | 26 | 8 (Ultratip) |
||
| "Amélie Colbert" | 36 | – | |||
| 2003 | "Là où je vais" | – | – | ||
| 2006 | "Derniers baisers" | 8 | 17 | 96 | |
| 2008 | "My Song of You" (instrumental duo with Jean-Pierre Danel) |
– | – | – | |
| "Jelly Bean" | – | 3 (Ultratip) |
– | ||
| 2009 | "Le vent qui va" | – | – | – | |
| 2011 | "Jeanne" | 14 | 4 | – | |
| 2012 | "C'était déjà toi" | – | 6 (Ultratip) |
– | |
| "En regardant vers le pays de France" (featuring Nolwenn Leroy, backing vocals) |
– | 15 (Ultratip) |
– | ||
| 2014 | "Derrière les mots" (duet with Alain Souchon) |
35 | 22 | – | |
| "La baie des fourmis" (duet with Alain Souchon) |
197 | – | – | ||
| 2017 | "Spirit of Samba" (featuring Chyler Leigh, Nina Miranda and Luisa Maita) |
99 [19] |
– | – | |
