We will find him...

Nostra Dam
Sep 14, 2020
8 min read

Updated: Jun 7

Francis Lalanne is a French singer-songwriter who spent part of his childhood in Uruguay and who began his artistic career by taking drama lessons at the Marseille Conservatory. At the same time he sings in universities, high schools and MJC around Marseille with his two brothers (Jean-Felix Lalanne and René Manzor) in a group called "Bibi Folk".

It was in 1979 that he released his first album "Rentre chez toi", an album which met with great esteem. But it was above all the single "La maison du bonheur" that exploded the artist's notoriety. That year he signed one of the most beautiful ballads of the year and of the decade.

He released a year later in 1980 an eponymous album. Followed in 1981 by the album "Toi mon vieux copain". Committed albums that deliberately scratch the flaws of a society that is a little too focused on itself. The singer is already starting to disturb and annoy.

And the sales of his albums are taking a hit. We had to wait for 1986 to see him find his way back to success thanks to the enormous soundtrack of the film Le Passage, a film directed by his brother René. The single is a real hit and definitely brings the singer into the pantheon of the greatest artists of the end of the twentieth century.

And he will have to wait again six years and the year 1992 to see him once again come back in force thanks to the album "Tendresses", which will sell more than 450,000 copies and from which will be extracted the flagship single "Reste avec moi".

But that will be his last notorious success this time around.

Still active, this singer with a colorful and particularly whimsical personality is not immune to astonishing us once again in the years to come ... matter to be continued.

To discover or rediscover...

Discography (among others ...) :

70s Decade :

La maison du Bonheur 1979
V'là huit heures 1979
J'suis qu'un vieux camionneur 1979

80s Decade :

Celle qui m’a fait si mal 1980
J'ai pas trouvé la fille qui me fermera les yeux 1980
Elle est toute seule 1980
Des mains de chômeur 1981
Melissandre 1981
Toi mon vieux copain 1981
Fais moi l’amour pas la guerre 1982
Le mal d'amour et le robot 1982
Je veux t'aimer, j'veux pas mourir 1982
Coup de foudre 1985
Toujours à l’air libre 1985
A deux maintenant 1986
BO Le passage 1986
La hija de la luna 1987
Multicoque au vent 1989

90s Decade :

Besoin d'un copain 1990
Marée noire 1990
La fille qui s'appelle Rock 'N' Roll 1992
Reste avec moi 1992
Un petit bébé qui te ressemble 1992
Aime moi 1995
Je t'appelle 1996
Reniement 1996
On est bien 1996

2000s Decade :

Cet homme est femme 2000
Regarde-moi 2000
Neige 2003
Changer 2003
Désir 2003
Ni les mots ni les mains 2005
Laisse-toi aimer 2005
Trois anges dans mon paradis 2005
Ouvrir son cœur 2009
Un toit pour tous 2009
Le jour de l'an 2000 2009

2010s Decade :

La vi san vou 2011
Avec le temps 2017
C'est extra 2017
La mémoire et la mer 2017

2020s Decade :

Demain sans toi 2020
Pour que tu veuilles de moi 2020
La gente come noi 2022
Le dernier mot 2024
Ma Marseillaise 2025
Ma Russie 2025
Ma poupée russe 2025

Tracks :

1979 ... his Masterpiece. A first title with incredible lyricism, extraordinary inspiration and which will propel the artist into the highest spheres of success at the speed of light. Undoubtedly one of the most beautiful songs of the decade and of the end of the 20th century on the French side. MA-GIC !

1979...how to match a title like that, that's what you call mission impossible. He set the bar so high from the beginning that the sequel can only be a notch lower, of course...

1979...that doesn't mean that everything he produces will lack quality, far from it. Because it could be that the future still has some great surprises in store...

1980...an Intimist niche that will become his trademark and that he will exploit fully with more or less success. This 2nd title would rather be part of the 'less' category...

1980...and even the 'less' is relative because it is far from being unworthy, that's for sure. The proof is in this new title with a certain interest...

1980...a very personal universe that he manages to sublimate through his songs and which makes him a UFO in this musical landscape of this beginning of the decade, we are not going to lie to ourselves...

1981 ... the artist does not manage to capitalize on the enormous success of the first title and this despite an obvious talent. Because his 'offbeat' side is already more or less marginalizing him ...

1981...it must be said that he accumulates obstacles with a first title that smashes everything, an atypical personality who has difficulty finding his place among the glitter and a musical style very far from the electronic sounds that are established as the reference of the moment...

1981... he will therefore have to trace his own path without disconnecting himself too much from the dictates of show-biz. Not easy at all...

1982 ... a title already more in tune with the times. The singer manages all the same from time to time to deliver titles much more in accordance with the expectations of the public

1982...a year that was very much in step with the times in terms of inspiration. Unfortunately, it didn't bring him much more than that...

1982...we're back in Intimist mode right after. It comes from a good feeling, but it's not going to help get people talking about him on the dancefloors, that's for sure....

1985...we have to wait until 1985 to see him deliver again a title that sticks to his time. Admittedly, it won't reach the heights of the Top50 but it's a good job, undeniably !

1985 ... a new flash of genius which allows him to deliver a new WONDER. He constantly alternates the incredible with the all-comer. It all depends on the years. And for this year 1985, undoubtedly, it is GREAT !

1986 ... and what to say about it ! 1985 was an incredible year, 1986 is going to be an exceptionally exceptional year. Surely his best year. You just have to see the sublime sequel that is on the horizon ...

1986 ... he signs a Masterpiece per decade. For the 1980s, this will be it. An AMAZING title which will make him definitively return to the musical Pantheon of the 80s on the French side. MAS-TER-FUL !

1987 ... a most confusing switch to South American fashion. No more Intimist Masterpieces, here it is in Dance mode. But not necessarily the one the public expects once again ...

1990...it is clear that the gap with the competition risks becoming very serious with this type of title as well...

1990...the titles are not without interest, far from it, but in the era of over-boosted Dance it is clear that its style and sound do not correspond in any way to what the young public expects...

1992...afterwards, as he never does anything like the others, it is certain that this is not the kind of consideration that crosses his mind more than that...

1992 ... a rather laborious end of the 1980s. Followed by an early 90's which is no less so. Until this title. We find the Grand Lalanne, on a track once again highly inspired and which literally floats in the air...

1992...even if he decided not to do things like everyone else, this did not prevent him from having a substantial career marked by several notable successes...

1995 ... a production of title which slows down more and more, even more and more empty years. The 1990s turned out to be particularly difficult to manage for the artist. This does not prevent him from continuing to deliver incredible titles like this from time to time !

1996 ... his last major title of the decade. Once again in the Intimist area, an area he loves so much and which has allowed him to give the best of himself !

1996...the adventure continues at all costs, in any case, and at its own pace. But the adventure continues, in any case...

1996...and it's not necessarily the core fans who will complain. Core fans who will have followed him in all his madness, whether they were brilliant or, conversely, ridiculous...

2000...here he is in any case, attacking this new decade of the 2000s with the firm intention of not giving up as usual, whatever the cost...

2000...because for him, success isn't the most important thing, far from it. As long as he enjoys what he does, that will be more than enough for him...

2003...who could blame him, that's for sure. After all, there's a particularly high price to pay in these cases, with inevitable marginalization...

2003...a marginal and offbeat side that will only become more pronounced over time and weaken him more and more, at least on the career side...

2003...there's always a price to pay when you decide to live outside the system. The paradox about him is that he wants to be in and out of the system when it suits him...

2005...unfortunately, in this modern world as it is today, we cannot spend our time alternating between the phenomenon of adhesion and the phenomenon of rejection...

2005...and the weight of the years surrounding him won't help in this ongoing paradox. Because the worst is yet to come in terms of his personality development...

2005...it's a shame that this talented artist gradually decided to take increasingly dubious and risky intellectual paths...

2009...afterwards everyone lives his life as he sees fit, but his stubbornness will penalizehim more and more in the years to come...

2009...a decade that ended in relative anonymity, except among its longtime fans. Now it remains to be seen what the next decade will bring him...

2009...it could be that the next decade is one too many, unfortunately. But he doesn't know that yet at this stage...

2011...here he is again, hoping to extend the adventure as far as possible. An adventure that will become seriously complicated, especially in terms of his private life...

2017...and when times get harder and harder, also career-wise, we bring out the good old covers album...

2017...as for him, it would have been difficult to cover any other artist than Léo Ferré. Interesting, deluxe covers, but nothing more...

2017...he'll have had fun, that's something. After all, I'm not sure that's really the kind of musical expectations the general public has, that's for sure...

2020...the artist's intellectual wanderings will increase considerably at the start of the 2020s, and things are not going to get any better...

2020...added to this is a musical style that doesn't fit in with the times. It's not easy to exist in broad daylight in a very positive way under these conditions...

2022...but as usual, he's completely ignoring it. It's clear that the 2020s are going to be very complicated for him in every way...

2024...it now remains to be seen whether he intends to come back and especially with what project because as far as he is concerned, we know that anything is possible, both in the good and bad sense of the term...