Laurent Voulzy
Lucien Voulzy, better known as Laurent Voulzy, is a French singer-songwriter, composer, and musician.
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. 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.
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.
Other popular titles in his discography include "Bopper en larmes", "Le Cœur Grenadine", and "Désir, désir". Voulzy's music also found success in Belgium, Switzerland, and Québec, often incorporating multiple languages in his lyrics, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, 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.
Discography
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"