Pierre Perret

French author, composer, musician and performer known for his careful use of language and humorous lyrics, Pierre Perret was born in Castelsarrasin (Tarn-et-Garonne) on July 9, 1934. The son of a cafe owner, he grew up in a modest environment, learning slang from the customers who practiced it at the counter. He learned to play the saxophone and clarinet and studied music at the Toulouse Conservatoire, then in Paris, where he performed in cabarets such as Cheval d'Or and l'Ecluse in the 1950s. Noted for his witty, poetic lyrics, he recorded his first album "Moi j'attends Adèle" in 1957 , but had to put his career on hold due to pleurisy, which he nursed for two years in a sanatorium. Back on stage in 1960, he moved from Barclay to Vogue and scored a hit four years later with "Le Tord-boyaux". Gala appearances followed, as did the childishly humorous hits "Les Jolies colonies de vacances" (1966) and "Tonton Cristobal " (1967). In 1969, he left his record label to set up his own, named Adèle. He made a few film appearances and became one of the biggest stars of the 1970s, with cheeky songs such as "La Cage aux oiseaux" (1971), "Le Plombier " (1974) and, above all, "Le Zizi" (1976), a daring song that would become his biggest hit. The following year, "Lily" paved the way for a new style of protest song, followed by "Mon p'tit loup " (1979) and others over the next two decades, including "Riz pilé " (1989), "La P'tite kurde" (1992) and "Vert de colère" (1998). In 2006, he released his first album of bawdy songs, Mélangez-Vous, followed by Le Plaisir des Dieux. In 2010, "La Femme grillagée ", which tackles religious fundamentalism, and ten years later, "Les Confinis", which mocks the treatment of the Covid-19 pandemic, again provoke controversy. In 2021, the album Mes Adieux Provisoires heralded a final tour disrupted by the effects of the pandemic. New albums were released, Ma Vieille Carcasse (2023) and Une Vie d'Humour et de Tendresse (2025).

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