Daniel Balavoine

Daniel Balavoine ([danjɛl balavwan]), born on 5 February 1952 in Alençon (Orne) and who died on 14 January 1986 near Gourma-Rharous (Mali), was a French singer-songwriter and musician.

Starting out in the late 1960s as a dance-hall singer in Pau, he covered Bob Dylan songs, before joining several rock bands in which he wrote his first compositions. He went solo in 1973, heavily inspired by British progressive rock (Genesis, Supertramp, Queen).

Carried by his high register and vocal runs, halfway between opera and hard rock, Balavoine finally made a name for himself in 1978 with his third album, Le Chanteur, and his role as Johnny Rockfort in Michel Berger and Luc Plamondon's rock opera Starmania. Over eight years, he built up a string of hits while developing his music through the 1980s towards an increasingly experimental, even pioneering, pop-rock sound, thanks to his extensive use of synthesisers and computer-assisted music. At the time of his death, the singer, keen to launch an international career, was about to move to London to form an English-language band. Over a ten-year career and eight albums, Daniel Balavoine wrote and composed more than a hundred songs and remains one of the most popular French-speaking artists, thanks to numerous hits such as Mon fils ma bataille (1980), La vie ne m'apprend rien (1980), Tous les cris les SOS (1985) and L'Aziza (1985).

He is also known for his politically engaged lyrics and public stances. A regular media guest for his reputation as a polemicist, Daniel Balavoine did not hesitate to challenge the political establishment in interventions that remain famous. Active in numerous associations such as Amnesty International, SOS Racisme and Les Restos du Cœur (appointed patron by Coluche), the singer was also known for his commitment to humanitarian causes. His passion for motorsport led him to take part in the Paris-Dakar Rally twice, in 1983 and 1985, from which he returned deeply affected by the poverty he had witnessed. In 1986, following the great Ethiopian famines, he developed, with other artists, an operation called Action Écoles, aimed primarily at fighting hunger in Africa. Balavoine, making use of the Dakar Rally's logistics, personally transported water pumps for rice cultivation to Niger and Mali. It was during this humanitarian operation that he died in a helicopter crash, alongside the race director Thierry Sabine.