Michel Fugain

Michel Fugain, born on May 12, 1942, in Grenoble (Isère), is a French singer and composer.

Son of doctor and resistance fighter Pierre Fugain, he grew up in the Isère countryside before studying at the Lycée Champollion in Grenoble. Passionate about New Wave cinema, he abandoned his medical studies to become a filmmaker in Paris. From 1963, he became assistant director for Jean-Michel Barjol, Guy Blanc, Yves Robert, and Jean Delannoy, then took drama classes with Yves Furet. It was there that he met Michel Sardou, for whom he composed his first songs.

In 1965, Michel Fugain signed a publishing contract with Barclay and wrote melodies for Hugues Aufray, Marie Laforêt, and Dalida. He achieved his first success in 1967 with Je n’aurai pas le temps, with lyrics by Pierre Delanoë, for the Festival record label. At the same time, he directed, with Pierre Sisser, a television musical titled Un enfant dans la ville in 1971.

In 1971, Michel Fugain created the Big Bazar, a troupe of singers and dancers dressed in loose, colourful clothing, embodying the post-sixty-eighter hippie and communal spirit. For five years, he had a string of successes with Une belle histoire, Attention mesdames et messieurs, Fais comme l’oiseau, Chante… Comme si tu devais mourir demain, La Fête, Bravo Monsieur le monde, Les Acadiens, Le Printemps, and played to sold-out crowds at the Olympia multiple times.

In 1974, his musical film project Un jour, la fête came to fruition. After the Big Bazar adventure, Fugain continued to perform, notably in 1977 during a large show in Le Havre for which the protest song Le Chiffon rouge was created. He continued his career as an entertainer, then as an educator by founding a workshop for artists at the Victorine studios in 1979.

The following decades were more difficult professionally and personally. Disappointed by his television show Les Fugues à Fugain on TF1, he nevertheless released solo albums and singles such as Viva la vida in 1986, Chaque jour de plus in 1989, and Forteresse in 1992, which brought him media and stage attention. He then embarked on numerous musical collaborations, notably with Belgian singer Maurane.

The death of his daughter Laurette in 2002 brought his career to a halt.

Producer Jean-Claude Camus convinced him to embark on new musical projects, such as the show Attention mesdames et messieurs… directed by Roger Louret at the Folies Bergère in 2005 and 2006. He paid tribute to his fellow artists by setting their texts to music in the album Bravo et merci! in 2007. He announced he would stop studio recordings but returned to the stage with his Projet Pluribus in 2013 and his Causerie musicale in 2017.

A popular variety singer, sometimes flirting with jazz and bossa nova, he expresses humanist and libertarian convictions in his songs.

Michel Fugain has sold ten million records in fifty years of his career.

He was promoted to Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2009.