Alain Maneval, who was press officer for Iggy Pop, host of cult TV and radio shows or even head of Arte, died at the age of 69 from bone cancer, said Thursday his family to AFP.
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This man of the media, smuggler of pop, rock and punk music, died in Fontaine-les-Coteaux (Loir-et-Cher).
He was
"hospitalized at home in palliative care"
, the same source said.
Alain Maneval had once publicized his HIV status, but was cured of it.
The cremation will take place on March 18 at 10:30 a.m. at the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
His journey is insane.
Born in Saint-Etienne, he left for Paris at the age of 17 to try his hand at acting.
Chance encounters will lead him to be press officer in London for the Heartbreakers, an American punk band.
He was also the press officer in France for Iggy Pop and Lou Reed.
He also slipped into the free radio circuit in France - such as, among others, the legendary Carbone 14 - before reaching a larger audience at the end of the 1970s with "PO-GO", a musical program on Europe 1 which it will animate in a punk spirit.
"Dandy Rock"
In "Arditube", a program by Thierry Ardisson, he told of being fired from Europe 1 after calling for a boycott of Shell (one of the station's advertisers) following the oil spill triggered by the sinking of the 'Amoco Cadiz in 1978, which he had witnessed during a weekend on a Breton island.
The "dandy rock", as he was nicknamed, then turned to television, hosting the musical programs "Megahertz" on TF1 and "Tam-tam" on TV6 (ancestor of M6) in the 1980s. Then he would become a director of programs at Arte.
He will also oversee the creation of Morocco's first pay-TV channel, 2M.
In the 2000s, he returned to the radio box on France Inter.
Many media personalities paid tribute to his memory on Thursday.
"So sad but I still have everything he gave us: freedom, passion (...) an attitude, the love of radio and music",
commented the musical director of the antennas of Radio France, Didier Varrod, on Twitter.
