He dreamed of dying on stage, as in his friend Dalida's song. Michou died this Sunday morning at the age of 88, at the Bégin army training hospital in Saint-Mandé (Val-de-Marne). The Parisian night king and owner of the Montmartrois cabaret Chez Michou, who had inspired the character of Zaza in "La Cage aux folles", suffered from respiratory problems.
In recent months, he had lost a lot of weight. But last Monday again, he received at his home Brigitte Macron, Amiénoise like him, with whom he posed. And on June 20, he celebrated his birthday in his establishment, surrounded by his friends Jean-Paul Belmondo, Charles Dumont, Christophe Hondelatte, Orlando, Fabienne Thibault, Hervé Vilard, Sandrine Bonnaire, Anny Duperey or Nana Mouskouri. Already weakened, Michou had fun until 1 am before returning to his neighboring apartment.
It was this taste for banquets, sequins and champagne that had led the one who was born Michel Catty to open his cabaret, in 1956. Son of a dressmaker and an unknown father, Michou had been raised by his grand -mother, Elise, the "woman of her life".
He had left the Somme at the age of 25 and had settled in Montmartre, with which he had fallen in love. After having made a living as a waiter or a newspaper seller at the auction, this self-taught graduate with a school certificate had taken over Madame So-and-so's restaurant. He then transformed it into a cabaret and launched transformist shows there.
From Las Vegas to the burlesque show
This “revolutionary” idea, Michou had had it back from a trip to Las Vegas. While his establishment was "lively", he had decided one evening to put on a burlesque show with two friends: Eugène had disguised himself as Nana Mouskouri, Lucien as Juliette Gréco, he in France Gall ... And the trio had hit home. Since then, the "Michettes" had not left 80, rue des Martyrs, which sold out months in advance.
Always dressed in blue - his apartment, on the eighth floor of a Montmartrois building, was entirely monochrome - he welcomed his guests every evening. Once a month, Michou opened the doors of his establishment to the elderly, "thinking of (his) grandmother Elise", he told us during an interview. “I love the little old women. Besides, I'm one now! Laughed the man who then displayed 80 springs.
VIDEO. Michou, blue prince of Montmartre
"Let my cabaret close its doors permanently"
We met him that day in one of his HQ, at the Berkeley, a chic and cozy restaurant close to the Elysée. Michou spoke in a fragile voice, but laughed a lot and sipped champagne behind his bluish glasses. “I start as an aperitif and drink until the evening show. It is thanks to champagne that I am not my age, "smiled the man who admitted to whistling two bottles of bubbles each day" when (it was) reasonable ". Michou had also revealed another obsession to us: his brushing. "Every morning when I get out of the shower, my hairdresser is waiting for me at home," he said.
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A year ago, Michou had published an autobiography, in which he explained that he had "organized the preparations for [his] last trip. When I have bowed out, I want my cabaret to close its doors definitively, ”he wrote in“ Michou, prince bleu de Montmartre ”. The king of the night detailed his wishes: that his "blue coffin" be displayed in his cabaret and that a plaque with his name appears on the facade of his establishment.
Brother of Dalida and friend of Michou, producer Orlando hopes that “Michou will have a statue in Montmartre” and that “the rue des Martyrs will be renamed rue Michou”. "He was a great figure of Montmartre and a very important character for all French people", confided to us this Sunday the one who will remember the eternal "joie de vivre" of the king of the night.
LANDMARKS
June 18, 1931: birth in Amiens (Somme) of Michou, his real name Michel Catty.
1946: Michou leaves his grandmother, who raised her, for Paris and arrives in Montmartre.
1956: takes over the Madame Untel restaurant, which he will transform into a Chez Michou cabaret, 80 rue des Martyrs (Paris, 18th century).
1972: released his first album: "Si tu f'sais du tandem avec moi". A dozen others will come out of it, until his "Best-of", published in June 2019.
1973: Michou inspires Jean Poiret with the character of Zaza in his play "La Cage aux folles", which will be adapted for cinema in 1978. The same year, Michou plays his own role in "La Bonne année" by Claude Lelouch.
January 2005: Michou is knighted of the Legion of Honor by Jacques Chirac.
January 26, 2020: Michou dies in his sleep, at the age of 88.
