When asked to quote a French rocker, Sting does not answer Johnny Hallyday but Little Bob.
Without the latter, no Manu Chao and Mano Negra, nor Noir Désir or Shaka Ponk.
Without him, Le Havre would not be known to the world as a rock city.
Little Bob is the last living legend of French rock.
A survivor who, at 75, including 45 in his career, released his 18th studio album, "We Need Hope" this Friday, a powerful testimony of resilience, resistance and hope recorded with his group, the Blues Bastards.
On the cover, he poses in close-up, dark glasses and parchment face.
“I couldn't wait for this album, completed last June, to come out, because it's very important to me,” admits Little Bob.
I dedicate it to my Mimie, the woman of my life, 32 years together, my managerial tower.
She saved me, made me quit coke, speed and high-dose alcohol.
I thought I wouldn't get over his disappearance two years ago, but I held on thanks to the music.
»He dedicated three heartbreaking songs to her," You Can't Come Back "," Made For Me "and" Il Bello Della Vita "," The Beauty of Life "in his native language.
Because Roberto Piazza was born in Italy.
He arrived with his parents in Le Havre at the age of 12.
Faced with the gray of the concrete and the climate, he found a way out in rock'n'roll.
“I already loved Elvis but in France, I hooked up with black people.
I discovered Little Richard on a jukebox.
What did it give off!
And then the blues, the Stones, the Animals, Them.
Obviously, I like less stuff today, but I listen to Ben Harper, Tom Waits and always Neil Young and Springsteen.
"
His father, a worker, was called Libero.
"But he was never free, the unfortunate one," comments Little Bob.
When I got into music, he said to me:
Roberto, try to be free, you
.
It took me a few years.
When I looked at myself in the mirror, I didn't like myself.
I was a little fat myopic while the rockers were all tall and beautiful.
But when I sang, I stirred people.
So, after having worked for fourteen years as a supervisor, I left the factory to found my group Little Bob Story.
"
"I am not rich, but I am free"
Their first album, "High Time", in 1976, was a hit across the Channel.
“The guys from the Clash, Sex Pistols, Police came to see us in London.
We did nearly 400 concerts in four years in England, which no other French artist has done.
My English manager wanted me to move to London but I preferred to stay in Le Havre.
The coffee is better there.
Later, when we shot in the United States, I was offered to live in Los Angeles.
Maybe I got scared.
In France, I knew I represented something.
"
A documentary produced in 2015 recalls how much this “rockin 'class hero” is a tutelary figure of French rock, a life and a voice respected but which does not have the popularity it deserves.
"I have at least ten ballads that could have broken the house but I have no regrets, I'm not bitter," he said.
I am not rich, but I am free.
I live off my music because I have always toured.
I write my songs and copyright allowed me to produce my records when I ran out of labels.
A guy from EMI told me:
You have to sing in French
.
He had seen me in
Taratata
singing with Pow Wow.
I could have, but English is better for swinging.
"
"Edouard Philippe has a photo of me in his office"
The mayor of Le Havre and former prime minister, Edouard Philippe, is one of his big fans.
"He has a picture of me in his office," the rocker smiles.
He agreed to celebrate our 40th anniversary on the beach in Le Havre with fireworks in front of 20,000 people for free.
And invited us to play Matignon for the Music Festival.
We mostly accepted for the staff, I wouldn't have done it for Macron.
We were very well received.
"
Another fan, the director Aki Kaurismäki gave him a role in his film “Le Havre”, in 2011. “He knew Little Bob Story, because I had sung in Finland in 1978,” says the musician.
He wanted to meet me and said:
You are a rebel, like me.
You are going to star in my film and we will go to the Cannes Film Festival together
.
We did it and it was fun!
He remained a friend.
His film was shown in fifty countries, it allowed us to tour Germany, tourists even recognized me in Venice.
"Are you Little John?"
"
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EDITOR'S RATING: 4/5
"We Need Hope"
, by Little Bob and The Blues Bastards, Verycords, 15.99 euros the CD, 20.99 euros the vinyl.