“Patrick wanted to make an album again.
He had contacted people in the United States.
We were waiting for the Covid to pass.
Patrick Juvet will not return to the America he loved and that he sang.
The disco star with his hits "I Love America" in 1978 and "Where are the women" in 1975 died this Thursday afternoon in her apartment in Barcelona, Catalonia.
He was 70 years old and lived alone.
It was his manager, Yann Idoux, worried that he had not heard from each other for two days when they called each other daily, who asked friends to go to his apartment.
"There will be an autopsy but his death seems natural," explains the man who had been managing him for more than twenty years.
Patrick was a very sensitive person, he had ups and downs and suffered from an alcohol addiction.
The death of his brother two years ago had affected him greatly.
"He was doing so badly," laments Nicoletta, one of her best friends.
He started to let go when his mother, with whom he was closely related, passed away three or four years ago.
We called each other often.
I was trying to motivate him to work on his piano - because he was an excellent pianist - and tour the theaters, but he no longer listened to me.
He no longer had the courage.
Loneliness is hard when you have known the great light.
"
The 70s propel this beautiful blonde to the rank of star.
He appeared with "La Musica" in 1971, then composed for Claude François "Monday in the Sun", represented his native Switzerland at Eurovision Song Contest, worked with the very young Daniel Balavoine, who was his chorister and collaborated on his album " Chrysalide ”in 1974, records with Jean-Michel Jarre - with whom he falls in love - the album“ Paris By Night ”with his greatest success“ Where are the women?
".
“He was a great composer,” recalls Véronique Sanson, who started at the same time as Patrick Juvet.
He should not be reduced to his disco hits, because he had many other wonderful songs.
"
Le Frenchy went to New York in 1978 to try his luck.
“I advanced the money to him and he moved in with a friend,” says Nicoletta.
Fate willed that in the apartment above live the French producers of Village People.
Together they made
I Love America
, an international hit, and when he returned a year later he gave me a
Love
Cartier
bracelet
to thank me.
"
"He made eternal hits, which were his prison"
In the 80s and 90s, Patrick Juvet dabbled in many styles, film music, rock, techno, worked with Marc Lavoine and Françoise Hardy, but without ever finding such success.
“He made eternal hits, which were his prison, believes Christophe Dechavanne, who invited him in 2018 on a Tender Age tour.
He was happy to sing them, but he would have preferred to sing other pieces… ”It's the descent into hell.
He gets lost between alcohol, drugs and cosmetic surgery.
He recounts his “Blues au cœur” in a poignant autobiography in 2005. “I put him back in the saddle when he was not well,” says Yann Idoux, who became his manager 22 years ago.
He was on the move between Switzerland, France and Spain.
I had him do five Age Tendre tours between 2008 and 2018. The one with the large orchestra was one of his fondest memories.
"
“When I went to pick him up for the Age Tendre tour in 2018, he was tired, not very happy, had just lost his mother,” says Christophe Dechavanne.
On my advice, he started to diet, lost weight, regained energy.
I saw a boy who took great pleasure in being in front of thousands of people in Zeniths.
It was a revival: the audience was raving when he arrived.
He got along well with all the artists, he was a good guy.
"A wonderful boy, full of humor and delicacy," abounds Nicoletta.
It was my patou, my little brother.
"
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His friend Marc Lavoine, devastated, cannot speak.
His favorite composer, Fabrice Aboulker, does it for him.
"Patrick was gay but he had a great love affair with my mother in the 70s," recalls the son of novelist and producer Florence Aboulker.
Patrick, that's a lot of talent and a lot of waste.
He had a unique piano touch and an incredible sense of melody.
But he quickly found success and burned the lives of both sides.
"" His disappearance breaks my heart, admits Véronique Sanson, because he had something very rare, loyalty.
Patrick Juvet gave his last gala last September in Belgium for a children's association.
He sang for free.