"
Not a day goes by that I don't think of Johnny...
" These two didn't look alike and yet they remained best buddies in the world during their first years of partying.
Jean-Jacques Debout has been an orphan since Johnny died five years ago.
In an autobiography with nostalgic accents,
The color of ghosts,
the author of
For me life will begin,
the most premonitory tube of the idol of young people, looks back on a unique journey in French song.
From his beginnings in 1947, then a simple courier for Raoul Breton musical editions, to the grandiose shows for children conceived for his wife Chantal Goya, passing through the hits composed for Sylvie Vartan and Johnny Hallyday, the singer of
Golden Buttons .
takes us on a wonderful artistic Odyssey where we will come across chapters Charles Trenet, Yves Montand, Charles Aznavour and Jacques Brel, Bruno Coquatrix or Luis Mariano...
Read alsoJean-Jacques Debout, Johnny's great friend celebrates his 80th birthday
To understand the fate of Debout, we must go back to the first mountebank he admired: Charles Trenet.
It was the singing madman who, with a kind of prescience, understood that the handyman from Le Breton editions had talent.
At his request, Mireille gives him his card so that the young "
courier
" can join the Petit Conservatoire and take singing lessons.
Years later Jean-Jacques Debout no longer hesitates to engrave it in stone: “
Charles Trenet was the accelerator of my career.
Very quickly, he will sing in Montmartre at Patachou.
The miracle occurs at 17,
Golden Buttons
propels the former bad student, who was the misfortune of his pharmacist father, at the top of the bill.
He then sings perfectly the words found by the talented Vidalin: "
In a cap with golden braid, in a greatcoat with golden buttons, throughout endless Thursdays see the orphans pass by... It's not often that I have won the Good Conduct Medal...
"
Jean-Jacques Debout and Johnny Hallyday in rehearsal.
Private collection Jean-Jacques Debout
A few pages later, Jean-Jacques Debout evokes the birth of his friendship with Johnny.
With hindsight, it all sounds like a wonderful children's story:
“I always considered him my little brother.
I will never forget our first meeting.
It was December 1959. He was still just an unknown sixteen-year-old boy.
At a bar that day, Johnny puts coins in a jukebox.
He chooses only
Rock Around The Clock
by Bill Haley.
Jean-Jacques Debout remembers it like it was yesterday: “
The kid was singing louder than the jukebox!
It was already a phenomenon.
Intrigued, all the customers turned around.
With his blond hair, he looked like an archangel.
He was extraordinary.”
During this first meeting, Jacques Brel is alongside Debout.
The Plat Pays
singer
decides to go talk to Johnny.
They are both from Belgium.
Brel said to him, laughing:
“Me, I drink beer… But you, aren't you your age?”
Bill Haley's cantor answers him straight out:
"Oh yes, I have a little drink with you."
Brel smiles and orders on the fly:
“A beer for my friend!”
The poet immediately felt the beast of the stage in Johnny and struck him these words:
“You have a sacred presence.
Me, I'm a songwriter, I try to impose my little songs.
You are going to rock'n'roll."
Johnny sings
For me life will begin
by Jean-Jacques Debout
Jean-Jacques Debout acts from this moment like a big brother for Johnny.
He introduces him to the ban and the back ban of the music hall.
The result is known: the student will exceed the master.
But Johnny will never forget his friend Jean-Jacques.
One day, having become the idol of young people, he lent a few thousand francs to his friend, for a time in trouble.
Without any IOU, of course.
For Johnny the Generous, speech was silver and trust was gold.
Read alsoThe incredible friendships of Jean-Jacques Debout
Thierry Le Luron, Chantal Goya, Sylvie Vartan, Jean-Jacques Debout, Johnny Hallyday in 1973. Jean-Jacques Debout private collection
Chantal Goya is omnipresent in Debout's biography.
He nicknamed her “
my fairy
”.
In this indestructible couple, one wonders who ultimately is the other's Pygmalion.
Jean-Jacques could not have succeeded without Chantal and Chantal would not have become the icon of children without him.
So he comes back to this blessed day when Chantal Goya replaced Brigitte Bardot at short notice in a Carpentier program.
The singer will perform
Adieu les jolies foulards
.
This piece told the story of Chantal's grandmother in Martinique.
The success was immediate.
Soon Bruno Coquatrix phoned him to put on a show for children at the Olympia, on Wednesdays and Saturday afternoons.
He still remembers his words:
“Your wife has something that will appeal to children and families.
She is very resourceful on stage.
I
give you a small budget for the decorations and we go for it!
»
Read alsoMaritie and Gilbert Carpentier, the undisputed kings of variety
The Goya-Debout legend was born.
Together, they will go from triumph to triumph:
The Flying Shoe
,
Paul and Virginia
,
The Marvelous Planet
,
The Mysterious Journey of Marie-Rose
... And today the adventure continues.
Jean-Jacques Debout promises us that Chantal will be back on stage in 2024.
*The color of ghosts by Jean-Jacques Debout at Talent editions