Pierre Vassiliu

Pierre Vassiliu
Pierre Vassiliu performing at a concert in Cambieure in 2004.
Background information
Born	(1937-10-23)23 October 1937 Villecresnes, Seine-et-Oise, France
Died	17 August 2014(2014-08-17) (aged 76) Sète, Hérault, France
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, actor
Labels	Decca Barclay RCA

Pierre Vassiliu (23 October 1937 – 17 August 2014) was a French singer, songwriter and actor.^[1]

His first record, "Armand", co-written with his brother Michel, appeared in 1962. It was an enormous success, selling 150,000 copies.^{[citation needed]} This opened the doors of the Olympia in Paris to him, where he opened for the Beatles in 1964.^[2] He went on to a two-month stand with Françoise Hardy, Jacques Dutronc, and Johnny Hallyday. He had a string of hits, including "Charlotte", "Ivanhoe", and "La femme du sergent", censored because of the Algerian War.

His 1973 song "Qui c'est celui-là?" was a cover of the 1972 song Partido Alto by Chico Buarque.^[3] It sold more than 300,000 copies and secured for him a place in the memories of the teenagers of the time.^[4]

With his vocal trio, he resurrected the old French song "Belle qui tiens ma vie", sung a cappella.

In 2002, he covered Boby Lapointe's "L'Été, où est-il ?" with Thallia on the album Boby Tutti-Frutti – L'hommage délicieux à Boby Lapointe by Lilicub.

In 2003, he made a CD with Senegalese griots of the Kalone Orchestra of Casamance. Vassiliu lived a part of his life in the Casamance, the region of Senegal lying to the south of the Gambia.

He died in his sleep in 2014, after years of battling Parkinson's.^[4]

• Website
• Pierre Vassiliu at IMDb
• Pierre Vassiliu at Discogs.com