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Artist
Alain Barrière
12+ albums
chanson francaisefrenchchanteur francaispopfrancais
about
Alain Barrière (born Alain Bellec, 18 November 1935 in La Trinité-sur-Mer, Morbihan) - † 18. December 2019 in Carnac, Bretagne a French singer, who has been active since the 1950s and is known for participating in the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Elle était si jolie. After growing up in a small town on the coast of Brittany, in 1955 Barrière enrolled in the École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers in Angers. As a student he bought a guitar and started to write songs. On graduating in engineering in 1960, he moved to Paris to take up employment, and started to perform in the evenings at small clubs around the capital. He won a song contest in 1961 with the self-penned song "Cathy"; his style was chanson-based with no concession to the burgeoning yé-yé scene, but nonetheless he was soon signed to a recording contract and started to release singles regularly, enabling him to give up his job and make at least a modest living from music. In 1963, Barrière was chosen to represent France at the eighth Eurovision Song Contest in London. His song Elle était si jolie came 5th out of the 13 entries. Elle était si jolie turned out to be by far the biggest seller of Barrière's career to that point. He released his first album, Ma vie, in 1964 and the title-track, Ma Vie became a huge hit. In 1965 he was offered, and accepted, a leading role in a heist thriller, "Pas de panique", alongside Pierre Brasseur. This would be his only venture into acting, but his singing car
