Patrick Hernandez is a French singer-songwriter who started his artistic career at the age of 19, playing in dancing parties near Périgueux and Limoges.
We find him in the mid-1970s in a group called Paris Palace Hotel, also named PPH, and it is within this group that he will compose the outline of a small title called…"Born to be alive”. Title that must appear on an album to be released, album that will never actually be released.
The group ends up separating and the young artist sincerely thinks about stopping his career. But fate has not forgotten him and it is the Belgian producer Jean Van Loo who will put him back on track. Which producer made him re-record the title and broadcast it first in Italy in 1978. And the miracle took place !
The title began by making a huge splash there before being broadcast in France in its turn a few months later. Then gradually in other countries. The title became one of the biggest dance phenomena in the world of the end of the 1970s. So much so that it was classified in around fifty countries and sold around 25 million copies.
A tidal wave success that will be short-lived because anything that will be released subsequently will not experience the incredibly incredible success of this unique opus.
To discover or rediscover...
Discography (among others ...) :
70s Decade :
Lyndia, Lyndia (Paris Palace Hôtel) 1974
Quand la danse est finie (Paris Palace Hôtel) 1974
Back to the boogie (Paris Palace Hôtel) 1975
Let me dream (Paris Palace Hôtel) 1975
Ramona (Paris Palace Hôtel) 1976
I give you a rendez-vous 1978
Born to be alive 1978
Disco queen 1979
You turn me on 1979
Back to boogie 1979
80s Decade :
Someone's stepping on my mushrooms 1980
Can’t keep it up 1980
Down on easy street 1981
Losing sleep over you 1981
Goodbye 1981
Y’a toujours des sam’dis soirs 1982
Fais moi calin 1982
Non stop 1982
Tallulah 1983
Kalisha Kalima 1988
90s Decade :
Diva des nuits Disco (Nomy) 1998
2010s Decade :
Changer le monde avec l'amour 2014
Tracks :
1974... the very first steps of young Patrick. Who would imagine for a single moment that this young artist then totally unknown would produce one of the most emblematic Dance titles of the end of the 20th century ? Not many people, that's for sure...
1974... even if this group will not remain as the best known of the decade, it will at least allow the young Patrick to do his classes as they say...
1975...a group perfectly in tune with the times but which did not know how to reach the highest level. Too bad because there was potential...
1975...they thought that singing in English would succeed in propelling them to the heights. Nice try but lost bet...
1976... three small years of existence and then they go away. An adventure that ends for the group but another, and not the least, that begins for one of the members...
1978...the first steps in solo. A nice first title, certainly, but which in no way augurs the exceptional and incredible success that awaits the young artist on the title to come...
1978 ... the Disco Masterpiece ! A single title, THIS title, was enough for this young singer out of nowhere to simultaneously obtain fame, fortune and a direct ticket to posterity. He signs here quite simply one of the biggest dance hits of all time, just that. CULT !
1979...it's Dance, Dance, Dance, impossible to deny. But a Disco tempo is not enough to make a title a Masterpiece. But where did his brilliant inspiration that he knew on the previous title go...
1979 ... we really wonder if we are dealing with the singer who set fire to every Dancefloor on the planet two years ago. Cruel setback ...
1979 ... this title will save more or less the furniture but narrowly. It will really take a miracle quickly to avoid the outright sinking ...
1980...once again a nice title but whose level is really not enough to reach the highest steps of the podium. Copy to review again...
1980...despite a very limited level of success, the artist continues his adventure quietly but surely. He will still have to ask himself the right questions at some point...
1981...no noticeable improvement on the success side at the start of 1981. The singer's rise was dazzling but the fall behind it was also...
1981... suddenly he tries the title with finesse and lightness just to see if the return to favor could be done in this way. Nice try but bet lost again...
1981 ... he tries to stick to the new standards of the moment but that will not change the situation unfortunately. The novelty train has passed and he pretty much missed it. Frankly shame ...
1982... how to fall into caricature. How did we get to this in such a short time. A real mystery...
1982 ... an irremediable dropout which is accentuated even more with this title. Nothing, and no one, can now prevent the singer's pure and simple disappearance from the French musical landscape ...
1982 ... a career which is now made completely outside the system. A decision to say the least risky and above all completely counterproductive ...
1983 ... a desperate attempt to get back into the race which once again ended in failure. When it doesn't want anymore, it doesn't want anymore ...
1988...ten years after having shattered everything on a planetary level, the loop seems to be closed for the artist. Too bad because it had started so well !
1998 ... we find him 10 years later as a luxury chorister on this Dance title not devoid of interest. But who will also go unnoticed to say the least...
2014...a nice moment when 2 renowned artists who counted a few decades ago decided to push the song together. We definitely want more !
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