If you had asked me to name a French celebrity before I moved to France, then Gérard Depardieu or Vanessa Paradis are perhaps the only two, excluding politicians, I could have named.
Certainly not Johnny Hallyday – because I’d never heard of him.
This is the man who is billed as the French equivalent of Elvis – he’s been rocking the French charts for over forty years. His first album was released in 1960, his forty-fourth in 2005, and he’s still going strong.
What’s more – Johnny is still as popular now as he was forty years ago; and his influence on French culture is such that when he recently vocalised his support for right-wing politician and presidential candidate – Nicolas Sarkozy – it made headline news.
In short – this man is bigger than Elvis.
So how is it possible to have never heard of him?
Quite simply: because he generally sings in French; and unfortunately the only way for a French artist to get any airtime in the UK is either to sing in English or to enter the Eurovision Song Contest.
Which if you ask me is a case for the European Court of Human Rights!
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