Léo Ferré
Biography
LĂ©o FerrĂ© (24 August 1916 â 14 July 1993) was a French-born MonĂ©gasque poet and composer, and a dynamic and controversial live performer, whose career in France dominated the years after the Second World War until his death. He released some forty albums over this period, composing the music and the majority of the lyrics. He released many hit singles, particularly between 1960 and the mid-seventies. Some of his songs have become classics of the French chanson repertoire, including "Avec le temps", "C'est extra", "Jolie MĂŽme" and "Paris canaille". Son of Joseph FerrĂ©, French staff manager at Monte-Carlo Casino, and Marie Scotto, a MonĂ©gasque dressmaker of Italian descent from Piedmont, he had a sister, Lucienne, two years older. LĂ©o FerrĂ© had an early interest in music. At the age of seven, he joined the choir of the Monaco Cathedral and discovered polyphony through singing pieces by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and TomĂĄs Luis de Victoria. His uncle, former violinist a...
