Jack Ledru (1922 – March 2013« Jack Ledru faisait chanter la vie »
''Lanouvellerepublique.fr'', 18 March 2013) was a French song and operetta composer.

Biography

Jack Ledru studied at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

where he won a prize for piano. He began his artistic career by accompanying great singing stars:

Georges Guétary Georges Guétary (), born Lambros Vorloou ( el, Λάμπρος Βορλόου ; February 8, 1915 – September 13, 1997) was a French singer, dancer, cabaret performer and film actor, best known for his role in the 1951 musical ''An American ...

Lucienne Delyle Lucienne Delyle (16 April 1917 – 10 April 1962) was a French singer. After the very famous song ''Mon amant de Saint-Jean'' (my lover from Saint-Jean), in 1942, Lucienne Delyle became one of the most popular French female singers of the ...

Suzy Delair Suzy Delair (born Suzette Pierrette Delaire; December 31, 1917 – March 15, 2020) was a French actress, dancer, singer, comedian and star of vaudeville. Early years Growing up in Montmartre, Delair was the daughter of a father who upholstered ...

Charles Trenet Louis Charles Augustin Georges Trenet (; 18 May 1913 – 19 February 2001) was a renowned French singer-songwriter who composed both the music and the lyrics to nearly a thousand songs over a career that lasted more than 60 years. These include ...

. He wrote instrumental and vocal parts and a

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, ''le Baiser'', created in

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

in 1967. He conducted the orchestras of radio, television and many theaters (Mogador, Chatelet Theatre in Paris and province). He began writing operettas in 1954. For he composed ''Mon P'tit Pote'' which was played more than three years on a row. For the famous entertainer, he would write ''Bidule'' (1959) and ''A toi de jouer'' (1961). In 1962, he addressed the traditional operetta by offering ''Farandole d’amour''. But his two most successful hits were dedicated to the couple

Marcel Merkès Marcel Merkès (7 July 1920 – 30 March 2007) was a French tenor operetta singer. Merkès was born in Bordeaux. After receiving several prizes in singing at the Conservatoire de Bordeaux, he started at the age of 22 years at the Grand Théâtr ...

and , ''Michael Strogoff'' (1964) and ''Vienne chante et danse'' (1967). Most of his career continued essentially in the province: ''C'est pas l'Pérou'' (1976), ''Quadrille Viennois'' where he mingled tunes by

Franz von Suppé Franz von Suppé (né Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo de Suppe) (18 April 181921 May 1895) was an Austrian composer of light operas and other theatre music. He came from the Kingdom of Dalmatia, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now part of Croatia). A c ...

and his own compositions, and ''La peur des coups'' after

Courteline Georges Courteline born Georges Victor Marcel Moinaux (25 June 1858 – 25 June 1929) was a French dramatist and novelist, a satirist notable for his sharp wit and cynical humor. Biography His family moved from Tours in Indre-et-Loire to Pari ...

, played in

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...

in 1977. In collaboration with

Guy Lafarge Guy Lafarge ( Périgueux, 5 May 1904 - Paris, 17 December 1990) was a French composer of operettas and popular songs.Benoît Duteurtre L'opérette en France 1997 - 202029902X Page 153 "Musicien raffiné, entre opérette classique et comédie mu ...

, he composed ''Le Petit Café'' (Mulhouse, 1980) and ''La Cagnotte'' (Lille, 1983), with

Paul Bonneau Paul Bonneau (14 September 1918 – 8 July 1995) was a French conductor, composer and arranger, whose career was mainly in the field of light music and films. Career Born in Moret-sur-Loing in 1918, Paul Bonneau studied music at the Conservat ...

, ''La Parisienne'' (Tours, 1982). Finally, he brought together the music of various composers for the operetta ''Paris Belle Époque''.

Main works

*1954: ''Mon p'tit pote'' *1959: ''Bidule'' *1961: ''A toi de jouer'' *1962: ''Farandole d'Amour'' *1964: ''Michel Strogoff'' *1967: ''Vienne chante et danse'' *1975: '' La Baraka'' *1976: ''C'est pas l'Pérou'' *1977: ''Quadrille viennois'' *1977: ''La Peur des coups'' *1980: ''Le petit café'' *1982: ''La Parisienne'' *1983: ''La Cagnotte'' *1987: ''Paris Belle Époque''

References

External links

Jack Ledru
on data.bnf.fr
Les Petits Santons
on Youtube
Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ledru, Jack French operetta composers Conservatoire de Paris alumni 1922 births 2013 deaths