Jean-Luc Potaux (born Richard-Jacques Bonay on 16 February 1950), known as Joël Prévost, is a French singer, best known for his participation in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1978 The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Paris, France, following the country's victory at the with the song " L'Oiseau et l'Enfant" by Marie Myriam. Organised by the Europea ...

. Born in the

Languedoc-Roussillon Languedoc-Roussillon (; oc, Lengadòc-Rosselhon ; ca, Llenguadoc-Rosselló) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania. It comprised five departments, and b ...

region of southern France, Prévost was adopted soon after birth by a family from northern France who changed his name, and grew up at

Trith-Saint-Léger Trith-Saint-Léger is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic. The co ...

, close to the border with

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. In 1963, at the age of 13, he won a singing competition organised by the regional newspaper '' La Voix du Nord''. He moved to Paris in 1970 and starred in the musical " Hair" together with

Gérard Lenorman Gérard Lenorman (born 9 February 1945) is a French singer-songwriter. Lenorman was born at the Château de Bénouville, Calvados (Normandy) when it was a maternity hospital. He is the son of Madeleine Lenormand and an unknown German soldier. ...

. In 1972, he signed a contract with

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company * CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990 * CBS Records (2006), founde ...

, releasing a string of singles and touring over the next few years with artists such as Serge Gainsbourg,

Mike Brant Mike Brant (born Moshe Michael Brand, he, משה מיכאל ברנד, 1 February 1947 – 25 April 1975) was an Israeli singer and songwriter who achieved fame after moving to France. His most successful hit was "Laisse-moi t'aimer" ("Let Me Lov ...

Michèle Torr Michèle Torr (born Michelle Cléberte Tort 7 April 1947) is a French singer and author, best known in non-Francophone countries for her participation in the Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg in 1966 and for Monaco in 1977. Early career ...

and

Serge Lama Serge Lama (born Serge Claude Bernard Chauvier on 11 February 1943 in Bordeaux) is a French singer and songwriter. His most famous song is '' Je suis malade'', written with Alice Dona Alice Donadel, stagename Alice Dona (Maisons-Alfort, 17 F ...

. In 1977, Prévost entered the French Eurovision selection with the song "", but failed to progress from the semi-final. The following year, his song "" ("There Will Always Be Violins") was chosen as the French representative for the 23rd Eurovision Song Contest. Strangely, the song only finished second in the French semi-final before emerging the clear winner in the final. As a result of

Marie Myriam Marie Myriam (born Myriam Lopes, 8 May 1957, Luluabourg, Belgian Congo, (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) is a French singer of Portuguese descent. Career Representing France, she won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1977 with '' L'oise ...

's victory for France the previous year, the 1978 Eurovision was held in Paris, on 22 April. "" finished the evening in third place out of 20 entries, despite being a very traditional, old-style ballad with no concession to the musical trends of the late 1970s. Prévost remains active, having played residencies at the

Paris Olympia The Olympia (; commonly known as L'Olympia or in the English-speaking world as Olympia Hall) is a concert venue in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France, located at 28 Boulevard des Capucines, equally distancing Madeleine church and Opéra ...

, Alhambra and toured extensively for several years throughout Africa.

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Prevost, Joel 1950 births Living people People from Narbonne French male singers Eurovision Song Contest entrants for France Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1978