Philippe Lafontaine (born 24 May 1955) is a Belgian singer and composer.

Biography

Lafontaine was born in

Gosselies Gosselies ( wa, Gochliye) is a town of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Charleroi, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Located in the north of Charleroi, it was a city and a municipality of its own before the merger of the ...

, Belgium. He spent a short time in a

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college that he left at 17 to pursue a career in music. His first successes came from the writing and recording of jingles for television commercials, including

Stella Artois Stella Artois ( ) is a pilsner beer, first brewed in 1926 by Brouwerij Artois in Leuven, Belgium. In its original form, the beer is 5.2 per cent ABV, the country's standard for pilsners. The beer is also sold in other countries like the UK, Ire ...

and

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. Throughout the 1980s he joined the

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

''Brel en mille temps'', touring in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

and Moscow, and then Leningrad and

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. Lafontaine released three albums. The song " Cœur de loup" was his first big hit and launched his career once and for all in Europe. The song garnered many awards in

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 ...

, France and

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. He represented Belgium in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1990 The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the 35th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Zagreb, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia, following the country's victory at the with the song " Rock Me" by Riva. It was the only time Yugoslavia ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

with his own composition " Macédomienne" dedicated to his Macedonian wife, ending in 12th place. In 2001, he ventured for a 2nd time in musical comedy, composing ''Celia Fee'', a musical for children and adults alike. His lyrics are known for being full of doubles entendres.

Discography

Albums

#''Ou...?'' (1978) #''Pourvu Que Ca Roule'' (1981) #''Charmez'' (1987) #''Affaire (À Suivre)'' (1988) #''Fa Ma No Ni Ma'' (1989) #''Machine À Larmes'' (1992) #''D'ici'' (1994) #''Folklores Imagninaires'' (1996) #''Compilation Attitudes'' (1997) #''Pour Toujours'' (1998) #''Fond De Scene Live'' (1999) #''De L'autre Rive'' (2003)

Singles

# 1978: "Coeur des Loups" (first version – face B ''Et Dire'') # 1980: "Bronzé bronzé" # 1981: "Je ne crie pas, je ne pleure pas" # 1981: "Dis-le moi" # 1987: "Paramour" # 1989: " Cœur de loup" (see 1978 above) # 1989: "Alexis m'attend" # 1990: "FA MA NO NI MA" # 1990: "Macédomienne" # 1992: "L'amant tequila" # 1992: "Machine à larmes" # 1994: "L'hymne à la boule" # 1994: "Venez Venez Zuela" # 1995: "Eiaio" # 1995: "Si..." # 1998: "bi debraye"

References

External links

* (in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lafontaine, Philippe 1955 births Living people Musicians from Charleroi Belgian male singers French-language singers of Belgium Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Belgium Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1990 Belgian pop singers Belgian songwriters Male songwriters