Florent Pagny (born 6 November 1961) is a French singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He records his work in French, as well as in Italian, Spanish and English. His greatest hits include " N'importe quoi", "

Savoir aimer "Savoir aimer" is a 1997 song recorded by the French singer Florent Pagny. It was the first single from his album of the same name, on which it features as first track, and his 14th single overall. Released in October 1997, it was a smash succes ...

" and " Ma Liberté de penser"—all three were number one in France. As of 2018, he has sold more than 6 million singles and 10 million albums, becoming the 17th best-selling artist of all time in France.

Early years

Florent Pagny began his artistic career as an actor in popular films and television dramas. He appeared in ''

La Balance LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

'', ''

L'As des as ''L'as des as'' (''The Ace of Aces''; alternate English title: ''The Super Ace'') is a 1982 French-German action comedy film starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and directed by Gérard Oury. ''The Ace of Aces'' was a huge public success, reaching five ...

'', and ''

A Captain's Honor ''A Captain's Honor'' (french: L'Honneur d'un capitaine) is a 1982 French war film directed by Pierre Schoendoerffer. Plot A courtroom-drama about a dead Captain whose memory is publicly accused by a historian on TV, twenty years after his death. ...

'' or ''

Fort Saganne ''Fort Saganne'' is a 1984 French war film directed by Alain Corneau and starring Gérard Depardieu, Philippe Noiret, Catherine Deneuve, and Sophie Marceau. Based on the 1980 novel of the same name by Louis Gardel, the film is about a soldier of ...

''. In 1987, he wrote his first song titled " N'importe quoi". Pagny's first album, ''Merci'', was released in 1990. The album's songs, mainly written by himself, began to attract controversy, with the press eventually boycotting some of them. This led to a decline in sales, culminating in personal problems. His follow-up album, ''Réaliste'', was also not as successful.

Jean-Jacques Goldman Jean-Jacques Goldman (; born 11 October 1951) is a French singer-songwriter and music record producer. He is hugely popular in the French-speaking world. Since the death of Johnny Hallyday in 2017 he has been the highest grossing living French p ...

wrote three songs for Pagny under the pseudonym Sam Brewski, and presented to him a new staff. The album ''Rester vrai'' marked the beginning of his career as a performer only. ''Bienvenue chez moi'', a semi-compilation released in 1995, was a smash success. Pagny also covered "Caruso", the hit originally performed by

Lucio Dalla Lucio Dalla (; 4 March 1943 – 1 March 2012) was an Italian singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He also played clarinet and keyboards. Dalla was the composer of " Caruso" (1986), a song dedicated to Italian opera tenor Enrico Caruso, and ...

Pagny as a performer

He decided to move to Argentinian

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...

to flee the French tax authorities and to start a new life with his wife, Azucena, and their children. Recently, Pagny said he had enrolled his children in Miami because he didn't want them to speak Arabic while returning from school. His next album, ''Savoir aimer'', was released in 1997. It was composed by a number of writers, including

Erick Benzi Erick Benzi (born 1 March 1959) is a French musician, songwriter, composer, and record producer from Marseille. He was previously part of the duo Die Form, with Gildas Arzel, and the group Canada (with Arzel, Jacques Veneruso, and Gwenn Arzel) ...

, Jacques Veneruso,

Zazie Isabelle Marie Anne de Truchis de Varennes (born 18 April 1964), better known by her stage name Zazie, is a French singer-songwriter and former fashion model. Her greatest hits include "Je suis un homme", "À ma place" and "Speed". She co-produce ...

and,

Pascal Obispo Pascal Michel Obispo (; born 8 January 1965) is a French singer-songwriter. Biography Pascal Obispo, son of Max Obispo (a former Bordeaux Girondins football player of Basque origin) and Nicole Guérin (originally from Angers), was born on 8 J ...

, who also produced the album. "

" turned out to be an immediate success. In 1999, Pagny released an album of cover versions of his old song, ''Recréation''. From "Môme Julie" to "Antisocial", he mixed musical styles and dabbled with

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

arrangements. Pagny then alternated studios and cover albums (at least in part) and regularly changed his look. In 2000, he released the album ''Châtelet Les Halles'', whose title song was produced by

Calogero Calogero (from the el, καλόγερος, kalógeros, a familiar term for a monk) is common given name and family name, and a place name of Italian origin. Variants *(Masculine): Calocero **(Hypocoristic): Calò, Gero, Gerino *Feminine: Ca ...

. He followed that with ''2'', an album composed of duets released in 2001. In 2003, he returned with ''Ailleurs land'', whose first single, " Ma Liberté de penser", was composed by Pascal Obispo and Lionel Florence and deals with Pagny's problems with the French

treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

. Finally, in 2004, Pagny released ''Baryton'', an album composed of opera songs. In 2007, Pagny released an album of covers of songs originally composed and performed by

Jacques Brel Jacques Romain Georges Brel (, ; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, l ...

entitled ''Pagny chante Brel''.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilations

Singles

*Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts.

Filmography

Awards

* Victoires de la Musique Male artist of the year (1998)

References

External links

*
Official website
*
Biography of Florent Pagny
from

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of France. With 37.2 million listeners in 2014, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world, along with ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pagny, Florent Living people People from Chalon-sur-Saône French male film actors French male television actors French-language singers French pop singers French singer-songwriters 1961 births