Ferre Grignard (13 March 1939 – 8 August 1982) was a Belgian

skiffle Skiffle is a genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a form in the United State ...

-singer from Antwerp, Belgium. He had success with a number of songs, such as "

Ring Ring, I've Got To Sing "Ring, Ring I've Got to Sing" is a 1966 protest song composed and performed by Ferre Grignard. It became an international hit. The song criticizes racism and war through an African-American who doesn't want to fight for his country, because of the ...

", "Yama, Yama, Hey", and "My Crucified Jesus".

Biography

Ferre Grignard was born in Antwerp in 1939. He learned to play the harmonica and guitar when he was young. At the end of the 1950s, he went to a Antwerp art academy where he formed a skiffle group. He was unsuccessful as a painter, but he could play the guitar and sing the blues and his performances in "De Muze", an Antwerp jazz café, made him well known in the Antwerp artists' world. He went to the United States for a time but was expelled for being an anarchist. The young generation accepted him as the first Belgian protest singer, because of his hippie-like appearance and the content of his songs. In 1965 he performed at the first "Jazz-festival" at Bilzen. He was discovered by Hans Kusters (who owned the record company HKM). His first single "

Ring Ring, I've Got to Sing "Ring, Ring I've Got to Sing" is a 1966 protest song composed and performed by Ferre Grignard. It became an international hit. The song criticizes racism and war through an African-American who doesn't want to fight for his country, because of the ...

" was released and charted in Belgium and the Netherlands. Other songs such as "Yama, Yama, Hey", "

Drunken Sailor "Drunken Sailor", also known as "What Shall We Do with a/the Drunken Sailor?" or "Up She Rises", is a traditional sea shanty, listed as No. 322 in the Roud Folk Song Index. It was sung onboard sailing ships at least as early as the 1830s, and ...

", "My Crucified Jesus" also charted with their mixture of

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

and blues. At the height of his career he performed 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 ...

. The Belgian artist

George Smits George Smits (Antwerp, 1944–1997), aka 'Toet', was a Belgian visual artist, comics artist, radio presenter, experimental musician and inventor of experimental musical instruments. Biography In the sixties, he was a member of the band of Ferre Gr ...

was a member of Ferre Grignard's band around that time. After the ensuing international success, things started to go wrong. He went to live in a mansion, where he made music, painted and partied with the 20 friends who lived with him. He also refused to fill in his tax-forms, so he was order to pay the taxes and large part of the royalties from his music went directly to taxes. He neglected his career and was soon forgotten by his fans. A comeback in the 1970s failed. He died in Antwerp of throat cancer in 1982. At that time he was living in an attic without heating, surrounded by empty bottles. Grignard was buried at the Schoonselhof cemetery, among many of Antwerp's most important citizens.

Discography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grignard, Ferre 1939 births 1982 deaths 20th-century Belgian male singers Belgian folk singers Belgian male guitarists Belgian painters Deaths from cancer in Belgium Deaths from throat cancer Musicians from Antwerp Skiffle musicians English-language singers from Belgium 20th-century guitarists