Jean-Louis Murat (born 28 January 1952) is the pseudonym of the French singer/songwriter Jean-Louis Bergheaud. He spent much of his childhood with his grandparents in

Murat-le-Quaire Murat-le-Quaire () is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France. See also *Communes of the Puy-de-Dôme department The following is a list of the 464 Communes of France, communes of the Puy-de-Dôme Departments of ...

from which he got his pseudonym.

Biography

Jean-Louis Bergheaud was born in

Chamalières Chamalières (; Auvergnat: ) is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, central France. With 17,276 inhabitants (2019), Chamalières is the fourth-largest town in the department. It lies adjacent to the west of Clermont ...

, France to a father who was a carpenter and a non-professional musician. Further to his parents' divorce, he spent his whole youth in the isolated farm of his grandparents in

, a village overviewing the thermal city of

La Bourboule La Bourboule (; Auvergnat: ''La Borbola'') is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in central France. Population See also *Communes of the Puy-de-Dôme department The following is a list of the 464 communes of t ...

. From his earliest days, solitary and introverted, Jean-Louis Murat showed he was gifted for music and for many instruments, which will lead him to the local wind section at the age of 7 with his father, then to the conservatory brass class where he will improve his talent for singing too. At the same time at 15, his English teacher let him discover

Soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

and

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

music and he met several

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

artists as

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often ...

T-Bone Walker Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''Roll ...

Memphis Slim John Len Chatman (September 3, 1915 – February 24, 1988), known professionally as Memphis Slim, was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxopho ...

. Thanks to his English teacher, he continued studying against his father's advice. Keen on poetry as well as romantic and upheaval literature amongst others,

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1947). Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the Symbolism (arts), symbolist movement, to the advent o ...

, D.H Lawrence or

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...

, he was the first one of his family to pass the

Baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

. Married at the age of 17, he joined the

University of Clermont-Ferrand The University of Clermont-Ferrand was officially founded in 1896, by merging of two existing faculties (Literature and Sciences) and a medical school. In 1976, due to political issues, the University split between University Clermont-Ferrand I - ...

for a short period of time; he had a son and divorced when he was 19 and left in order to travel and lived by doing odd jobs in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

all by himself, in the style of

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian a ...

. He held a couple of positions between

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and several French tourist spots; he was ski instructor in Avoriaz or a beach attendant in

Saint-Tropez , INSEE = 83119 , postal code = 83990 , image coat of arms = Blason ville fr Saint-Tropez-A (Var).svg , image flag=Flag of Saint-Tropez.svg Saint-Tropez (; oc, Sant Tropetz, ; ) is a commune in the Var department and the region of Provence-Al ...

, and he finally went back to his village in 1977 at the age of 23 and devoted himself to music, that has never left so far.

Difficult beginnings

With some Clermontois' friends from Clermont-Ferrand, he created a

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band called "Clara" with him as lead singer and songwriter. He also played

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

and

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

in the band.

William Sheller William Sheller (born William Desboeuf on 9 July 1946) is a French classical composer and singer-songwriter. A prominent artist of French popular music since the 1970s, William Sheller has the particularity of being one of the few singers of Fren ...

noticed them and invited them to do a couple of his opening acts and then employed them as musicians for a while. The band split and thanks to William Sheller, Jean-Louis Berghaud at the age of 27, in 1981 (under the name of Murat) he recorded a 45 rpm record including 3 songs, called ''Suicidez-vous, Le Peuple est mort'' with Pathé Marconi EMI, with

Jean-Baptiste Mondino Jean-Baptiste Mondino (born Aubervilliers, France on 21 July 1949) is a French fashion photographer and music video director. He has directed music videos for Madonna, David Bowie, Sting, Björk, Don Henley, Neneh Cherry, Axel Bauer and Les Ri ...

's photo as cover of the sleeve; critiques were positive but the sales did not take off. The French radio station ''

Europe 1 Europe 1, formerly known as Europe n° 1, is a privately owned radio station created in 1955. Owned and operated by Lagardère Active, a subsidiary of the Lagardère Group, it is one of the leading radio broadcasting stations in France and its pro ...

'' censored the song since a girl was said to commit suicide because of it. A mini eponymous album followed in 1982 including 6 songs, under the name of Murat and an album in 1984 called ''Passions Pivées'' garnered very low sales (2,000 copies), and after a tour with

Charlélie Couture Charlélie Couture (born Bertrand Charles Elie Couture, 26 February 1956) is a French & American musician and multi-disciplinary artist, who has recorded over 25 albums and 17 film soundtracks, and has held a number of exhibitions of paintings and ...

, his record label withdrew the contract. At the time he was around thirty.

Growing success

In 1985, Jean-Louis Murat did some recording with

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

but none of the discs came out, then the year after, he jumped on the opportunity to record at

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

and in 1988, the 45 rpm record ''Si je devais manquer de toi'' came out. This one met with some success, allowing the singer to start being recognized at last. His success was confirmed the sales of his new album which came out in 1989, called ''Cheyenne Autumn''. It was recorded in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and included other singles which were also successful (L'Ange Déchu; Te Garder Près de Moi). This beginning of fame brought him to be noticed by the

movie industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post pr ...

, so Jean-Louis Murat appeared in 1990 as an actor in a film by

Jacques Doillon Jacques Doillon (; born 15 March 1944) is a French film director. He has a habit of giving lead roles to inexperienced young actresses in his films on family life and women. Some actresses to break through are Fanny Bastien, Sandrine Bonnaire, Ju ...

who offered him a role in ''La vengeance d’une femme'' with

Isabelle Huppert Isabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert (; born 16 March 1953) is a French actress. Described as "one of the best actresses in the world", she is known for her portrayals of cold and disdainful characters devoid of morality. She is the recipient of sev ...

and Béatrice Dalle. But what made him definitely known in the eyes of a wider public is the single "Regrets" (in duet with

Mylène Farmer Mylène Jeanne Gautier (; born 12 September 1961), known professionally as Mylène Farmer (), is a Canadian-born French singer, songwriter, occasional actress, writer, and entrepreneur. Having sold more than 30 million records in France, she is ...

) in 1991 (No. 3 in Top 50 and more than 300,000 copies sold), while he was turning 40. At that same time, his new studio album came out, ''Le Manteau de Pluie''. His titles ''Col de la Croix-Morand'' and ''Sentiment Nouveau'' met with a great success; ''Sentiment nouveau'' entered the top 50 position in the early 1992's. Since then, his albums have regularly been into the French Top 20. Deeply attached to the

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label=Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Auverg ...

where he lives, countryside and nature give him a very personal poetic inspiration. Very prolific, guitar player and singer with a typical tone, Jean-Louis Murat writes, produces and publishes more than one album a year including ''Venus'' in 1993, ''Dolorès'' in 1996, most of his albums are followed by long tours characterized by an interesting musical work, none of the tours looks like the previous one, those give birth to live album as ''Murat Live'' in 1995, ''Live in Dolores'' in 1966 or ''Muragostang'' in 2000. He likes to being surrounded with his family and relatives in order to be helped when he creates and when he moves around. As for movies side, he was on the bill of a film in 1996, ''Mademoiselle personne'', especially with Elodie Bouchez and

Romain Duris Romain Duris (; born 28 May 1974) is a French actor. He is known for his role in Cédric Klapisch's ''Spanish Apartment'' trilogy, which consists of ''L'Auberge Espagnole'' (2002), '' Russian Dolls'' (2005), and ''Chinese Puzzle'' (2013). He also ...

; he is actually behind this full-length feature film (nevertheless whose broadcasting will be limited) presented as a musical movie (produced by Pascal Bailly), whose soundtrack he composed. In March 2013 his album ''Toboggan'' came out and in October 2014, the follow-up album called ''Babel'' came out, recorded with Delano Orchestra band.

Personal life

Interested in

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

, Murat got involved in the Tibetan cause.

Discography

(For peak positions of albums and singles, refer t

Albums

* 1981: ''Suicidez-vous, le peuple est mort !'' * 1982: ''Murat'' * 1984: ''Passions privées'' * 1989: ''Cheyenne autumn'' * 1991: ''Murat en plein air'' * 1991: ''Le Manteau de pluie'' * 1991: ''Murat 82...84'' * 1993: ''Vénus'' * 1994: ''Face Nord'' * 1995: ''Mademoiselle Personne'' * 1995: ''Murat Live'' * 1996: ''Dolorès'' * 1998: ''Live in Dolorès'' * 1999: ''Mustango'' * 2000: ''Muragostang'' * 2001: ''Madame Deshoulières'' (in collaboration with

) * 2002: ''Le Moujik et sa femme'' * 2003: ''Lilith'' * 2004: ''A bird on a poire'' (in collaboration with

Jennifer Charles Jennifer Charles (born Jennifer Asher Zipken; November 15, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, writer, and actor. Along with Oren Bloedow, she co-founded the New York band Elysian Fields. Her work is known for its emotional intensit ...

, and Fred Jimenez) * 2005: ''Moscou'' (Москва) * 2005: ''1829'' * 2006: ''Taormina'' * 2007: ''Charles et Léo'' (poems by

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...

set to music by

Léo Ferré Léo Ferré (24 August 1916 – 14 July 1993) was a French-born Monégasque poet and composer, and a dynamic and controversial live performer, whose career in France dominated the years after the Second World War until his death. He released s ...

) * 2008: ''Tristan'' * 2009: ''Le Cours ordinaire des choses'' * 2011: ''Grand lièvre'' * 2013: ''Toboggan'' * 2014: ''Babel'' (in collaboration with the Delano Orchestra) * 2016: ''Morituri'' * 2017: ''Travaux sur la N89'' * 2018: ''Il francese'' * 2019: ''Innamorato'' * 2020: ''Baby Love'' * 2021: ''La Vraie Vie De Buck John''

EPs

* ''Sentiment nouveau...'' (1991, 5 tracks) * ''Au Mont Sans-Soucis'' (2000 5 tracks) * ''Polly Jean'' (2000 8 tracks) * ''L'au-delà'' (2002 4 tracks) * ''Le Cri du Papillon'' (2003 4 tracks) * ''Mashpotétisés'' (2004 4 tracks) *Live aux PIAS Nites (2015 5 tracks)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murat, Jean-Louis 1952 births Living people French male singers Virgin Records artists