Joseph Ira Dassin (; 5 November 1938 – 20 August 1980) was an American–French singer-songwriter and actor. He was the son of film director

Jules Dassin Julius "Jules" Dassin (December 18, 1911 – March 31, 2008) was an American film and theatre director, producer, writer and actor. A subject of the Hollywood blacklist in the McCarthy era, he subsequently moved to France, and later Greece, whe ...

Early life

Dassin was born in New York City to American film director

(1911–2008) and Béatrice Launer (1913–1994), a New York-born violinist, who after graduating from a Hebrew High School in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

studied with the British violinist Harold Berkely at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

of Music. His father was of

Ukrainian-Jewish The history of the Jews in Ukraine dates back over a thousand years; Jewish communities have existed in the territory of Ukraine from the time of the Kievan Rus' (late 9th to mid-13th century). Some of the most important Jewish religious and ...

and Polish-Jewish extraction, his maternal grandfather was an Austrian-Jewish immigrant, who arrived in New York with his family at age 11. Dassin lived in New York City and Los Angeles until his father fell victim to the

Hollywood blacklist The Hollywood blacklist was an entertainment industry blacklist, broader than just Hollywood, put in effect in the mid-20th century in the United States during the early years of the Cold War. The blacklist involved the practice of denying empl ...

in 1950, at which time his family moved to Europe. Between the ages of ten and fifteen Dassin changed schools eleven times. He studied at, among other places, the

International School of Geneva The International School of Geneva (in French: ''Ecole Internationale de Genève''), also known as "Ecolint" or "The International School", is a private, non-profit international school based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1924 in the servic ...

and the

Institut Le Rosey Institut Le Rosey (), commonly referred to as Le Rosey or simply Rosey, is a private boarding school in Rolle, Switzerland. Founded in 1880 by Paul-Émile Carnal on the site of the 14th-century Château du Rosey in the town of Rolle in the can ...

in Switzerland, and finished his secondary education in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

. Dassin moved back to the United States, where he attended the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in Ann Arbor, Michigan from 1957 to 1963, winning an undergraduate

Hopwood Award The Hopwood Awards are a major scholarship program at the University of Michigan, founded by Avery Hopwood. Under the terms of the will of Avery Hopwood, a prominent American dramatist and member of the class of 1905 of the University of Michigan, ...

for fiction in 1958 and earning a Bachelor of Arts in 1961 and a Master of Arts in 1963, both in

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

Career

Moving to France, Dassin worked as a technician for his father and appeared as an actor in supporting roles, among others in three movies directed by his father, including '' Topkapi'' (1964) in which he played the role of Josef. On 26 December 1964, Dassin signed 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 ...

, making him the first French-language singer to be signed with an American record label. By the early 1970s, Dassin's songs were at the top of the charts in France, and he became immensely popular there. He recorded songs in German, Spanish, Italian, and Greek, as well as French and English. Amongst his most popular songs are " Les Champs-Élysées" (Originally "Waterloo Road") (1969), "

Salut les amoureux "City of New Orleans" is a country music, country folk song written by Steve Goodman (and first recorded for Goodman's Steve Goodman (album), self-titled 1971 album), describing a train ride from Chicago to New Orleans on the Illinois Central Rai ...

" (originally "

City of New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

L'Été indien "L'Été indien" (French for "Indian summer") is a 1975 single by American/French singer named Joe Dassin. . In the song he reflects with fond memories of his lover, who he met during an indian summer, but with whom he has now lost contact. Back ...

" (1975), " Et si tu n'existais pas" (1975), and "À toi" (1976).

Cinema

Joe Dassin appeared in the following movies: * 1957: Benos in ''

He Who Must Die ''He Who Must Die'' (french: Celui qui doit mourir) is a 1957 French-Italian film directed by Jules Dassin. It is based on the novel ''Christ Recrucified'' (also published as ''The Greek Passion'') by Nikos Kazantzakis. It was entered into the 1 ...

'', by

* 1958: Nico in '' The Law'', by Jules Dassin * 1964: Joseph in '' Topkapi'', by Jules Dassin * 1965: A police inspector in '' Lady L'', by Peter Ustinov * 1965: Janos Adler in '' Nick Carter and Red Club'', by Jean-Paul Savignac

Personal life

Dassin married Maryse Massiéra in Paris on 18 January 1966. Their son Joshua was born two and a half months early on 12 September 1973, and died five days later. Overcome by grief, Joe became deeply depressed. Despite all their efforts, their marriage did not survive. In 1977, one year after their move to their newly built home in

Feucherolles Feucherolles () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. Twin towns Along with Crespières, Chavenay and Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche Feucherolles is twinned with Rösrath, Germany. See also *Communes of ...

, just outside Paris, they divorced. On 14 January 1978, Dassin married Christine Delvaux in

Cotignac Cotignac (; oc, Cotinhac) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Geography Climate Cotignac has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification ''Csa''). The av ...

. Their first son, Jonathan, was born on 14 September 1978; and their second son, Julien, arrived on 22 March 1980. Christine died in December 1995.

Death

Dassin died from a heart attack during a vacation to

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...

on 20 August 1980. He was eating lunch with family and friends at the restaurant ''Chez Michel et Éliane'' in Papeete when he suddenly slumped in his chair, unconscious. A doctor who was also eating at the restaurant gave Dassin a

heart massage Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore sponta ...

, but Dassin died at the restaurant. The only ambulance in Papeete was unavailable at the time and took 40 minutes to arrive. His body is interred in the Beth Olam section of

Hollywood Forever Cemetery Hollywood Forever Cemetery is a full-service cemetery, funeral home, crematory, and cultural events center which regularly hosts community events such as live music and summer movie screenings. It is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angel ...

in Hollywood, California.

Tributes

In 2020, many established artists paid tribute to Joe Dassin songs in a covers / tribute album ''À toi, Joe Dassin''. The album peaked at No. 44 in the French SNEP Albums chart. It also charted in Belgium peaking at No. 26 in the country's

Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organization ...

albums francophone chart and also peaking at No. 4 in the '' Swiss Hitparade'' Albums chart.Lescharts.com: Various Artists: ''À toi, Joe Dassin''
/ref> Artists interpreting Joe Dassin songs on the album included

Ycare Assane Attyé ( ar, حسن عطية) better known by his stage name Ycare or (born 21 September 1983) is a French singer songwriter who was first known as a contestant in ''Nouvelle Star'' before launching a solo career releasing four studio alb ...

, Axelle Red,

Les Frangines Les Frangines (meaning literally “The Sisters” in colloquial French) are a French musical duo composed of female singers and guitarists Anne Coste and Jacinthe Madelin. Their sound can be described as acoustic music, acoustic pop-folk. Backg ...

, Trois Cafés Gourmands,

Patrick Fiori Patrick Fiori (; born Patrick Jean-François Chouchayan, 23 September 1969) is a French singer of Armenian descent. Biography Beginnings Fiori was born to a Armenians in France, French-Armenian father (Jacques Chouchayan) and a Corsican people, ...

, Lola Dubini,

Jérémy Frerot Jérémy is a French masculine given name. It is a spelling variant of Jérémie, itself the French variant of the biblical name Jeremiah. Its cognate in English is Jeremy. People with the given name Jérémy include: * Jérémy Abadie (bo ...

, Tibz, Aldebert,

Kids United Nouvelle Génération Kids United was a French singing group between 2015 and 2021 that consisted of six, later five, children born between 2000 and 2009. It was created to support UNICEF campaigns and is sponsored by Hélène Ségara and Corneille , two Francophon ...

Carla Carla is the feminized version of Carl, Carlos or Charles, from ''ceorl'' in Old English, which means "free man". Notable people with the name include: * Carla, French singer and former member of the children's music group Kids United * Carla Abe ...

, Jonathan Dassin,

Madame Monsieur Madame Monsieur is a French duo consisting of vocalist Émilie Satt and producer Jean-Karl Lucas. They represented France at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal with the song "Mercy", finishing in 13th place in the grand final. ...

, Julien Dassin,

La Deryves 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 8 ( ...

, 21 Juin Le Duo, and

Camélia Jordana Camélia Jordana Aliouane (born 15 September 1992) is a French-Algerian pop singer. She rose to fame after participating in the television show ''Nouvelle Star'', the French version of ''Pop Idol'', in 2009, where she came in third. Life and ca ...

Discography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dassin, Joe 1938 births 1980 deaths American folk guitarists American male guitarists American pop guitarists American people of Austrian-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent American people of Polish-Jewish descent American male singer-songwriters American expatriates in Switzerland American emigrants to France French-language singers of the United States Jewish American musicians Jewish singers Singers from New York City University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni CBS Records artists Columbia Records artists RCA Records artists Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery 20th-century American singers 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from New York City 20th-century American male singers Hopwood Award winners Deaths in Tahiti International School of Geneva alumni Singer-songwriters from New York (state)