Louis Charles Augustin Georges Trenet (; 18 May 1913 – 19 February 2001)
was a renowned French singer-songwriter who composed both the music and the lyrics for nearly 1,000 songs over a career that lasted more than 60 years. These songs include "''
Boum!''" (1938), "''
La Mer''" (1946) and "''Nationale 7''" (1955). Trenet is also noted for his work with musicians
Michel Emer and
Léo Chauliac, with whom he recorded "''Y'a d'la joie''" (1938) for the first and "''La Romance de Paris''" (1941) and "''Douce France''" (1947) for the latter. He was awarded an
Honorary Molière Award in 2000.
Early life
Trenet was born in Avenue Charles Trenet,
Narbonne
Narbonne ( , , ; ; ; Late Latin:) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and was ...
,
Occitanie, France,
the son of Françoise Louise Constance (Caussat) and Lucien Etienne Paul Trenet. When he was age 7, his parents divorced, and he was sent to boarding school in
Béziers
Béziers (; ) is a city in southern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. Every August Béziers ho ...
, but he returned home just a few months later, suffering from
typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often th ...
. It was during his convalescence at home that he developed his artistic talents, such as performing music, painting and sculpting. His mother remarried, and he lived with her and his stepfather, the writer
Benno Vigny.
In 1922, Trenet moved to
Perpignan
Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...
, this time as a day pupil.
André Fons-Godail, the "Catalan Renoir" and a friend of the family, took him for excursions with painting. His poetry is said to have the painter's eye for detail and colour.
[Sleeve notes of CD of Trenet's hits ''The Extraordinary Garden''] Many of his songs refer to his surroundings such as places near Narbonne, the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean coast.
He passed his ''
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 ...
'' with high marks in 1927. After leaving school, he left for
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, where he studied art, and later, he also briefly studied at art schools in France.
When Trenet first arrived in Paris in the 1930s, he worked in a movie studio as a props handler and assistant, and later joined the artists in the
Montparnasse
Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. It is split betwee ...
neighbourhood. His admiration of the surrealist poet and Catholic mystic
Max Jacob (1876–1944) and his love of
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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
were two factors that influenced Trenet's songs.
Before World War II
From 1933 to 1936, he worked with the Swiss pianist Johnny Hess as a duo known as Charles and Johnny. They performed at various Parisian venues, such as Le Fiacre, La Villa d'Este, the Européen and the Alhambra. They recorded 18 discs for Pathé, the most successful of which was "Quand les beaux jours seront là /Sur le Yang-Tsé-Kiang". The Charles and Johnny records feature Hess on piano, with the two frequently singing in two-part harmonies with quickly alternating solo spots for the two. Around 1935, the duo appeared regularly on the radio on a broadcast titled ''Quart d'heure des enfants terribles''.
The duo continued until 1936 when Trenet was called up for
national service
National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...
. After performing this, he received the nickname that he would retain all his life: "Le Fou chantant" (The Singing Madman). He began his solo career in 1937, recording for
Columbia, his first disc being "Je chante/Fleur bleue". The exuberant "Je chante" gave rise to the notion of Trenet as a "singing vagabond", a theme that appeared in a number of his early songs and films. He shot to stardom very quickly; as
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...
put it, when Trenet sang, "He was so young, so fresh that the bar yielded to a rustic decor, the projectors became the stiff branches of a cherry tree, the microphone a hollyhock, the piano a cow."
World War II
At the start of World War II, Trenet was called up. He was in barracks at
Salon-de-Provence
Salon-de-Provence (, ; or , ), commonly known as Salon, is a commune located about northwest of Marseille in the Bouches-du-Rhône department (Metropolis of Aix-Marseille Provence), region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southern France. It ...
until he was demobilized in June 1940, when he moved back to Paris. There he performed at the
Folies Bergère or at the
Gaîté Parisienne
''Gaîté Parisienne'' () is a 1938 ballet choreographed by Léonide Massine (1896–1979) to music by Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880) arranged and orchestrated many decades later by Manuel Rosenthal (1904–2003) in collaboration with Jacques B ...
(two famous cabarets) in front of a public often consisting of German officers and soldiers. The collaborationist press tried to compromise him by claiming that "Trenet" was an anagram of his real, supposedly Jewish name, "Netter". However, Trenet was able to show his family tree to the authorities, thus proving that he was not Jewish at all.
Like many other artistes of the time, he chose to entertain the occupying forces rather than sacrifice his career. He agreed, when asked by the Germans, to sing for French
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
in Germany.
During the ''
Épuration légale'' ("legal purge"), the wave of official trials that followed the
Liberation of France and the fall of the
Vichy Regime
Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against ...
, a court examined whether Trenet was guilty of
collaboration
Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. The ...
. The inquiry resulted in a reprimand, without any other consequences.
After World War II
After the end of hostilities, he moved to the United States where he lived for a few years and where he quickly became a success. After a few concerts at the Bagdad in New York City, Trenet became a big hit and was approached by Hollywood. He met
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
and began a long-lasting friendship with
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...
.
On 14 September 1951, Trenet returned to Paris and made a comeback at the Théâtre de l'Étoile. He incorporated 10 new songs into his act, including "De la fenêtre d'en haut" and "La Folle Complainte". In 1954, he performed at the
Olympia music-hall in Paris for the first time. The following year, he wrote the famous "
Route nationale 7", a tribute to the introduction of paid holidays.
In 1958, Trenet was the headlining act at the Bobino and the Alhambra. In 1960, he returned to the Théâtre de l'Étoile, appearing on stage for the first time without the famous
trilby
A trilby is a narrow-brimmed type of hat. The trilby was once viewed as the rich man's favored hat; it is sometimes called the "brown trilby" in UK, BritainBernhard Roetzel, Roetzel, Bernhard (1999). ''Gentleman's Guide to Grooming and Style''. B ...
hat that long had been part of his act.
In 1963, Trenet spent 28 days in prison in
Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...
. He was charged with corrupting the morals of four young men under the age of 21 (they were 19). His chauffeur claimed that Trenet was using him as a pimp. The charges eventually were dropped, but the affair brought to public light the fact that Trenet was homosexual. He was never particularly public about the episode and spoke of it rarely. In his authorized biography of Maurice Chevalier, author David Bret claims that Chevalier and
Mistinguett
Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois (5 April 1873 – 5 January 1956), known professionally as Mistinguett (), was a French actress and singer. She was at one time the highest-paid female entertainer in the world.
Early life
The daughter of Antoine Bo ...
were the ones who first "shopped" Trenet to the police for consorting with underage boys, around 1940. Trenet never learned of their actions.
1970s

In 1970, Trenet flew to Japan to represent France at the Universal Exhibition in Osaka. The following year, he left Columbia, his longtime record label, and recorded "Fidèle" and "Il y avait des arbres." He also made a memorable appearance at the Olympia.
In 1973, Trenet, who had just celebrated his 60th birthday, recorded the album, ''Chansons en liberté''. The 12 songs on this album were a mix of old and new compositions. His 60th birthday was celebrated in grand style by the French media.
Trenet made a surprise announcement in 1975, declaring that he was retiring from the music world. At the end of his final concert at the Olympia, he bade his audience an emotional farewell. Following the death of his mother in 1979, he shut himself away from the world for the next two years.
Later career and death
Nevertheless, in 1981, Trenet made a comeback with an album devoted to sentimental memories of his childhood. Trenet then returned to his peaceful semi-retirement in Occitanie, occasionally reappearing for a special gala performance in France or abroad. After giving farewell concerts in France, Trenet was persuaded out of retirement by French-Canadian lawyer
Gilbert Rozon in 1983 for a farewell concert in Montreal. Rozon became Trenet's manager thereafter, and as a result, Trenet performed many more concerts, including a series every night for three weeks at the
Palais des Congrès in Paris in 1986.
On 21 May 1999, he returned to the music scene with his album ''Les poètes descendent dans la rue'' (''Poets Take to the Streets''). Following the release of the album, Trenet returned to the live circuit.
In April 2000, Trenet was rushed to hospital after suffering a stroke. The singer was forced to spend several weeks in the hospital while recovering. By the autumn of that year, he was well enough to attend the dress rehearsal of
Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour ( ; ; ; born Shahnur Vaghinak Aznavourian; 22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018) was a Armenians in France, French singer and songwriter of Armenian descent. Aznavour was known for his distinctive vibrato tenor voice: clear and ringi ...
's show at the Palais des Congrès on 25 October. It was his final public appearance.
In November 2000, the Narbonne house in which Trenet was born – which had become 13 Avenue Charles Trenet – was turned into a small museum. Visitors were able to view souvenirs from Trenet's childhood and family life (especially those belonging to his mother, who had spent most of her life in the house) as well as original drafts of the songs that made his career.
Trenet died three months later on 19 February 2001 after suffering another stroke.
In 2017, a service centre on the
A9 autoroute between Narbonne and Béziers was renamed in his honour. It contains an exhibition evoking his life and work, and sculptures by Pascale and Thierry Delorme.
Songs and legacy
Trenet's best-known songs include "
Boum!", "''
La Mer''", "''Y'a d'la joie''", "''
Que reste-t-il de nos amours?''", "''Ménilmontant''" and "''Douce France''". His catalogue of songs is enormous, numbering close to 1,000.
Some of his songs had unconventional subject matter, with whimsical imagery bordering on the surreal. "''Y'a d'la joie''" evokes joy through a series of disconnected images, including that of a subway car shooting out of its tunnel into the air, the
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889.
Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...
crossing the street, and a baker making excellent bread. The lovers engaged in a
minuet
A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually written in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''.
The term also describes the musical form tha ...
in "''Polka du Roi''" reveal themselves at length to be "no longer human": they are made of wax and trapped in the
Musée Grévin
The ' (; ) () is a wax museum located on the Grands Boulevards in the 9th arrondissement of Paris on the right bank of the Seine. The also has a location in Seoul. opened in 2013, and closed in 2021.
History
The museum was founded in 1882 by ...
. Many of his hits from the 1930s and 1940s effectively combine the melodic and verbal nuances of French song with American swing rhythms.
His song "''La Mer''", which according to legend he composed with
Léo Chauliac on a train in 1943, was recorded in 1946. Trenet explained in an interview that he was told that "''La Mer''" was not swing enough to be a hit, and for this reason, it sat in a drawer for three years before it was recorded.
[, at 1:33.]
"''La Mer''" is Trenet's best-known work outside the French-speaking world, with more than 400 recorded versions. The tune, given unrelated English words and the title "
Beyond the Sea" (or sometimes "Sailing"), was a hit for
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Cassotto; May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor who performed Pop music, pop, Swing music, swing, Folk music, folk, rock and roll, and country music.
Darin started ...
in the early 1960s, and
George Benson
George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American jazz fusion guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist.
A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the ...
in the mid-1980s. "Beyond the Sea" was used in the ending credits of ''
Finding Nemo
''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by Andrew Stanton, co-directed by Lee Unkrich, and produced by Graham Walters, from ...
''.
Besides "''La Mer''", the other Trenet song to receive numerous recordings in English is "''Que reste-t-il de nos amours?''", which lyricist Albert Beach adapted as "I Wish You Love". "I Wish You Love" was first recorded by
Keely Smith
Dorothy Jacqueline Keely (March 9, 1928The reference work ''The Encyclopedia of Native Music: More Than a Century of Recordings from Wax Cylinder to the Internet'' gives Smith's date of birth as March 9, 1932. – December 16, 2017), professio ...
in 1957, and since then, by artists that include
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
,
Blossom Dearie,
Sam Cooke
Samuel Cooke (; January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964) was an American singer and songwriter. Considered one of the most influential soul music, soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the "King of Soul" for his distin ...
, and
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), better known by her stage name Dusty Springfield, was a British singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano voice, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, Pop mus ...
.
"''Formidable''", another of Trenet's songs, was written as impressions of a trip to the U.S. Other Trenet songs were recorded by French singers such as
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier (; 12 September 1888 – 1 January 1972) was a French singer, actor, and entertainer. He is best known for his signature songs, including " Livin' In The Sunlight", " Valentine", " Louise", " Mimi", and " Thank Heaven f ...
,
Jean Sablon and
Fréhel.
Honors and awards
*

Commander of the
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...
(1982)
*

Officer of the
Ordre des Palmes académiques
A suite, in Western classical music, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes; and grew in scope so that by the early 17th century it comprised up to ...
(1989)
*

Commander of the
Ordre national du Mérite
The (; ) is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's establishment was twofold: to replace the large number of ...
(1995)
*
Commander of the Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...
(1998)
Discography
Some of Charles Trenet's best-known songs include:
* 1933: "L'école buissonnière" (music co-written with Johnny Hess)
* 1936: "Vous oubliez votre cheval"
* 1937: "Je chante"
* 1937: "Fleur bleue"
* 1937: "J'ai ta main"
* 1937: "Vous qui passez sans me voir" (music co-written with Johnny Hess)
* 1937: "Y a d'la joie"
* 1938: "
Boum!"
* 1938: "J'ai connu de vous"
* 1938: "Ménilmontant"
* 1938: "La polka du roi"
* 1939: "Il pleut dans ma chambre"
* 1939: "Mam'zelle Clio"
* 1941: "Swing troubadour"
* 1941: "Un rien me fait chanter" (music co-written with
Léo Chauliac)
* 1942: "
Que reste-t-il de nos amours?" (music co-written with
Léo Chauliac)
* 1943: "Douce France" (music co-written with
Léo Chauliac)
* 1945: "La folle complainte"
* 1945: "
La mer"
* 1947: "Revoir Paris"
* 1948: "France-Dimanche"
* 1948: "Grand-maman, c'est New York"
* 1949: "Mes jeunes années"
* 1951: "L'ame des poetes" (performed with Son Quartette Ondioline)
* 1951: "Le serpent python"
* 1954: "Coin de rue"
* 1955: "La java du diable"
* 1955: "Moi j'aime le music-hall"
* 1955: "Route Nationale 7"
* 1957: "Le jardin extraordinaire"
* 1961: "Kangourou"
* 1963: "La famille musicienne"
* 1969: "Il y avait des arbres"
* 1970: "Au bal de la nuit"
* 1970: "L'oiseau des vacances"
* 1970: "Le revenant"
* 1971: "Fidele"
* 1974: "Joue-Moi De L'Electrophone"
* 1999: "Les Poètes descendent dans la rue"
References
External links
*
*
*
*
Fond In mémory of Charles TrenetLe portail des amis de Charles TrenetIn French. Provides a complete biography and discography.
Radio France InternationaleIn French. Biography and discography.
Google Music: Charles TrenetCharles Trenet's 100th Birthday– Google Doodle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trenet, Charles
1913 births
2001 deaths
French male singer-songwriters
French pop singers
Pathé-Marconi artists
Capitol Records artists
French collaborators with Nazi Germany
People from Narbonne
French gay musicians
French LGBTQ singer-songwriters
Gay singer-songwriters
20th-century French male singers
20th-century French LGBTQ people
21st-century French LGBTQ people
French military personnel of World War II
Musicians from Val-de-Marne