André Claveau

A romantic performer, André Claveau began his career in 1936 and won the 1958 Eurovision Song Contest with "Dors, mon amour", among other hits. Born in Paris on December 29, 1911, he started out as a cabinetmaker, working as an apprentice before studying at the École Boulle. After designing theater sets and show posters, he was drawn to singing, and in 1936 won the amateur radio competition Premières chances organized by Le Poste Parisien, with the song "Chez moi". With his pianist and composer Alec Siniavine, he performed in Paris music halls such as Théâtre Mogador (1939), Concert Pacra (1940) and L'Européen (1941), where his baritone voice worked wonders. Hosting a program on Radio Paris during the Occupation, he was banned from the airwaves for two years, before establishing himself as the romantic singer of the post-war period. Nicknamed "le Prince de la chanson de charme", he scored a string of hits with "Domino" (recorded in 1944), "Domino " (1950), "Bon anniversaire", which he was the first to perform in 1951, "Deux petits chaussons" (1952, adapted from Charlie Chaplin's Les Feux de la rampe ) and "Je t'attendrai " (1954). Actor in the films J'ai pleuré sur tes pas (1943), La Petite diligence (1950), Cerisier rose et pommier blanc (1950), Bon anniversaire (1951), Le Petit train (1952), Les Yeux d'Elsa (1952) and Dors, mon amour (1958), it was with the latter's theme song, written by Pierre Delanoë and Hubert Giraud, that he won the 3rd Eurovision Song Contest in Hilversum (Netherlands) on February 7, 1958. The first French singer to win the competition, the performer, accompanied by Franck Pourcel's orchestra, was at the height of his career, which soon declined with the arrival of the yé-yé wave. He went on to host a show for women on Radio-Luxembourg, Cette heure est à vous, before retiring from singing in the early 1970s. In 1978, he made a final television appearance on Loto chanson. On July 4, 2003, André Claveau died of a cerebral embolism in Agen at the age of 91.

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