Bernard Ilous

French author, composer, multi-instrumentalist, performer and arranger Bernard Ilous was born in Algiers on May 7, 1947, and grew up in Joinville, where his parents settled. A guitarist with the group Les Rover, who recorded two singles in 1967 and 1968, he came to the attention of artistic director Gérard Tournier, who asked him to compose for artists such as Eric Charden, Christine Delaroche, Dick Rivers, Johnny Hallyday, Frank Alamo, Stone and Françoise Hardy. During the sessions for Dick Rivers' album L'? in 1969, he met Alain Legovic (future Alain Chamfort), who introduced him to Claude Puterflam. Bernard Ilous thus realized his ambition to work for himself, and in 1971 produced two singles, "(Je ne sais) D'où vient le vent" and "Bienheureux les innocents", before crossing paths with guitarist and singer Patrice Decuyper, with whom he formed the duo Ilous & Decuyper. The only homonymous album conceived by the two musicians appeared in 1972 on Puterflam's Flamophone label. After this brief experience, Bernard Ilous went on to record his solo album Ilous (1974), sometimes called Pêle-Mêle. It combines pop-rock melodies such as the title track "Chanson chagrin", folk ballads and progressive rock improvisations, with contributions from renowned studio musicians such as Bernard Lubat, Georges Rodi and three members of the group Le Système Crapoutchik, Gérard Kawczynski, Jean-Pierre Alarcen and André Sitbon, whom he joined for their final album in 1975. A much sought-after musician, arranger and backing singer, Bernard Ilous has collaborated with Hervé Cristiani, Julien Clerc, Véronique Sanson, Yves Simon, Saint-Preux, Michel Berger, France Gall, Johnny Hallyday, Jean-Jacques Goldman, François Valéry, Pierre Bachelet and Ute Lemper, among others. He also creates music for documentary films.

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