Fred Gouin

A music-hall singer with a baritone voice, Hyppolite Eugène Frédéric dit "Fred" Gouin was born in Le Mans on April 26, 1899. The son of a basket-maker and a seamstress, he grew up in Paris and made his singing debut under the pseudonym Viallard, for the Odéon label, in 1912. A musician who played mandolin and banjo, he performed in small groups and sang solo in cabarets. Returning to Odéon under the name Fred Gouin, he recorded a series of successful 78-turners, covering popular songs and operetta arias including "Charmaine", "La Fille du bédouin", "Elle danse le charleston", "Roses of Picardy " and "L'Heure exquise " (from Franz Lehár's operetta La Veuve joyeuse). In 1928, his version of the hymn "Le Temps des cerises " was a triumph, before Reda Caire's version three years later. Her repertoire continued to expand, with "La Chanson des blés d'or", "Le Mouchoir rouge de Cholet" and "Ramona", among many other recordings - some two hundred for the same label by 1935. After a duet with Nadia Dauty in 1929, he recorded others with his lover Berthe Sylva, including "Ferme tes jolis yeux" and "Berceuse tendre". While the lovers took refuge in Marseille at the start of the Second World War, Berthe Sylva died in extreme poverty on May 24, 1941. Fred Gouin, who had retired to Jouy-le-Moutier (Oise), moved with his wife to Coulon (Deux-Sèvres) and died in Niort hospital on February 18, 1959. Several compilations of his hits have been released, including the double CD 50 Succès Inoubliables (1995).

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