Vic Laurens

Born in Tunis on July 31, 1945, Victor Laurent d'Arpa (aka Vic Laurens), singer and guitarist with Les Vautours, went on to enjoy a brief solo career. Born of French parents of Sicilian origin, he grew up with his brother Tony d'Arpa (1941-2002), who introduced him to rock'n'roll and taught him to play guitar, before joining Les Chaussettes Noires in January 1961. For his part, Vic Laurens formed Les Vautours in August 1961, a rival group whose fame was established simultaneously with the titles "Ya Ya Twist", "Le Coup du charme" (1962) and "Mais reviens-moi " (1963). In the spring of 1962, the group, renamed Les Vautours with Vic Laurens, featured the singer on the three EPs Ya Ya Twist, Le Coup du Charme and Reviens-Moi, before the inevitable split. In February 1963, Vic Laurens even replaced his brother with the Chaussettes Noires on a tour of Algeria, and upon his return, he embarked on a solo career promoted by the Salut les copains radio show, where he became the "darling" for three weeks, and the magazine whose cover he appeared on when his new Mercury label released "Te voici", followed later that year by "Quand je te suis des yeux", while Festival - the Vautours label - released the EP Mais Reviens-Moi under his own name. Vic Laurens' repertoire is essentially made up of adaptations: "Te voici" is inspired by Gene Vincent's "Mean Woman Blues", "Vivre avec toi" by Pat Boone's "Rock Boll Weevil", "Mon cœur sans ton amour" by Frankie Avalon's "A Boy Without a Girl" and "Je tremble" by Mitch Murray's "I Like It ", among others. In 1963, she released her only original eight-track 25cm album, Je Tremble, before appearing in Jean Becker's short film Berthe et Blanche. In March 1964, his new hit, "Le Vrai bonheur", is supplied by the original version "Glad All Over" by The Dave Clark Five, followed by the Paradise EP in July and C'Est la Vie (based on Chuck Berry's "You Never Can Tell" ), in December. On February 23, 1965, Vic Laurens shares the stage at the Olympia in Paris with Johnny Rivers and The Kinks. March sees the release of the EP As-Tu Jamais? adapted from the more obscure "Did You Ever" by The Hullaballos. He then ceased his musical career, only returning in 1973 under the pseudonym Laurent Verlet for the track "Je ne saurai vivre sans toi". In 2011, Vic Laurens returned to the stage at La Cigale (Paris), alongside Danny Boy (Claude Piron) and Mike Shannon for the Rock'n'Roll Legend concert, then performed at Le Petit Journal Montparnasse. A compilation of his solo records, Le Rock C'Est Ça, was released in 1990.

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