His notoriety was rather limited to the Provençal region but he shone internationally a few decades ago. Guy Bonnet died during the night from Sunday to Monday. He was 78 years old. The author, composer and performer died “in his sleep, next to his wife”, in a hospital in Montpellier, reports France Blue Vaucluse.
The artist, born in 1945 in Avignon (Vaucluse), is known for having represented France at Eurovision in 1970 with Marie-Blanche and in 1983 with Live, two songs for which he had written the melody but not the lyrics. He was ranked 4th and 8th respectively.
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Note that in 1983, during the telecrochet organized by Antenne 2 (now France 2) to nominate the candidate song, he won against the Douanier Rousseau of La Compagnie Créole. France made its return to Eurovision that year after having withdrawn in 1982 – Pierre Bouteiller, the variety director of TF1, which then broadcast the musical competition, believed that the competition was distinguished by “the mediocrity of the songs “.
The first song for which Guy Bonnet wrote the lyrics is The source, performed at Eurovision 1968 by Isabelle Aubret, who placed third. The text is inspired by the film of the same name by Ingmar Bergman, telling the story of a gang rape. “I don’t know if, at the time, the public understood that it was about that. This song remained a success, I finished my singing tour with it. For encores, I come back on stage and I sing The source a cappella,” the singer said 20 minutes during an interview in 2020.
“No one will sing songs like that again!” »
On this occasion, Isabelle Aubret also spoke to us about Guy Bonnet: “When he can, he comes to perform. The last time, in the South, when he saw that I ended up with The source, he was so happy! As it was my last tour, he said to me: “Oh my, now it’s over, no one will sing songs like that again!” It was so cute. »
During his career, Guy Bonnet also wrote and composed for artists such as Mireille Mathieu, Sylvie Vartan, Michelle Torr and Dany, and he recorded several records in the Provençal language, including the first Moun Miejourreleased in 1977, is among those who achieved the most success in his native region.