In bed with Johnny. This Monday, in Brussels, Belgium, “ Johnny Hallyday the exhibition opened its doors to the public. This event, carried by Laeticia, the wife of the singer, comes a few days after the anniversary date of the 5 years of the disappearance of Johnny. And for the one who shared the daily life of the rock star until the last moments of his life, there was no question of being satisfied with a series of photos hung on the walls. It is indeed a real dive into the heart of the artist and the man that “Johnny Hallyday, the exhibition” offers fans and laymen.
“I can only talk about what I know. And when I say to speak, it’s to sing, “said Johnny Hallyday one day. “It was from this sentence that the idea for the exhibition came,” recalls Laeticia Hallyday, moved to see the hard work of two years come to fruition. Two years ? Much more in fact: “I started the collection about twenty years ago, explains the singer’s wife. It was first a game, to make him proud, then I made a museum of it in our villa in Marnes-la-Coquette”. And treasures, Laeticia Hallyday has whole flight cases. The guitars and costumes that the 30 million fans who attended the 3,280 concerts given by Johnny already know. The dozens of albums the rock star has released throughout his career. The many films in which the singer-actor starred. His motorcycles, his famous Cobra…
The office where he breathed his last
The craziest is elsewhere, and that, even the most assiduous Johnny enthusiasts do not know it. At the turn of the scenography representing a guitar, we take a leap in time; which takes us back to 1961, to the 18-year-old singer’s teenage bedroom. “This installation was created after analyzing archive photos from Paris Match,” explains François Henrard, project manager at Tempora, the organizer of the exhibition. Each accessory present in the scene corresponds to an element that we see in the photos: “We found authentic vintage objects, such as the record player, the fan, the bed, the trinkets”, continues François Henrard. An attention to detail that has even prompted Tempora to recreate certain unobtainable objects, in particular the souvenir glass from the concert at the Alhambra with Raymond Devos.
“Every place we stop is a shock to the heart”, recognized, after the visit, Jean-Claude Camus, the historical producer of Johnny. A particularly intense emotional shock when he found himself facing the exact replica of Johnny’s office, in the villa in Marnes-la-Coquette. “All the objects were inventoried, photographed, archived and then transported to Brussels to then be meticulously replaced in the same place on the installation”, assures François Henrard. Even the view of his garden, which the singer saw from his window, has been recreated. “It was his lair, his favorite room in which he received his friends and musicians. You can see everything he liked to surround himself with, his books, his memories, his friends’ CDs and, above all, the photos of his loved ones,” explains the project manager. An intimate and secret place, known to a handful of privileged people, and in which the artist lived his last moments, until his last breath.