Remember. Five years ago. Nobody knew either Wuhan or Kherson… France had a young president and was preparing to bury its “youth idol”. Five years ago Johnny Hallyday died. A parade of motorcyclists on Harley descended the Champs-Elysées, a national tribute was paid to the Madeleine church, the TV channels broadcast tributes and documentaries on the singer on a loop…
Five years later, doesn’t all this seem a long way off? On this fifth anniversary of Johnny’s death, the tributes continue, of course. Several retrospective works come out. Some Pathé cinemas will show the cult Bercy 1992 concert, and above all, a major exhibition begins its journey, from Brusselsbringing together objects and music that tell Johnny’s life.
Make way for the legacy, the real one
However, the images of the excess of the tribute paid to the singer are surprising today. And the “celebrations” of this fifth anniversary seem very small. For François Julien, author of Johnny, a lifetime!, this normalization of emotion “may be a good thing. Johnny Hallyday held center stage, in every sense of the word, for six decades. He was the most photographed Frenchman of the past 60 years! Once deceased, of course, he disappeared from this niche people. The public figure is no more. There remains the music. »
Amélie Schildt, author of the book Johnny, Belgium in the blood, has a similar analysis. “After his death and his funeral, we very quickly moved on to questions of inheritance. His image had been tarnished by the war between his children and Laeticia. When I talk about Johnny, I’m often told “but by the way, how did this story end?”. His musical heritage, we talked less about it for five years. But today, people are ready. We can see that his hits are still on the radio every day. He will gain Aznavour-style status. »
Instead Light the fire Where I promise you ?
But there again, the memory seems vague among the French. Yeyé singer? Variety star? Unrepentant rocker? Who is Johnny? And if we look at the reissues of albums organized for the fifth anniversary of his death, no trend really emerges. The records that sell the best are still and always the best of his hits. “The general public remembers the Stade de France years with Light the fire, believes Amélie Schildt. Then come his great songs composed by Michel Berger then Jean-Jacques Goldman. Rather anthems for stadiums and standards of the French variety therefore.
“He embodied rock, slice meanwhile François Julien. Well, rock means everything and nothing… He was rock in his way of living and fantasizing about an America that doesn’t exist. Beyond the music, I think we will gradually understand that he was also a great actor. From that side, he had a more interesting career than that of Elvis. »
Johnny the Pharaoh
While waiting for a Johnny Hallyday retrospective at the Cinémathèque française (real idea!), in the coming days, two events will celebrate the singer-actor: a very intimate documentary on M6, with testimonies and unpublished images provided by Laeticia Hallyday. And a great pharaonic exhibition organized – it can’t be invented – by the same company as the blockbuster Tutankhamun, the Treasure of the Pharaohshown in 2019 at La Villette.
First shown in Brussels, it will pass through Paris, from January 2024 at the Parc des Expositions at Porte de Versailles. It was made possible, there too, thanks to Laeticia Hallyday who provided many of Johnny’s intimate objects: motorcycles, guitars, outfits, records… So we wouldn’t really be done with the man Johnny ? “We will have to see the attendance, according to Amélie Schildt. In the meantime, Laeticia Hallyday is on all fronts, she is invited everywhere, the media are tearing her up. »
Laeticia at work
With Laura Smet and David Hallyday rather discreet for a few years, and daughters, Jade and Joy, still little exposed to the media, Laeticia is therefore still alone in the niche of celebrating Johnny’s memory.
For François Julien, it’s a fair return. The memory of Johnny is in the hands of Laeticia for a very simple reason, it was she who reinvented the artist. “During the legacy story, she was made into a Walt Disney villainess: the wicked stepmother. It’s Yoko Ono Syndrome. But we must not forget that it was she who made him a singer and a trendy man. Before she took over Johnny’s career, intellectuals held their noses when they heard Hallyday’s name. She also made him a singer who brings in money, whereas before he was perpetually broke. Not to mention that she offered him a real family life. »
Belgium at heart
If we must therefore wait a little longer to truly gauge the weight of the memory of Johnny Hallyday in the hearts of the French, Amélie Schildt notes that in Belgium, the singer has a rating of thunder. “The French have the impression that Johnny belongs to them, but the Belgians are happy to be able to remember that he was also half Belgian. Since his first concerts here in the 1960s, he has built up a loyal following. The emotion was also strong here, at his death, many Belgians went to the tribute in Paris. »
The Taulier specialist is happy to see that the love story between the Belgians and Johnny has calmed down today. “It has long been fashionable to make fun of him. How many times have I been told bullshit jokes when he was in a coma… “So we’re going to sing light the fire at his funeral?” Everything changed after his death. A lot of people really discovered his life and his music at that time, and understood that he was an incredible person, very simple. Behind the barnum around him, there was the simplicity of a faithful and kind man. »
Even if the steps of the Madeleine will not be covered with white roses for this anniversary, even if no biker will go down the Champs-Elysées in a funeral convoy, and even if no JT will put on a special edition, Johnny Hallyday is a gift beautiful and still well remembered. “He is an extremely complex character, which we will never have finished going around, believes François Julien. In the meantime, Johnny is there, it’s something that exists, which represents France, even if we don’t listen to it every day. »