Sacha Distel

Alexandre Sacha Distel 29 January 1933 22 July 2004 was a French singer guitarist songwriter and actor who had hits with a cover version of Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head in 1970 which reached No 10 in the UK Charts Scoubidou and The Good Life He was made Chevalier Knight of the Légion dhonneur in 1997 He had also scored a hit as a songwriter when Tony Bennett recorded Sachas song for The Good Life in 1963 It peaked at 18 on Billboards Hot 100 chart and Top 10 on the Easy Listening chart Distel was the son of RussianFrench emigre Léonide Distel who was born in Odessa Russian Empire and FrenchJewish pianist Andrée Ventura 19021965 born in Constantinople His uncle was bandleader Ray Ventura After Ventura settled in Paris with his orchestra Les Collégiens Distel gave up piano and switched to guitar During his career Distel worked with Kenny Clarke Jimmy Gourley Lionel Hampton Slide Hampton Bobby Jaspar Barney Kessel John Lewis Pierre Michelot Bernard Peiffer Henri Renaud Fats Sadi Art Simmons Martial Solal René Urtreger and Barney Wilen As well as his musical career he also did some acting primarily on French television He had a cameo appearance in the 1960 film Zazie dans le Métro He appeared in Fallen Angels by Noel Coward on British television in 1974 Distel was involved with actress Brigitte Bardot in 1958 having invited her to his birthday party in SaintTropez The relationship ended in 1959 He married championship Olympic skier Francine Bréaud in 1963 Distel publicly stated that he remained faithful to his wife Anything I want in a woman I can get at home Distel died of cancer at the age of 71 on 22 July 2004 at his mother in laws home in RayolCanadel near SaintTropez France Source Article Sacha Distel from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA