Nino Ferrer

Nino Agostino Arturo Maria Ferrari 15 August 1934 13 August 1998 known as Nino Ferrer was an Italianborn French singersongwriter and author Nino Ferrer was born on 15 August 1934 in Genoa Italy but lived the first years of his life in New Caledonia an overseas territory of France in the southwest Pacific Ocean where his father an engineer was working Jesuit religious schooling first in Genoa and later in SaintJean de Passy Paris left him with a lifelong aversion to the Church From 1947 the young Nino studied ethnology and archaeology in the Sorbonne university in Paris also pursuing his interests in music and painting After completing his studies Ferrer started traveling the world working on a freighter ship When he returned to France he immersed himself in music A passion for jazz and the blues led him to worship the music of James Brown Otis Redding and Ray Charles He started to play the double bass in Bill Colemans New Orleans Jazz Orchestra He appeared on a recording for the first time in 1959 playing bass on two 45 singles by the Dixie Cats The suggestion to take up solo singing came from the rhythm n blues singer Nancy Holloway whom he also accompanied In 1963 Ferrer recorded his own first record the single Pour oublier quon sest aimé To forget we were in love The Bside of that single had a song Cest irréparable which was translated for Italian superstar Mina as Un anno damore and became a big hit in 1965 Later again in 1991 Spanish singer Luz Casal had a hit with Un año de amor translated from Italian by director Pedro Almodóvar for his film Tacones Lejanos High Heels His first solo success came in 1965 with the song Mirza Other hits such as Cornichons and Oh hé hein bon followed establishing Ferrer as something of a comedic singer The stereotyping and his eventual huge success made him feel trapped and unable to escape from the constant demands of huge audiences to hear the hits he himself despised He started leading a life of wine women and song while giving endless provocative performances in theatres on television and on tour In Italy he scored a major hit in 1967 with La pelle nera the French version is Je voudrais être un noir Id like to be a black man This soul song with its quasirevolutionary lyrics imploring a series of Ferrers black music idols to gift him their black skin for the benefit of musicmaking achieved longlasting iconic status in Italy La pelle nera was followed by a string of other semiserious Italian songs which included two appearances at the Sanremo Music Festival in 1968 and 1970 In 1970 he returned to France and resumed his musical career there Ferrer rebelled against the gaudy frivolity of French show business filled with what he perceived as its cynical technocrats and greedy exploiters of talent he had considered leaving show business altogether in 1967 when he left France for Italy In his lesserknown songs which the public largely ignored he mocked lifes absurdities He agreed with Serge Gainsbourg and Claude Nougaro that songs are a minor art and just background noise Source Article Nino Ferrer from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA