Hello Monaco magazine Winter 2018 - issue HM02 | Page 87
Famous Monegasques
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O
eng
n August 24, 1916 a boy
was born into the family
of a Monaco casino
director, on the avenue
Saint-Michel. The new
parents named him
Leo. He lived in the Principality up to the
age of 9 and was then sent to St. Charles
boarding school in Bordighera (Italy). Upon
his graduation in 1934, Leo asked his father
for permission to enter the conservatory. The
future of the young man was seen differently,
however, and a year later he went to Paris
to study law. Leo enrolled in the Institute of
Political Sciences. At the same time, he never
missed an opportunity to go to the cinema
and take his piano lessons.
Life in Paris
The young Leo Ferre was then called to
join the army. Only in 1943 he returned
back to Monaco and was employed by
Radio Monte - Carlo. He thus got an
In 1961, Ferre
and his wife took
a chimpanzee named
PÉPÉE, who, according
to Leo’s stepdaughter,
THEY used
to cherish as their
own child.
opportunity to write poetry and music.
At the age of thirty, he wrote his first text
in prose for a Monegasque newspaper.
Over this period, he met Edith Piaf who
s t r o n g l y r e co m m e n d e d t h e yo u n g
musician go to Paris and try his luck there.
Leo Ferre’s path to fame was difficult and
full of obstacles. For almost seven years,
the musician had neither a contract nor
a chance to release his album. He was
living from hand to mouth and working
part-time at the Saint-Germain-des-Prés
cabaret. That’s when he wrote his song
«La vie d’artiste». As to his private life, Leo
divorced Odette Shunck whom he married
back in 1943. Only at the age of 37 did the
musician manage to release his first album
and sign a contract with the «Odeon»
music company.
In the early 50’s, the musician was finally
lucky enough to sign a contract with «Le
Chant du Monde» and recorded 12 tracks.
The song which made the composer
famous was «Paris Canaille» performed
by Catherine Sauvage. It’s success spread
as far as the USSR where it was renamed
«Under the Parisian Roofs».
In 1960, Leo began working with music
producer Eddie Barclay. During this
period, the popularity of Ferre increased
thanks to the songs «Paname» and «Jolie
môme», and a year later the musician
released an album dedicated to the
work of Louis Aragon, «Les Chansons
d’Aragon». From then on, it seems that
success pursued Leo Ferre. He gave
a concer t in the Grand concer t hall
of Alhamb r a; th e p ub lishin g h o us e
Livre de Poche asked him to write an
introduction to the «Saturnian verses»
by Paul Vrehlen; the publisher Françoise
Sagan showed interest in his manuscript
«Benoî t Misère»; and Pierre Seghers
included Ferre in the famous series
«Contemporary Poets».
Interestingly, in 1961, Ferre and his wife
took a chimpanzee named Pépée, who,
according to Leo’s stepdaughter, they used
to cherish as their own child. In 2013, Annie
Hello Monaco – Winter 2018 / 85