Artist Profile: Paul Mauriat

In the United States, the tributes were few, the mentions brief and the details little more than the basic facts:

Paul Mauriat had died, on November 3rd, 2006, at the age of 81 in Perpignan in southeast France.

Word came from a cousin, Laurent Mauriat. The cause of death was not reported.

Mauriat had not performed with his orchestra since 1998 and little was known about his years since. And while he had legions of fans in the U.S., he had been a bigger hit in Japan than he was here. Except for that song.. the song that took America by storm almost 40 years ago… a song titled "Love is Blue".

The year was 1968 and Time magazine’s Arts and Entertainment writers were trying to make sense of the popularity of a song that sat at the top of the charts for five weeks in February and March:

For those whose idea of an oldie is pre-rock ’n’ roll, there is still hope. A record called “Love Is Blue” has become a hit without any of the ingredients that pop musicians have considered necessary for the past few years: the juggernaut beat, the vocalisthenic performance, and the strain of novelty. “Love Is Blue” is concocted according to an entirely different recipe. Its rocking rhythm cradles a plaintive, folklike melody swathed in lush strings and horns. It is an all-instrumental number, the first to become a bestseller since 1963. And it is practically gimmick-free…

At the time there were three other recordings of the same song on those charts, one by Al Martino, one by Manny Kellem and another by Claudine Longet. But none would have the impact of Paul Mauriat’s “Love Is Blue”

Classical Traditions

Fred Bronson writes, in The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, that Mauriat’s father was a postal inspector who loved to play classical piano and violin.

Mauriat began playing music at the age of four and enrolled in the Conservatoire in Paris at the age of 10, but by the time he was 17, he had fallen in love with jazz and popular music. During World War II, Mauriat started his own dance band and toured concert halls throughout Europe.

Studio Musician

After the war, Mauriat worked as an arranger for several French record labels. Singer/Songwriter Charles Aznavour hired Mauriat as an arranger and conductor, helping to bring him to the attention of other French artists.

In the early 1960’s, Mauriat began a solo career with a series of instrumental albums featuring lovely melodies, strings and contemporary rhythms.

“I Will Follow Him”

He had some success as a songwriter in the early 60’s, but one of his biggest hits was written under the pseudonym, “Del Roma”. Mauriat and Frank Pourcel wrote “Chariot”, a hit for Petula Clark in 1962 in France. In 1963, the song, with an English lyric, was recorded by Little Peggy March as “I Will Follow Him” and spent three weeks at number 1 in early 1963.

“Love is Blue” is Red Hot!

Mauriat’s albums continued to sell well, but it was his cover of the Andre Popp/Pierre Cour tune “L’Amour Est Bleu” (“Love Is Blue”), that gave him his only number 1 hit in the U.S.. The song spent five weeks at the top of the charts and it was the only one of his singles that made the top 50, in the United States. “Love Is Blue” is distinctive for other reasons:

It was the first instrumental to hit number 1 on the Billboard charts since the Tornados hit with “Telstar” in 1962 and the only American number one single to be recorded in France.

A Bloomin’ Success!

The success of the song and the album on which it appeared, Blooming Hits established Mauriat as an international recording star and his Grand Orchestra toured the world.

He was especially popular in Japan and many of the CD’s of his recordings available now are Japanese imports.

Only two other Mauriat singles made the charts in the U.S… “Love in Every Room” and the title theme from the movie, Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang.

International Acclaim

But his albums of beautiful music sold well. And he was prolific, recording mainly for the Phillips and Polydor labels.

In 1974 he would release an entire album that paid homage to his musical roots. Classics in the Air features classical music, like Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor”, and Pachibel’s “Canon”, given the “Mauriat” spin.

Sayonara

Mauriat retired from performing in 1998 with the Sayonara Concert, recorded live in Japan, but his Grand Orchestra continues to tour, and has visited Japan, China and Russia over the past few years.

Three years ago, Serge Elhaik wrote and published an authorized biography of Mauriat, Une vie en bleu (A Life in Blue) but it appears to be unavailable in the United States.

Side N
otes:

The Japanese branch of the Paul Mauriat Club International maintains a website at www.pluto.dti.ne.jp.

And a good resource for reviews and comments on Mauriat’s recordings, is amazon.com. Click on any CD cover listed and you’ll find interesting comments about the man, his orchestra and their music.