Nino Ferrer

Nino Agostino Arturo Maria Ferrari (; 15 August 1934 – 13 August 1998), known as Nino Ferrer , was an Italian-born French singer-songwriter and author.

Biography and career

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 Saint-Jean de Passy, Paris, left him with a lifelong aversion to the Church. The suggestion to take up solo singing came from the rhythm 'n' blues singer Nancy Holloway, whom he also accompanied.

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. (the French version is "Je voudrais être un noir" ["I'd like to be a black man"] ). This soul song, with its quasi-revolutionary lyrics imploring a series of Ferrer's black music idols to gift him their black skin for the benefit of music-making, achieved long-lasting iconic status in Italy.

"La pelle nera" was followed by a string of other semi-serious 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 lesser-known songs, which the public largely ignored, he mocked life's absurdities. He agreed with Serge Gainsbourg and Claude Nougaro that songs are a "minor art" and "just background noise".

In 1975 he started breeding horses in Quercy, France. In 1989, Ferrer obtained French citizenship, which he explained as his "celebration of the bicentenary of the French Revolution." He went on to record the French national anthem, accompanied by a choir.

A couple of months after his mother died, Ferrer, on 13 August 1998, two days before his 64th birthday, took his hunting gun and walked to a field of corn, recently cut, near the neighbouring village of Saint-Cyprien. There, he laid down in a grove nearby and shot himself in the chest. His wife Kinou, with whom he had two sons, had already alerted the gendarmerie after finding a farewell letter in the house. Next day, there were front-page headlines in most French and Italian newspapers, such as "Adieu Nino!," "Nino Ferrer Hung Up His Telephone," "Our Nino Has Left for the South." They called him the Don Quixote and the Corto Maltese of French show business.

Discography

Studio albums 1966: Enregistrement public 1967: Nino Ferrer 1969: Nino Ferrer 1972: Métronomie 1972: Nino Ferrer and Leggs 1974: Nino and Radiah 1975: Suite en œuf 1977: Véritables variétés verdâtres 1979: Blanat 1981: La carmencita 1982: Ex-libris 1983: Rock'n'roll cow-boy 1986: 13e album 1993: La désabusion 1993: La vie chez les automobiles

Live albums 1970: Rats and Rolls 1995: Concert chez Harry

45RPM singles and 4-track EPs 1963 Pour oublier qu'on s'est aimé; Souviens-toi / C'est irréparable; 5 bougies bleues 1964 Ferme la porte; Je reviendrai / Oh ! Ne t'en va pas; Ce que tu as fait de moi (Nino Ferrer et les Jubilées) 1964 Les Dolly Brothers (Nino sings on Hello, Dolly! Though he isn't credited. 1965 Viens je t'attends; Au bout de mes vingt ans / Jennifer James; Tchouk-ou-tchouk 1966 Mirza; Les cornichons / Il me faudra… Natacha; Ma vie pour rien 1966 Le monkiss de la police; Monkiss est arrivé / Avec toi j'ai compris le monkiss; Y'a que toi monkiss (Nino Ferrer et les Gottamou) 1966 Alexandre; Oh ! hé ! hein ! bon ! / Le blues des rues désertes; Longtemps après 1966 Je veux être noir; Si tu m'aimes encore / La bande à Ferrer (parts 1 & 2) 1967 La pelle nera; Se mi vuoi sempre bene 1967 Le téléfon; Je cherche une petite fille / Madame Robert; Le millionnaire 1967 Mao et Moa; Je vous dis bonne chance / Mon copain Bismarck; N-F in trouble 1968 Le roi d'Angleterre; Il me faudra… Natacha / Les petites jeunes filles de bonne famille; Monsieur Machin 1968 Mamadou Mémé; Œrythia / Les yeux de Laurence; Non ti capisco più 1969 Je vends des robes; La rua Madureira / Tchouk-ou-tchouk; Le show-boat de nos amours 1969 Agata; Un premier jour sans toi / Justine; Les hommes à tout faire 1970 Oui mais ta mère n'est pas d'accord / Le blues anti-bourgeois 1970 Viens tous les soirs / L'amour, la mort, les enterrements 1971 Les Enfants de la patrie / La Maison près de la fontaine 1975 Le Sud / The garden (CBS) - appears only on post-1982 re-releases of the album Nino and Radiah - his biggest hit, reaching number 1 in March 1975 1975 Alcina de Jesus / Les morceaux de fer (CBS) 1976 Chanson pour Nathalie / Moon (CBS) 1978 Joseph Joseph / L'Inexpressible (CBS) 1981 Pour oublier qu'on s'est aimé / Michael et Jane (WEA) 1982 Semiramis / Micky Micky (WEA) 1983 Il pleut bergère / Blues des chiens (WEA) 1986 L'arche de Noé : Création; Chita Chita / L'arche de Noé 1989 La Marseillaise / Il pleut bergère (Barclay) - (the second track was recorded with the townsfolk of his home village)

Revival 2015 Le Sud 2019 La rua Madureira (credited to Bon Entendeur vs Nino Ferrer)