Pierre Groscolas

International success

Pierre Groscolas remained in Paris, where he earned a living as a guitarist and backing vocalist, notably with Eddy Mitchell, whilst pitching his compositions to potential producers. In 1970, he signed with the Tréma record label for his first single, ‘Fille du vent’, which also became his first hit in 1971.

The following year, he recorded new tracks, including ‘Pour faire un enfant’ and ‘Le Messager’. In 1973, he enjoyed further success with ‘L’amour est roi’ and ‘Au revoir’.

In 1974, his song ‘Lady Lay’ became an international hit and was chosen as the theme for the 1975 Rio Carnival, performed by 33 samba schools and charting in numerous countries (Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, South America). That same year, with lyrics by Philippe Labro, he composed two songs for Johnny Hallyday, ‘Voici le monde’ and ‘Interdit aux moins de 13 ans’, which appeared on the album Rock 'n' Slow.

In 1975, the song ‘Élise’ was released and became another hit in France, launching his international career as a composer. ‘Élise’ was covered in the United States by the former lead singer of the Four Seasons, Frankie Valli, as well as by Tony Orlando, Wayne Newton and Bobby Vinton.

Upon the release of his second album, which he produced entirely with Jean-Claude Charvier, the track ‘Ma jeunesse au fond de l’eau’ became one of the first international disco hits, with the American adaptation, ‘Midnight Love Affair’, written by Carol Douglas, charting highly in the US and Europe throughout 1976. That same year saw the release of two new singles, ‘Mamalou’ and ‘L’Homme qui vous plaît’, the latter voted song of the year in Japan.

Meanwhile, he met the writer Gilles Thibaut and composed one of the first French rock operas for Johnny Hallyday, in the form of a double “album concept”ual album entitled Hamlet, based on Shakespeare.

Independent production

In 1977, Pierre Groscolas set up a recording studio in his home, where he immediately produced his new album, distributed by Pathé Marconi. During one of his trips to London, he met Alan O’Duffy, Paul McCartney’s sound engineer. Alan and Pierre produced this new album, which notably featured the song ‘Dans un mois ou dans un an’, with lyrics by Christian Ravasco, which enjoyed some success.

From then on, Pierre Groscolas worked increasingly in a group setting – an approach he was particularly fond of – and discovered bands such as Queen, Toto and Huey Lewis. In 1978, the track ‘Flying Love’ charted in Canada. In 1980, he composed the song ‘Tamalou’ for Françoise Hardy, which enjoyed a fair amount of popular success. The orchestrations were arranged by Gabriel Yared. The following year saw the release of a new single entitled ‘Et les dieux ?’, and in 1982, the extended-play single ‘Attention danger d’amour’ was produced with Thierry Pastor. In 1983, he recorded the new album ‘Amour Amour’ for the Flarenasch label. In 1984, he recorded the maxi-single She’s a Lady – his first song in English. In 1985, he covered Fille du vent. Two years later, Pierre Groscolas recorded the song Gone with the Wind with the band Awax. In 1988, he released his new single, Devine, devine. In 1990, the single ‘Écris des mots d’amour’ was released by FAC Productions. He also provided backing vocals for Nicole Rieu on her album Pêcheur d'éponges, released in 1993.

Tours and new records

From the 1990s onwards, Pierre Groscolas toured the regions of France. In 1992, for example, he went on a concert tour of the south of France with the band Test. In 1994, a compilation was released in France and Belgium featuring 21 ‘“chansons d’or”’ tracks distributed by the Trema label, including a remix of ‘Lady Lay’.

He recorded a medley for several television programmes (‘Sacrée Soirée’, ‘La Chance aux chansons’, ‘La Fièvre de l’après-midi’, ‘Matin Bonheur’). During the summer of 1994, he released the single ‘Fille du vent’. In 1995, he began work on a new album, scheduled for release in May of the following year. In 1996, he rehearsed his set with the musicians for the 1996 summer tour. In 2002, he went on tour with the newspaper *La Marseillaise*. In 2002, he released a new album on Sony Music. In 2006, Pierre Groscolas completed the composition of his second musical, Alice au pays des merveilles, based on a libretto by Gilles Thibaut and Paul Rauzy.

In 2007, he was part of the successful tour Âge tendre et têtes de bois, la tournée des idoles for its second season. He returned for the fourth season in November 2009 to replace Frank Alamo until the end of the tour. From 12 January 2018, he took part in the Âge tendre tour, alongside Sheila, Nicoletta, Dave and Patrick Juvet, amongst others.