Biography
Gangsters d'Amour is a Belgian rock band from Charleroi. The band was active for ten years, between 1982 and 1992. They released two albums, ten singles and four 45s. They reformed in 2019.
The band was formed in 1982 around the singer Jean-François Bodart (nicknamed Jeff). The band’s name is taken from the song of the same name by the French band Starshooter, from the album Machine à laver. The band was mainly active from the early 1980s to the early 1990s, and its members hailed from Charleroi, Brussels and Namur. Its ranks notably included the singer and frontman Jeff Bodart, who wrote the vast majority of the songs.
In 1986, the band released their first studio album, Les Gangsters d'Amour ne mentent jamais. The band performed throughout the French-speaking world, as well as in the USSR, Switzerland, Canada, Turkey, New Orleans and China. They played… to packed houses both in Belgium and abroad. During this period, they also played at the Francofolies de Montréal alongside Sttellla. In Belgium, the band headlined the Verdur Rock festival.
In 1989, they released their second album, Spirito. During this period, they supported James Brown at Forest National and played at the Francofolies de La Rochelle. They also performed at the Dour Festival in 1989. During their tour of the USSR in 1990, they headlined as special guests at the Voice of Asia festival in Kazakhstan in front of nearly 70,000 frenzied fans. Renowned for their energy, the band members appeared on stage in double-breasted suits, Borsalino hats and two-tone shoes, and also in a big band line-up featuring a brass section and high-energy dancers and backing singers (Los Drogenbos). The band ceased activities in 1992.
The posthumous album Best of Jeff, released in 2009 following Bodart’s death in 2008 at the age of 45, features around twenty songs from Bodart’s career, including four tracks from his Gangsters d'amour period. In May 2011, a previously unreleased concert by the Gangsters d’Amour (held in Brûly-de-Pesche on 28 July 1990) was published online. It is available as a free download in MP3 format. In April 2012, L'Intégrale des Gangsters d'Amour (1982-1992) was released, available as a free download.
In late 2019, the band announced their reunion. The initiative was spearheaded by Louis Petyt, the son of the band’s second keyboardist, Jean-Pol Petyt, who died prematurely. This new line-up consists mainly of the latest generation of Gangsters, supplemented by a few new faces. Notably, the actor, dancer and singer Philippe Résimont – also a former member of the band Los Drogenbos – replaces Jeff Bodart on vocals.
After several weeks of rehearsals, the “nouveaux”s Gangsters d’Amour took to the stage for the first time at the Eden cultural centre in Charleroi on 17 January 2020. They performed around fifteen tracks, re-orchestrated almost identically, including several hits: ‘“S.O.S Barracuda”’, ‘“Meurtre à Hawaï”’, ‘“Hey Baron Rouge”’ and ‘“Coûte que Coûte”’. It was a success: the Eden was sold out, and several hundred fans were unable to get tickets. A tour across Wallonia followed.
Based on Wikipedia (in French), translation DeepL (CC BY-SA licence)
1Songs
| Song | Year | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Coute Que Coute | 1993 |
|