Pierre Vassiliu

Pierre Vassiliu (23 October 1937 – 17 August 2014) was a French singer, songwriter and actor.

His first record, "Armand", co-written with his brother Michel, appeared in 1962. It was an enormous success, selling 150,000 copies.[citation needed ] This opened the doors of the Olympia in Paris to him, where he opened for the Beatles in 1964. He went on to a two-month stand with Françoise Hardy, Jacques Dutronc, and Johnny Hallyday. He had a string of hits, including "Charlotte", "Ivanhoe", and "La femme du sergent", censored because of the Algerian War.

His 1973 song "Qui c'est celui-là?" was a cover of the 1972 song Partido Alto by Chico Buarque. It sold more than 300,000 copies and secured for him a place in the memories of the teenagers of the time.

With his vocal trio, he resurrected the old French song "Belle qui tiens ma vie", sung a cappella.

In 2002, he covered Boby Lapointe's "L'Été, où est-il ?" with Thallia on the album Boby Tutti-Frutti – L'hommage délicieux à Boby Lapointe by Lilicub.

In 2003, he made a CD with Senegalese griots of the Kalone Orchestra of Casamance. Vassiliu lived a part of his life in the Casamance, the region of Senegal lying to the south of the Gambia.

He died in his sleep in 2014, after years of battling Parkinson's.