Singer Herbert Léonard, who was a huge success in the 80s with hits like “for pleasure”, died at the age of 80 on Sunday in Fontainebleau (Seine-et-Marne), his wife Cléo announced to AFP. “Herbert died at 6 p.m. at the Fontainebleau hospital. He had been fighting for some time against lung cancer, “she said.
“I am a variety singer, a crooner as it looks like in Great Britain. I like the texts which are not of the poetry taken from the head, “claimed the one who sold more than two million and a half of copies of” for pleasure “, the 33 rounds of summer 81 composed by the host Julien Lepers.
Son of a garbage collector and a housewife, Hubert Loenhardt was born in February 1945 in Strasbourg. After training in industrial drawing, this Alsatian with blue eyes becomes guitarist of the lion cubs, one of the multiple groups that flowed in the wake of “black socks”, the first group of French rock'n'roll.
When Johnny's cousin notices his tenor voice
Lee Hallyday, Cousin and Impresario by Johnny, notices his tenor voice, finds his stage name and specializes him in the covers in the Ronch'n Blues successes of the late 1960s.
Success came in 1968 with “something in me holds my heart”. But, two years later, his little notoriety evaporates after a car accident which temporarily disfigures him. He tried a return in 1972 but the heart is no longer there and the singer decides to change jobs.
Passionate about aviation and modeling, he became a specialized journalist and would undoubtedly have stayed at Aviation Magazine Si Vline Buggy, the parolière of “Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful” by Claude François, had not renewed him towards the studios in the early 1980s.
A last disc in 2016
Having become a charm singer, popular and without complex, successes follow each other and look alike: “for pleasure”, “crazy lover” (in duet with Julie Pietri), “my heart and my house”, “when you love me”, “on erotic music” …
In 1985, this football enthusiast recorded “power and glory” the credits of the television series “Châteauvallon” and “flagrant offense”, a new composition by Julien Lepers.
His latest “Update” disc, combining re -records, unpublished and covers, dates back to 2016. With the fanciful singer Cléo Bernard, met in 1967, Herbert Léonard had a daughter.