Axel Bauer was born on April 7, 1961 in Paris, France. His father Frank Bauer was Django Reinhardt's drummer. Axel started playing piano & guitar but when he saw a concert of The Who, it was the revelation ! He met producer Michel Eli, & in 1983, his first single, "Cargo", sold 700,000 copies. The video of the song, in black & white, has been directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino. The song was covered by Roger Daltrey under the title "Take Me Home" in 1987 & by Quentin Mosimann on his first album in 2008.
In 1984, Axel signed to EMI, released his second single "Phantasmes" & his first album Les Nouveaux Seigneurs came out in 1987. Though the singles were little sold, the album was well-received in France but not in England, where Axel started his career. He signed to Mercury in 1989 & released his second album Sentinelles the following year. The single "Maria" wasn't successful but the following, "Eteins La Lumière", was very well-received. Everyone loved his 2 successes at the time.
In 1991, Axel's son, Jim, was born. Then Axel went on hiatus during 7 years, he came back in 1998 with his third album Simple Mortel & the song "Laisse Venir". Unfortunately they weren't successful either. In 2000, Axel released his fourth album, Achille (later retitled Personne N'Est Parfait with a different album cover), the duet with Zazie "À Ma Place" was in the French Top 50 & Axel received a Victoire De La Musique in 2002. After that, he became a member of Les Enfoirés, sang Jacques Dutronc's "Fais Pas Ci Fais Pas Ca" on the concept album Chanson D'Enfance & continued his career. A compilation, La Désintégrale, came out in 2002 & his fifth album Bad Cowboy followed in 2006.
Source: http://artists.letssingit.com/axel-bauer-s2fx6/biography
