Jacques Vaillant is an interpreter of French-language pop songs].
When he was six years old, he overcame the ordeal of a accident that left him almost completely blind. As he becomes a soprano in his school's choir, in Still, France, he feels a revelation: he already dreams about singing on-stage.
In 1968, he is a contestant in the French radio Europe 1's show, "Les numéro 1 de demain", ("Numbers 1 of tomorrow"), which is touring via Strasbourg. In 1970, aged 18, Jacques Vaillant travels throughout France, hitch-hiking and living from salesman opportunities. He stops a while in Montpellier, and then in Marseilles. In this town, he meets Charles Humel, a French blind pianist and composer. Now deceased, the latter had composed the famous song Les plaines du far-west for Yves Montand. Next year, Jacques Vaillant arrives in the City of Lights, Paris.
In 1975, a guitar in his hands, he sings in the Paris métro. Trocadéro, République, Montparnasse stations: he gathers bigger audiences as days go by. The year 1980 marks the release of Jacques Vaillant's second 45 rpm record Pourquoi piétiner les fleurs, the starting point of his career: ten thousand copies sold within a few months only. During the 1980s, the title Slow pour Alvina is distributed in disc shops, with Carrère publishing. Broadcasted on major French radios (such as Europe 1, NRJ, Radio Monte Carlo, Radio 7, Sud Radio), this title is a first-place hit for days in Belgium, Switzerland, Benelux and in French DOM-TOM territories.
Finally, on account of lack of commercial success, he goes back to the Métro. In these underground corridors, he will sell 40,000 copies of his first vinyl album Correspondances, produced in 1983. Henceforth, he writes poems and song texts, finding his inspiration in everyday life. After more ten years of silence, Jacques Vaillant produced his latest CD, Paris Nostalgie. [edit] Discography 1980 : Pourquoi piétiner les fleurs (45 rpm record) 1981 : Slow pour Alvina (45 rpm record) 1982 : Le chanteur des rues (45 rpm record) 1983 : First album Correspondances 1986 : Second album Plein Soleil 2007 : Third album Paris Nostalgie [edit] Anecdotes When Jacques Vaillant decides to sing in the Paris métro, the first coin falls into the guitar case and a voice tells him: "It's ORTF (French national radio and TV broadcasting at the moment)". He answers back, smiling : "Already!". When entertaining underground passers-by he was nicknamed "The little Prince of the Métro" by his fans. Because of the words of song Slow pour Alvina that tells: Like roses, she would close in the evening, Jacques Vaillant was frequently offered bunches of roses by his fans, when he sang underground.
