Jacques Dutronc

Emerging out of the Parisian garage rock scene of the early 1960s, Jacques Dutronc found some early success writing songs for future wife Françoise Hardy before putting his own stamp on French rock & roll in the latter part of the decade. With his smart, provocative lyrics and rebellious spirit, Dutronc rose to stardom with hits like "Et moi, et moi, et moi," Les play boys," and 1968's "Il est cinq heures, Paris s'éveille," a French pop classic widely considered to be his crowning achievement. He spent the bulk of the '70s pursuing a similarly successful career as a film actor, then returned to album-making with 1980's Guerre et pets which he co-wrote with Serge Gainsbourg. A César Award for his 1991 portrayal of Vincent Van Gogh marked a new peak in Dutronc's acting career and he also made a pair of strong musical comebacks, first with 1995's Brèves rencontres and later with 2003's critically acclaimed Madame l'existence. In 2022, he mounted an extensive co-headlining tour with his son, singer/songwriter Thomas Dutronc, which led to the collaborative studio album Dutronc & Dutronc.

Jacques Dutronc was born on April 28, 1943 in Paris, France, and formed his first rock band, El Toro et les Cyclones, in 1960. A pair of singles for the Disques Vogue label yielded little success and the budding singer was soon drafted into the army. After his discharge in 1963, he briefly played guitar in Eddy Mitchell's band, then found work at his former label as a staff songwriter. He was paired up with a writer named Jacques Lanzmann, who would go on to become Dutronc's primary songwriting partner for the bulk of his career. Among the artists he wrote for was the already well-established pop star and Vogue labelmate Françoise Hardy. Dutronc's career as a solo artist began in 1966 with the number two hit "Et moi, et moi, et moi." His rugged R&B-flavored rock songs belied a keen and playful intelligence and he was soon racking up additional hits like "Les play boys," which, along with his self-titled debut album, topped the French charts. Over the next few years, Dutronc was one of France's most commercially successful artists with a string of hits that included "J'aime les filles" and the eternal "Il est cinq heures, Paris s'éveille," both of which hit number one. By this time, he'd begun a relationship with Hardy, establishing them as a significant power couple of the era.

In 1973, after five successful albums, Dutronc appeared in the film Antoine et Sébastien, effectively launching the second phase of his career. Aside from 1975's, Jacques Dutronc 75, he devoted the remainder of the decade to acting, earning critical acclaim and a César nomination for his 1977 role in the film Mado. He and Hardy, who had been living together since the early '70s and gave birth to a son, Thomas, eventually married in 1981.

Heading into the '80s, Dutronc decided to resume his music career and re-entered the studio, this time with Serge Gainsbourg as his primary co-writer. Provocative as ever, the resulting album, Guerre et pets, was a minor success, hampered in part by his racial epithet-listing lead single "L'hymne à l'amour." 1982's C'est pas du bronze, fared even worse than its predecessor, though his acting career remained commercially viable. His starring role in director Maurice Pialat's Van Gogh biopic drew widespread critical acclaim and won Dutronc a César Award for Best Actor. A subsequent run of comeback concerts which were documented both on film and record as Dutronc au Casino helped restore some luster to his music career ahead of the 1995 album Brèves rencontres. That album featured a collaboration with his son, Thomas Dutronc, who soon went on to launch his own successful career as a jazz-pop singer, guitarist, and songwriter.

Meanwhile, the elder Dutronc forged ahead in film, earning praise for his role in 2000's Merci pour le Chocolat and starring in 2002's Summer Things. His 2003 album, Madame l'existence, was seen as something of a return to form and by the decade's end, he had also resumed touring. After a 2014 run of shows with fellow French pop elder statesmen Eddy Mitchell and Johnny Halladay, Dutronc laid relatively low for the next several years.

In 2022, he teamed up with his son Thomas for a rare father and son tour which featured a set list celebrating music from each of their careers. The tour proved to be a run-up to the release of Dutronc & Dutronc, a retrospective studio-style album featuring new duo recordings of highlights from their respective catalogs. ~ Timothy Monger, Rovi