The first musical director and arranger of the formation created in the 1940s died at the age of 98. In 1946, he sang with Môme Piaf and her friends the worldwide success The three Bells.
He was one of the last two song mateswith Michel Cez says “Gaston“, the youngest now 88 years old. Marc Herrand, who will have celebrated his 98e birthday on May 9, left us. The announcement made by AFP journalist Jean-François Guyot was confirmed by the music site Pure Charts. This historical companion-singer was the first musical director and arranger of this group founded in February 1946. And it was this same year that she recorded with Môme Piaf The three Bells by Jean Villard, a choral song that will go around the world.
Born Marc Holtz on May 9, 1925, the future chorister and arranger joined the troupe Les Compagnons de la Musique created by Louis Liébard at the age of sixteen. It was in 1946 that he formed the famous Compagnons de la chanson with eight of his friends. Luck smiled on them since a few months later, the first nine members of the group immortalized The three Bells written and composed by the singer Jean Villard known as “Gilles“.
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La Môme Piaf and the Compagnons de la chanson sing The three Bells
From 1946 to 1952, he participated as a chorister and arranger in the great epic of the Compagnons de la chanson. Together, they make a great tour in the United States and in many regions around the world. An expert in composition for canon singing, he orchestrated the great successes of the time such as The king had the drum beat And The prisoner of the towersung as The three Bells with the unforgettable Edith Piaf.
Yvette Giraud (1916 – 2014) sings The soul of poets by Charles Trenet
He left the Compagnons in 1952 to become the arranger of the songs of his great love, the singer Yvette Giraud, with whom he lived for more than half a century. Under his aegis, she will resume The soul of poets of Charles Trénet who promises us that “Long after the poets are gone, their songs still run through the streets…Verses, in short, which perfectly tell the soul of a songwriter, in the noblest sense of the term, which will have animated the talented Marc Herrand all his life.