Johnny Hallyday

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Hallyday in March 2014

Jean-Philippe Léo Smet (15 June 1943 – 6 December 2017), better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll singer and actor. He has completed 181 tours, had 18 platinum albums and sold more than 110 million records worldwide in his lifetime. Some of his best known hits include "Retiens la nuit", "Souvenirs, souvenirs", "Le pénitencier", "Que je t'aime", "Requiem pour un fou", "Marie", "Allumer le feu", "Laura", "Je te promets", "Sang pour sang". He was sometimes called the "French Elvis Presley" though he wouldn't stick to only sing as Presley did.

Johnny Hallyday appeared in the movies The Specialist (1969), Détective (1985) and Crime Spree (2003). He was not very well known outside the French-speaking world.

Halliday was born in Paris. His father was from Belgium and his mother was French. He had five marriages and had four children.[1]

Hallyday had surgery for colorectal cancer in 2009. He revealed he had lung cancer in 2017. He died on 6 December 2017 in Marnes-la-Coquette, Paris, at the age of 74.[1][2]

References[change | change source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Johnny Hallyday, the Elvis Presley of France, Is Dead at 74". The New York Times. 5 December 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  2. "Johnny Hallyday: French rock star dies at 74". BBC. 6 December 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2017.

Other websites[change | change source]