Jean-Jacques Goldman

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Jean-Jacques Goldman
Goldman in 2002 at Le Zénith in Paris
Background information
Born	(1951-10-11) 11 October 1951 (age 67)
Origin	Paris, France
Genres	Pop rock, rock, progressive rock, new wave
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocalist, guitarist, pianist, violinist
Years active	1975–present
Associated acts	Taï Phong, Céline Dion, Les Enfoirés, Fredericks Goldman Jones, Grégoire

Jean-Jacques Goldman (French pronunciation: ​[ʒɑ̃.ʒak ɡɔldˈman]; born 11 October 1951) is French singer-songwriter. He is hugely popular in the French-speaking world; since 2017 and the death of Johnny Hallyday he has been the highest grossing French living pop rock singer. Born in Paris and active since 1975, he was part of the trio Fredericks Goldman Jones with a string of hits in the 1990s. He was also part of the Les Enfoirés collective from 1986 to 2016 and is best known in the English-speaking world for winning a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1997.

Biography[edit]

Born in Paris to an immigrant Polish Jewish father, Alter Mojze Goldman and a German Jewish mother, Ruth Ambrunn, Goldman was the third of four children. As a child, he began his music studies on the violin, then the piano. In 1968, he abandoned his classical music studies for "American Rock & Roll" as well as folk music, listening to The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix or Aretha Franklin, and emphasizing the guitar.^[1] He also earned a business degree from the École Des Hautes Études Commerciales, commonly known as EDHEC, in Lille. In 1972, he met Catherine, his first wife, with whom he had three children. He first entered the French music scene as a member of a progressive rock group named Taï Phong ("great wind, typhoon" in Vietnamese), which released its first album in 1975. Their first song to be a moderate hit was "Sister Jane." After singing four years and three albums in English with Taï Phong, Goldman was determined to do it alone and write and sing in French.

In 1981, Marc Lumbroso heard his recording "Il suffira d'un signe" on the album Démodé and signed him to a five-album contract with Epic Records. In 1982, his first hit album Minoritaire, which included the hit song "Quand la musique est bonne", was released; subsequent albums have all been successful. In 1987, he recorded the hit single "Là-bas" with Sirima, which remained a popular song throughout the years. From 1990 to 1995, he recorded two studio albums, one live album and released several singles (such as "Nuit", "À nos actes manqués", "Né en 17 à Leidenstadt" and "Tu manques") with Carole Fredericks and Michael Jones, which were successful. Several of these songs were recorded with English versions, but did not find much success in England or the United States. In 2007, he recorded the hit "4 Mots sur un piano" with Patrick Fiori and Christine Ricol.

Jones, is a Welsh singer who had settled in his mother's native France. He and Goldman scored a hit in the early 1980s with "Je te donne" ("I Give You"), a bilingual song with Jones singing the English lyrics and Goldman the French. Fredericks was an American singer, the sister of Taj Mahal who settled in France in the 1970s.

Jean-Jacques Goldman wrote the theme for "Restos du Coeur" the eponymous song performed by les Enfoirés as the theme of the charity created by Coluche, Les restos du coeur. Throughout his career, he has frequently written for other singers, notably Céline Dion. He wrote her albums D'eux (released in the US as The French Album), which is the best selling French album in history with 10,000,000 copies sold worldwide and S'il suffisait d'aimer. He also worked with her on the album 1 fille & 4 types along with Gildas Arzel, Jacques Veneruso and Erick Benzi. The songs "If That's What It Takes", "I Don't Know" and "Fly" from her album Falling into You are all English adaptations of songs Goldman wrote for Céline.^[2] Her song "Let's Talk About Love" from the album of the same name is also an English adaption of his solo song "Puisque tu pars." He has also collaborated with Johnny Hallyday, Patricia Kaas, Garou, Marc Lavoine, Gérald De Palmas, Patrick Fiori, Khaled ("Aïcha"), Lorie and Florent Pagny as well as famous jazzman Chet Baker, Supertramp's saxophonist John Helliwell, Englishman Joe Cocker, American king of soul Ray Charles and American songwriter Diane Warren.

On 19 November 2012, Génération Goldman, a tribute album to Goldman was released on My Major Company France and M 6 Music label with a number of artists interpreting Goldman songs.

Personal life[edit]

His half-brother Pierre Goldman, a left-wing intellectual and convicted (though later acquitted) robber, was murdered in mysterious circumstances in 1979 in Paris. His younger brother Robert Goldman is also a songwriter (often known as J Kapler). His son Michaël Goldman is one of the co-founders of My Major Company France, a major fan-funded music label.

Philanthropy[edit]

Goldman was the leader of the Les Enfoirés charity ensemble from 1986 to 2016.^[3]

Discography[edit]

This section needs expansion with: peak chart positions. You can help by adding to it. (February 2013)

^[4]

Studio albums[edit]

Solo

Year	Album
1977	Alpha Ralpha - Vocals Record label: Warner
1981	Jean-Jacques Goldman (a/k/a Démodé) Record label: Epic
1982	Jean-Jacques Goldman (a/k/a Minoritaire) Record label: Epic
1984	Positif Record label: Epic
1985	Non homologué Record label: Epic
1987	Entre gris clair et gris foncé Record label: Epic
1997	En passant Record label: Columbia/Sony BMG
2001	Chansons pour les pieds Record label: Columbia/Sony BMG

as Fredericks Goldman Jones

Year	Album
1990	Fredericks Goldman Jones Record label: CBS
1993	Rouge with Red Army Choir, Carole Fredericks and Michael Jones Record label: Columbia

Solo

Year	Album	Peak positions				Certifications
		FRA [5]	BEL (Vl) [6]	BEL (Wa) [7]	SUI [8]
1997	En passant Record label: Columbia	1	38	1	10
2001	Chansons pour les pieds Record label: Columbia	1	–	1	2

Live albums[edit]

Year	Album	Peak positions			Certifications
		FRA [5]	BEL (Wa) [7]	SUI [8]
1986	En public Record label: Epic	N/A	N/A	N/A
1989	Traces Record label: Epic	N/A	N/A	N/A
1999	En passant - Tournée 1998 Record label: Columbia	1	1
2003	Un tour ensemble Record label: Columbia	1	1	7

as Fredericks Goldman Jones

Year	Album
1992	Sur scène Record label: Columbia
1995	Du New Morning au Zénith Record label: Columbia

Compilations[edit]

Year	Album
1991	L'Intégrale 81/91
1996	Singulier 81/89
1996	Pluriel 90/96 (with Carole Fredericks and Michael Jones)
2000	L'Intégrale 90/00
2008	La collection 81-89

Year	Album	Peak positions				Certifications
		FRA [5]	BEL (Vl) [6]	BEL (Wa) [7]	SUI [8]
2011	Singulier 81/89	11	14	1	91
	La Collections 81-89	113	–	142	–
	La Collections 1990-2001	74	–	76	–

Tribute albums to Jean-Jacques Goldman[edit]

(For peak positions, see Génération Goldman page)

Year	Album
2012	Génération Goldman Record label: My Major Company)
2013	Génération Goldman Volume 2 Record label: My Major Company)

Singles[edit]

Solo (first phase)

Year	Album	Peak positions	Certifications
		FRA [5]
1984	"Envole-moi"
	"Long Is the Road (Américain)"	6
1985	"Je marche seul"	2
	"Je te donne" (Goldman / Jones)	1
1986	"Pas toi"	5
	"La vie par procuration" [in public]	2
1987	"Elle a fait un bébé toute seule"	4
1988	"C'est ta chance"	16
	"Puisque tu pars"	3
	"Il changeait la vie" (Live)	14
1989	"Peur de rien blues"	17

As Fredericks, Goldman & Jones

Year	Album	Peak positions	Certifications
		FRA [5]
1990	"Nuit"	6
	"À nos actes manqués"	2
1991	"Né en 17 à Leidenstadt"	11
	"C'est pas d'l'amour"	11
1992	"Un, deux, trois"	8
	"Tu manques"	12
	"Il suffira d'un signe" (Live)	14
1993	"Rouge"	18
1993	"Juste après"	32
1993	"Fermer les yeux"	33

Solo (2nd phase)

Year	Album	Peak positions			Certifications
		FRA [5]	BEL (Wa) [7]	SUI [8]
1997	"Sache que je"	19	18	–
1998	"Quand tu danses"	66	–	–
1999	"Bonne idée"	68	–	–
1999	"Et l'on n'y peut rien"	7	37	61

Others

Year	Album	Peak positions			Certifications
		FRA [5]	BEL (Wa) [7]	SUI [8]
1986	"Les "restos" du cœur" (Jean-Jacques Goldman / Yves Montand / Michel Platini / Nathalie Baye / Michel Drucker / Coluche)	2
1987	"Là-bas" (Sirima and Jean-Jacques Goldman)	2
2007	"4 Mots sur un piano" (Patrick Fiori / Jean-Jacques Goldman & Christine Ricol)	1	7	40

Soundtracks[edit]

• 1989 : L'union sacrée (fr)
• 1990 : Pacific Palisades
• 1997 : Le cousin ("Aïcha")
• 1999 : Asterix & Obelix Take On Caesar
• 1999 : Mon père, ma mère, mes frères et mes soeurs ("Elle a fait un bebe toute seule")
• 2000 : La ville est tranquille ("Pas toi")
• 2002 : Les femmes... ou les enfants d'abord... ("L'Envie")
• 2002 : La mentale ("Je te promets")

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jean-Jacques Goldman.

• (in French) Jean-Jacques Goldman clip/vidéo/live
• (in French) Là-bas
• Biography of Jean-Jacques Goldman, from Radio France Internationale
• (in French) JJG famille
• (in French) Parler d'sa vie
• (in French) Autre Part : L'univers des frères Goldman

Preceded by Michel Jonasz

Victoires de la Musique Male artist of the year 1986

Succeeded by Johnny Hallyday