Joe Dassin | |
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 Dassin in the 1960s | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Joseph Ira Dassin (1938-11-05)November 5, 1938 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | August 20, 1980(1980-08-20) (aged 41) Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia |
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| Years active | 1964–1980 |
| Labels | |
| Website | joedassin |
Joseph Ira Dassin (November 5, 1938 – August 20, 1980) was an American singer-songwriter. He sang in multiple languages but found his greatest successes in France and theFrench-speaking world.[1][full citation needed] In total, he sold nearly 25 million records worldwide.[2][3][4]
Dassin was born inBrooklyn, New York City, to Jewish-American parents. His father was film directorJules Dassin and his mother was violinist Béatrice Launer, who studied at theJuilliard School.[5] Both of his parents were mostly ofUkrainian-Jewish extraction fromKamianets-Podilskyi,Sataniv andBuchach.[6]
Dassin lived in New York City and Los Angeles until his father was placed on theHollywood blacklist in 1950, at which time his family moved to Europe. Between the ages of ten and fifteen Dassin changed schools eleven times.[7] He studied at, among other places, theInternational School of Geneva and theInstitut Le Rosey in Switzerland, and finished his secondary education inGrenoble. Dassin returned to the United States to attend theUniversity of Michigan from 1957 to 1963, winning an undergraduateHopwood Award for fiction in 1958 and earning a Bachelor of Arts in 1961 and a Master of Arts in 1963, both inAnthropology.[8]
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Moving to France, Dassin worked as a technician for his father and appeared as an actor in supporting roles, among others in three movies directed by his father, includingTopkapi (1964) in which he played the role of Josef. He met his future wife Maryse Massiéra in Paris in 1963.
On December 26, 1964, Dassin signed withCBS Records, making him the first French-language singer to be signed with an American record label.
By the early 1970s, Dassin's songs were at the top of the charts in France, and he became immensely popular there. He recorded songs in German, Spanish, Italian, and Greek, as well as French and English. Amongst his most popular songs are "Les Champs-Élysées" (Originally "Waterloo Road") (1969), "Salut les amoureux" (originally "City of New Orleans") (1973), "L'Été indien" (1975), "Et si tu n'existais pas" (1975), and "À toi" (1976).
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Dassin married Maryse Massiéra in Paris on January 18, 1966. Their son Joshua was born two and a half months early on September 12, 1973, and died five days later. They divorced in 1977. On January 14, 1978, Dassin married Christine Delvaux inCotignac, and they had two sons together. Christine died in December 1995.
Dassin died from a heart attack during a vacation toTahiti on August 20, 1980, aged 41.[9] He was eating lunch with family and friends at the restaurantChez Michel et Éliane inPapeete when he suddenly slumped in his chair, unconscious. A doctor who was also eating at the restaurant performedCPR on him, but Dassin died at the restaurant. The only ambulance in Papeete was unavailable at the time and took 40 minutes to arrive.[10] His body was returned to the United States and is interred in the Beth Olam section ofHollywood Forever Cemetery inHollywood, California.[11]
In 2020, many established artists paid tribute to Dassin songs on a tribute album,À toi, Joe Dassin. The album peaked at No. 44 in the French SNEP Albums chart. It also charted in Belgium peaking at No. 26 in the country'sUltratop albums francophone chart and also peaking at No. 4 in theSwiss Hitparade (Albums Chart).[12] Artists appearing on the album includedYcare,Axelle Red,Les Frangines,Trois Cafés Gourmands,Patrick Fiori,Kids United Nouvelle Génération,Madame Monsieur, andCamélia Jordana.[citation needed]
