Jean-Paul Mauric
Encyclopedia
Jean-Paul Mauric is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France....
, Var – died 5 January 1971, Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
) was a French singer, best known for his participation in the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
.
Mauric studied at the Conservatoire de Toulon, and after touring around Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
as an orchestra singer, he obtained a record contract as a result of winning a talent contest at the Théâtre Marigny
Théâtre Marigny
The Théâtre Marigny is a theatre in Paris, situated near the junction of the Champs-Élysées and the Avenue Marigny, in the 8th arrondissement. It was originally built to designs of the architect Charles Garnier for the display of a panorama, which opened in 1883...
in Paris in 1957. From 1958, Mauric released a series of popular EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
s, and in 1961 was chosen to represent France in the sixth Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest 1961
The Eurovision Song Contest 1961 was the sixth Eurovision Song Contest. A total of sixteen countries took part in the Contest, including the three debuting countries: Finland, Spain, and Yugoslavia. It was held on 18 March 1961 and was the first to take place on a Saturday night, a tradition that...
, held on his home ground in Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
on 18 March. Mauric's uptempo song "Printemps, avril carillonne
Printemps, Avril Carillonne
"Printemps, avril carillonne" was the French entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961, performed in French by Jean-Paul Mauric....
" ("Springtime, April calling") finished in a respectable fourth place of the 16 entries. (Its lyric of "Bing et bong et bing et bong..." is often cited as setting a precedent which would become very prolific in later Eurovisions.)
Mauric's record releases tailed off as the 1960s progressed, but he remained a popular live performer. His career was cut short when he was taken ill in December 1970, and died on 5 January 1971 from complications of cardiomyopathic disease
Cardiomyopathy
Cardiomyopathy, which literally means "heart muscle disease," is the deterioration of the function of the myocardium for any reason. People with cardiomyopathy are often at risk of arrhythmia or sudden cardiac death or both. Cardiomyopathy can often go undetected, making it especially dangerous to...
, aged 37.