Joe Dassin
Encyclopedia
Joseph Ira Dassin more commonly known as Joe Dassin, was an American
singer-songwriter
best known for his French
songs of the 1960s and 1970s.
to American film director
Jules Dassin
and Béatrice Launer (1913–2005), a New-York-born violin
ist, who after graduating from a Hebrew High School in the Bronx studied with the British violinist Harold Berkely at the Juilliard School of Music. Both parents were Jewish. His father was of Russian
and Polish
Jewish extraction, his maternal grandfather was an Austrian
Jewish immigrant, who arrived in New York with his family at age 11.
He began his childhood first in New York City
and Los Angeles
. However, after his father fell victim to the Hollywood blacklist
in 1950, he and his family moved from place to place across Europe
.
Dassin studied at the International School of Geneva
and the Institut Le Rosey
in Switzerland
, and graduated in Grenoble
. Dassin moved back to the United States
where he earned a doctorate
in ethnology
at the University of Michigan
in Ann Arbor, Michigan
.
He moved back to France
where
he worked as a technician for his father and appeared as an actor in supporting roles in a number of movies directed by his father, including Topkapi
where he played the role of "Josef".
On December 26, 1964, Dassin signed up with CBS Records
, making him the first French singer to sign up with an American record label.
By the early 1970s, Dassin's songs were on the top of the charts in France and he had become very well known in that country. He was also a talented polyglot
, recording songs in German
, Russian
, Spanish
, Italian
and Greek
, as well as French
and English
.
Dassin married Maryse (whose real first name is Yvette) Massiéra on January 18, 1966, in Paris
. Their son, Joshua, was born two and a half months before term, September 12, 1973, and died 5 days after. Devastated, Joe and Maryse split, but did not divorce until 1977.
On January 14, 1978, Joe married Christine Delvaux in Cotignac
(Var). They had two sons, Jonathan (born September 14, 1978) and Julien (March 22, 1980). Christine died in December 1995.
Joe Dassin died of a heart attack
during a vacation to Tahiti
on August 20, 1980. He is survived by his two sons, both living in France, as well as his two younger sisters, Richelle (b.1940) and Julie (b.1945). His body is interred in the Beth Olam Mausoleum section of Hollywood Forever Cemetery
in Hollywood, California.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
best known for his French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
songs of the 1960s and 1970s.
Biography
Joe Dassin was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to American film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
Jules Dassin
Jules Dassin
Julius "Jules" Dassin , was an American film director, with Jewish-Russian origins. He was a subject of the Hollywood blacklist in the McCarthy era, and subsequently moved to France where he revived his career.-Early life:...
and Béatrice Launer (1913–2005), a New-York-born violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist, who after graduating from a Hebrew High School in the Bronx studied with the British violinist Harold Berkely at the Juilliard School of Music. Both parents were Jewish. His father was of Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
and Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Jewish extraction, his maternal grandfather was an Austrian
Austrians
Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent....
Jewish immigrant, who arrived in New York with his family at age 11.
He began his childhood first in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. However, after his father fell victim to the Hollywood blacklist
Hollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
in 1950, he and his family moved from place to place across Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
Dassin studied at the International School of Geneva
International School of Geneva
The International School of Geneva , also known as Ecolint, is a private international school based in Geneva, Switzerland. It is the oldest currently operating International School in the world...
and the Institut Le Rosey
Institut Le Rosey
Institut Le Rosey, commonly referred to as Le Rosey or simply Rosey, is a school, in Gstaad, Switzerland. It is described as one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the world. The school was founded by Paul-Émile Carnal in 1880 on the site of the 14th-century Château du Rosey near the town...
in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, and graduated in Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
. Dassin moved back to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
where he earned a doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in ethnology
Ethnology
Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...
at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
.
He moved back to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
where
he worked as a technician for his father and appeared as an actor in supporting roles in a number of movies directed by his father, including Topkapi
Topkapi (film)
Topkapi is a heist film made by Filmways Pictures and distributed by United Artists. It was produced and directed by the emigre American film director, Jules Dassin...
where he played the role of "Josef".
On December 26, 1964, Dassin signed up with CBS Records
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
, making him the first French singer to sign up with an American record label.
By the early 1970s, Dassin's songs were on the top of the charts in France and he had become very well known in that country. He was also a talented polyglot
Polyglot (person)
A polyglot is someone with a high degree of proficiency in several languages. A bilingual person can speak two languages fluently, whereas a trilingual three; above that the term multilingual may be used.-Hyperpolyglot:...
, recording songs in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, as well as French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
Dassin married Maryse (whose real first name is Yvette) Massiéra on January 18, 1966, in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Their son, Joshua, was born two and a half months before term, September 12, 1973, and died 5 days after. Devastated, Joe and Maryse split, but did not divorce until 1977.
On January 14, 1978, Joe married Christine Delvaux in Cotignac
Cotignac
Cotignac is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France....
(Var). They had two sons, Jonathan (born September 14, 1978) and Julien (March 22, 1980). Christine died in December 1995.
Joe Dassin died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
during a vacation to Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
on August 20, 1980. He is survived by his two sons, both living in France, as well as his two younger sisters, Richelle (b.1940) and Julie (b.1945). His body is interred in the Beth Olam Mausoleum section of Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery, originally called Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles, California. It is located at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in the Hollywood...
in Hollywood, California.
Discography
| Album | Year | Songs |
|---|---|---|
| Je change un peu de vent | 1964 |
|
| À New York | 1966 |
|
| Les Deux Mondes de Joe Dassin | 1967 |
The Last Thing on My Mind "The Last Thing on My Mind" is a song written by American musician and singer-songwriter Tom Paxton in the early 1960s, which Paxton first recorded in 1964... My Funny Valentine "My Funny Valentine" is a show tune from the 1937 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart musical Babes in Arms in which it was introduced by former child star Mitzi Green... |
| Les Champs-Élysées | 1969 |
|
| La Fleur aux dents | 1970 |
Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He, formerly known as the Hwang Ho, is the second-longest river in China and the sixth-longest in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, it flows through nine provinces of China and empties into... ") |
| Elle était oh!... | 1971 |
|
| Joe | 1972 |
City of New Orleans The City of New Orleans is a nightly passenger train operated by Amtrak which travels between Chicago, Illinois and New Orleans, Louisiana. Before Amtrak's formation in 1971, the train was operated by the Illinois Central Railroad along the same route . The train currently operates on a 19½ hour... ") |
| 13 chansons nouvelles | 1973 |
|
| Si tu t'appelles Mélancolie | 1974 |
|
| À l'Olympia | 1974 |
Sweet Georgia Brown "Sweet Georgia Brown" is a jazz standard and pop tune written in 1925 by Ben Bernie and Maceo Pinkard and Kenneth Casey .The tune was first recorded on March 19, 1925 by bandleader Ben Bernie, resulting in a five-week No. 1 for Ben Bernie and his Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra... (duo de flûtes à nez avec Jean Hebrard) |
| Joe Dassin | 1975 |
|
| Le Jardin du Luxembourg | 1976 |
|
| Les Femmes de ma vie | 1978 |
|
| 15 ans déjà | 1979 |
Claudja Barry Claudja Barry, is a singer and actress who has performed in the European versions of the stage musicals Hair and Catch My Soul.-Early music career:... 's "Down by the Water") |
| Blue Country (English version: Home Made Ice Cream) | 1979 |
You Don't Mess Around with Jim -Notes:-Notes:-Notes:*A Tracks 1-12 correspond to the original 1972 album-Personnel:*Jim Croce - guitar, rhythm guitar, vocals, background vocals*Maury Muehleisen - guitar, vocals*The Briggs - background vocals... ") |
| Little Italy | 1982 |
|
External links
- http://membres.multimania.fr/jdassin/bio.htm, Another French entry