Plastic Bertrand

Plastic Bertrand

Plastic Bertrand (born Roger Marie Francois Jouret, 24 February 1954) is a Belgian musician, songwriter, producer, editor and television presenter, best known for his 1977 international hit single "Ça plane pour moi".

Biography

Early life and bands

He was born in Brussels of a French father and Ukrainian mother. At the age of nine, he became a singer and drummer in the Buffalo Scouts Band, a group he formed with the Boy Scouts, who performed covers of Rolling Stones songs. He later formed a band called The Pelicans who performed at parties, later changing their name to Passing the Time, extending their act in bars, clubs and at festivals along the Dutch and Belgian coast. Later he was hired by pirate radio station Radio Veronica.

Meanwhile, he continued his education at the Music Academy studying music theory and percussion, passing his degree at the Athénée Adolphe Max. Whilst awaiting admission to the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, he spent a year at the Saint-Luc Institute studying design.

In 1973 he entered the Conservatory to study music theory, percussion and music history. Influenced by the punk movement, he created the band Hubble Bubble, sharing his time between study at the Conservatory, rehearsals and concerts with the band, and work as stage manager at the Theatre des Galeries. In 1978 Hubble Bubble released their first of two albums, also titled Hubble Bubble. Jouret is credited as the songwriter, singer and drummer under the name Roger Junior. Unfortunately, the group's bass player was killed in an accident returning from a rehearsal, and the group disbanded.

As Plastic Bertrand

In 1977, Plastic Bertrand started his solo career with the hit single "Ça plane pour moi", a French version of the British queer punk anthem Jet Boy, Jet Girl.[1] He toured Canada, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Europe and the USA, becoming one of the few French-speaking artists to appear in the Billboard chart. He also appeared on a number of major television shows, presenting Jackpot on TF1, Destination Noël on France 2, Due Per Tutti on RAI2 and Supercool on RTBF, which he also produced.

Between 1982 and 1985 he lived in Milan, and millions of Italians followed his adventures in a photo-story of which he was the star. With Daniel Balavoine and ABBA's Anni-Frid Lyngstad, he recorded Abbacadabra, a musical tale for children. In the early 1980s he appeared in movies such as Légitime Violence and the short film Baoum. Working with Vladimir Cosma, he wrote several film scores, including Astérix et la surprise de César (Asterix Versus Caesar).

During the 1990s Bertrand explored other facets of music, including songwriting and producing, and also recorded the album Suite Diagonal for Sony in 1994 with Jacques Lanzmann. Forming the company MMD with Pierrette Broodthaers, he produced two albums for David Janssen, an album of classic music with a Turkish contemporary influence for harpsichord and organ with Leila Pinar, an album of traditional Balkan music with the Kazansky choir, and a single for Noël Godin, Chantilly c'est parti.

Comeback

Twenty years after Ça plane pour moi, Bertrand returned to the public eye as MTV declared him the "most wanted comeback artist". He made a guest appearance on the album Get Ready!, and rerecorded his 1982 song Stop ou encore, which went platinum in Belgium. A "best of" album was released in 1998 on the Universal-AMC label, Bertrand himself handling the remastering process.

Aside from a resurgence in his musical career, Plastic Bertrand made numerous guest appearances on European television, and presented the fortnightly show Duel for two seasons at RTBF. He also worked with Pierrette Broodthaers to open the "Broodthaers & Bertrand" art gallery, and worked with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Valenciennes and Belgian artist Jacques Charlier to produce 120 Andy Warhol-style portraits.

In 2001, Bertrand toured Belgium, France, Switzerland and Germany with a series of concerts, and composed a number of new songs. He also made appearances on Channel 4's Eurotrash show and BBC2's chat show Clarkson.

In 2002, he signed a new contract and recorded his eighth album Ultra terrestre, released in Belgium in 2002. In September and November the same year, he managed the TV talent contest Star Academy on RTL-TVI.

In March 2003, to celebrate 25 years since the beginning of his successful solo career, Betrand performed a concert at the Cirque Royal in Brussels, performing new songs and past hits with a philharmonic orchestra, and singing in duet with guest singers.

From July to September 2003, he presented the TV show Hit Story on France 3.

During his comeback, he appeared on a special 1980s edition of Le Maillon Faible, the French equivalent of Weakest Link. He won €1,150 for charity.

He was also scheduled to appear at the Countdown Spectacular 2 concert series in Australia in late-August/early-September 2007 but pulled out at the last moment.

Discography

Albums

• 1978 AN1 (Sire Records)
• 1979 J'te fais un plan (RKM)
• 1980 L' Album (Attic Records)
• 1981 Plastiquez vos baffles (Attic Records)
• 1981 Grands succès/Greatest Hits (Attic Records)
• 1983 Chat va (Attic Records)
• 1988 Pix (Attic Records)
• 1994 Suite diagonale (Attic Records)
• 2002 Ultraterrestre (RM Records)

Singles

• 1975 "New Promotion/You'll Be The One"
• 1977 "Ça plane pour moi/Pogo Pogo" English translation
• 1978 "Bambino/Le Petit Tortillard"
• 1978 "Super Cool/Affection"
• 1978 "Sha La La La Lee/Naif Song"
• 1978 "Tout petit la planète/C'est le Rock'N'Roll"
• 1979 "Tout petit la planète /J'te fais un plan/Hit 87"
• 1979 "Sentimentale moi/Quais Quais Quais Quais"
• 1979 "Le Monde est merveilleux/ J'te fais un plan "
• 1979 "Sans Amour/Plastic Boy"
• 1979 "Téléphone à téléphone mon bijou/Stop ou encore"
• 1980 "Téléphone à téléphone mon bijou /Kangourou Kangourou"
• 1980 "Hula Hoop/Amoureux fou de toi"
• 1981 "Jaques Cousteau/Paradis"
• 1981 "La Star à pécole/Baby Doll/Coeur D'acier"
• 1982 "L'amour Ok/New York/Coeur d'acier/Stop ou encore"
• 1982 "Duo Avec Nathalie"
• 1983 "Arret d'autobus/Mon Nez, mon nez"
• 1983 "Chat/Fou des Fifties"
• 1983 "Major Tom/Miss Italie"
• 1983 "Gueule d'amour/Down Town"
• 1985 "Astérix est Là/Le Secret du druide
• 1986 "Je l'jure/La Fille du premier rang"
• 1986 "Let's Slow Again/Toujours plus haut"
• 1987 "Amour amour"
• 1988 "Démente a la menthe"
• 1989 "Slave To The Beat/Plastiiic Acid Mix"
• 1990 "Sex Tabou"
• 1991 "House Machine/Club Control feat. Plastic Bertrand"
• 1994 "Les Joueurs de Tchik Tchik"
• 2002 "Play Boy/Canape"
• 2003 "Plastcubration/Tous, Touchez-vous"

See also

• Punk rock in Belgium

References

• BMI.com

External links

• Official site
• Plastic Bertrand: World Scrabble Champion?
• Soundtrack Used In Pepsi Commercial