Les Variations

Les Variations was a French rock band from the late 1960s to mid-1970s, that sang in English and was known for its rock guitar-based music. They were France's first band to headline the famed Olympia Theatre, the first to tour America, the first to sign with a US label and the first to achieve hit records in America. On their last two albums, "Moroccan Roll" and "Cafe de Paris," their compositions, arrangements and lyrics contained sounds and stories of North African and Jewish Sephardic culture as well as the Hebrew songs of the band members’ youth growing up in North Africa. With this sound, they introduced a new rock fusion which is now referred to as Moroccanroll music, which is played throughout North Africa and has influenced many western rock bands over the past four decades.

History

Three of the original four members were Moroccan Jews. Joe Leb sang vocals, Marc Tobaly played guitar, and Isaac “Jacky” Bitton was on drums. The fourth member, Jacques “Petit Pois” Grande, who played bass, is of Italian heritage. In 1971, Leb was briefly replaced by French singer Michel Chevalier. In 1975, Leb was later replaced by Tunisian born Robert Fitoussi.