2023-06-24 10:11:00
Madame, Le Rital, I won’t write to you anymore, Love me… Claude Barzotti has graced us with a few hits during his career. The Italian-Belgian singer spent his childhood near Pesaro on the Italian Adriatic coast before settling in his native country (he was born in Châtelineau) at the age of 18. The one who was to celebrate his 70th birthday on July 23, had particularly marked the 80s – his hit Madame has sold more than 1.7 million copies – after having worked for nine years as artistic director at Vogue. If he did not experience the same success in the following decades, he nevertheless always clung to this musical universe dear to his heart. Result ? 20 albums and even more tours (including those of Âge tender at the end of his career), solidarity concerts galore (the man had his heart on his sleeve and was the Belgian artist who always collected the most donations from fans), TV shows and even the opening of Italian restaurants in Brussels and Walloon Brabant…
He had hung up the microphone
Although less popular lately, he has never stopped singing. At least, until 2020. That year, Claude Barzotti announced that he was putting an end to his career tired of no longer being able to give concerts because of the health crisis, but also because of his major health problems (pancreatitis and kidney surgery). “I’ve been thinking about it since March already, since the appearance of this virus”, he told us on Monday, November 9, 2020. “I had to cancel around eighty shows”. The artist then explained to us that he regularly went back and forth between his home and the hospital. “It exhausts me enormously. I have liver, pancreas, stomach problems. […] Not to mention my recurring problems with alcohol which are not completely resolved. Sure of his decision and “out of breath” following the Covid, Claudio – for those close to him – assured us that he no longer had the strength or the desire to sing”. “I know that I am exhausted and that I will never be able to go back on stage again. I’ve been singing for 40 years, I think I’ve done enough. ” And this father (and grandfather) concludes: “I think I had an honorable career, a good career. I had a lot of number 1s, really big popular hits. I offered to people, to my fans, whom I thank very much for having followed me during these 40 years, songs that still give them happiness, it is a great satisfaction for me.
Claude Barzotti’s doctors were “less and less optimistic”
In December 2020, Claude Barzotti then gave an interview to France on Sunday in which he expressed his concern about his state of health. “I can’t even stand up anymore… I am seriously ill. I am currently suffering from terrible pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas, Editor’s note) which forces me to go to the hospital every day”, he had indicated, before affirming that he sometimes stayed there for several nights. in a row. “In fact, I’ve been spending all my time there for more than a year for problems related to the liver, stomach and heart as well. For my alcohol problems too. Doctors are less and less optimistic. They told me that it was getting very complicated and that they had never seen it,” he concluded, distraught.
Fed daily with drugs for some time (with a person at his bedside to administer them), his state of health worsened and he no longer counted the round trips to the Erasmus hospital. Verdict? His pancreatic cancer, aggravated by alcohol, became widespread… But as he had always told us, he preferred to die at home surrounded by his dogs.
The last time we met him was at the funeral of his great friend, Grand Jojo, in December 2021. He already seemed greatly weakened and thinner but above all very saddened by the loss of his friend even if he confided that he had had a “beautiful death” by leaving without knowing that he was gone.
”Up to 10 bottles of whiskey a day”: Confessions on his setbacks
For years, Claude Barzotti had a complicated relationship with alcohol aggravating his pancreatitis. In 2017, he was asked this question when he had had a good career and earned a lot of money: What do you lack then to be happy? And his answer was unequivocal… “Well, actually, I’m unhappy. I’m honest with you, I’m really unhappy. I do not know why. Just because it works doesn’t mean you’re happy. Me, I’m sad all the time, I spend my life crying. But we will try to solve the problem a bit.”
If he put a lot of hope in his new album, his alcohol and health problems were far from over… “I’ll tell you the truth because I don’t like to lie… Before, I was drinking 7 to 8 bottles of whiskey per day. For 2 years, no more drops. But everything is replaced by something. So I still drink a bottle of white wine a day. I had a stroke of the blues and I fell into alcohol… although I had never had a drink in my life. It’s stupid, huh? Everyone smokes joint in show business. Not me. But alcohol is worse, because you become stupid. I’ve been up to 10 bottles of whiskey a day…”
Aware of the problem (“I almost died… They removed a kidney”), the artist seemed to take himself in hand to avoid a relapse. “Strong alcohol, I don’t want to drink it anymore. It’s over, over. Alcohol still destroyed my career and destroyed me. It’s sad because I ruined everything. Because alcohol makes you stupid…”
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