At the head of Pigalle or Les Garçons Bouchers, François Hadji-Lazaro was an emblem of the alternating current in France. He died on Saturday February 25, at the age of 66.
In the room of the Bar-Tabac on Rue des Martyrs, Potatoes… With Pigalle et Butcher Boys, Francois Hadji-Lazaro was one of the faces of the scene punk and alternative in France. His record label Universal Music announced his death at the age of 66 this Saturday, following a long illness. His close collaborator Stef Gotkovski praised “an outstanding and very creative musician”while confirming that the singer “had health problems for some time”. Culture Minister Rima Abdul-Manak reacted to the announcement on her Twitter account: “His cheeky voice has fallen silent but his tender and grating songs will continue to make us laugh and cry”.
A voice from the Parisian streets
Born in 1956 in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, François Hadji-Lazaro comes from a family of communist militants. The discovery of Bob Dylan pushes the young musician to abandon his career as a teacher to focus on his passion. With Pigalle and Les Garçons Bouchers, François Hadji-Lazaro draws his inspiration from the Parisian streets and the bars he frequents. We find this dark and popular Paris in In the room of the bar-tabac on rue des Martyrs (1990), emblematic title of Pigalle. Mastering more than twenty instruments, François Hadji-Lazaro launched out solo in the 1990s, notably with three albums by children’s songsrecorded between 2011 and 2019. A committed artist, he supported the NPA when it was created and joined the Front de Gauche in 2009.
His endearing punk ogre physique had allowed François Hadji-Lazaro to be given several roles in the cinema. In 1995, he appeared in the role of Cyclops in The City of Lost Children by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro before appearing six years later in The Pact of the Wolves (2001) from Christophe Gans.