Jean-Patrick Capdevielle is a French songwriter, composer, singer, musician and painter who influenced the French rock scene in the 1980s. With a mixture of American and British influences, Capdevielle's work is characterised by his raucous voice. Many of his lyrics are based on anarchist and visionary concepts, with rhythms commonly seen in 1960s London and late 1970s New York club scenes.
Biography
Capdevielle was born on December 19, 1945 in Levallois-Perret. He received his High School Diploma when he was 15 years old, then went on to study medicine and law. He eventually became a journalist and was a photographer for various French magazines including, Salut les copains, Mademoiselle Age Tendre, SuperHebdo, Actuel, and Lui or Paris-Match. Soon after, he became an artistic director and created a teen magazine, which he sold soon after. In the 1960s he traveled to the United States and lived there for two years in a Volkswagen camper van. He also lived in London where he met The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and he became a close friend of Eric Clapton. In 1970, he moved to settle in the Balearic Islands, Ibiza, where he devoted himself to painting and composing music. In 1978, Capdevielle received an electric guitar as a gift from a friend and started writing his first songs. They led to the recording of his first record. The record "Solitude", described as "Reggae in French" and produced by Ketchup Music, was quite successful. When this record label stopped operating, this initial success allowed him to sign a contract with CBS. In August 1979, Capdevielle's first album was released, Les Enfants des Ténèbres et les Anges de la rue. But unexpectedly, the song on the B-side, entitled "Quand t'es dans le Désert", was more successful on the radio. Thirty-five years later, Capdevielle is still remembered for this song in France. The second album, /2 was released in 1980 and was also highly successful. The songs "C'est dur d'être un héros" and "Oh Chiquita" sold respectively 150,000 and 200,000 copies. His first two albums have been certified as platinum albums, with more than 200,000 copies sold, and was classed amongst "The Top 100 Essential French Rock Albums" by the Rolling Stone magazine in 2010. Between 1980 and 1982, Capdevielle completed three concert tours with two tours at the Olympia and one at The Palais des Sports in Paris. In 1982, Capdevielle released his third album L'Ennemi Public, recorded at Bearsville Sound Studio with the participation of renowned American musicians such as Wells Kelly " and another one for Richard Cocciante. In 1995, he also released the albumPolitiquement correct . In 1997, reconnecting with his old passion for classical music, he wrote, composed and directed Carmine Meo for the soprano Emma Shapplin, an album of contemporary opera, sung in 14th century Italian. The CD and the subsequent tour were an international success and the CD sold more than two and the half million copies; obtaining 39 Gold records and 17 Platinum records. In 2001, Capdevielle wrote and composed a neo-romantic opera, still in the 14th century Italian : Atylantos… A legend of Atlantis, with Chiara Zeffirelli, Elena Cojocaru, Jade Laura Angelis and Nikola Todorovitch. The final goal still remains to produce a show based on this album. In 2005, he co-produced the album Pop Tasty, which was written and composed by Montparnasse band. In 2007, he wrote lyrics for several songs on David Hallyday's album released that year. In the same year, his 13th album Heretique #13 was released. In 2008, Capdevielle supported Sweet Air in taking part in the Baltimore project in support of the hostages of the world. In 2015, after 6 years of writing and composition, he decided to write 11 songs. The first drafts of these songs were released on social media and Capdevielle decided to launch a campaign on the crowdfunding platform KissKissBankBank. Within a few hours, the budget needed to achieve the album recording was reached and even exceeded. The album Bienvenue au Paradis was recorded in "Britannia Row studios" in London and in Paris, and the Premium Version Album was released in November 2015 on his official website. Following the release of this album, the "Welcome to Paradise" Tour, a participation tour was organised by his fans in French speaking countries for a year. He recorded a live album during this tour, which was released in 2017.
