François Béranger

François Marie Béranger, born on August 28, 1937 in Amilly (Loiret) and died on October 14, 2003 in Sauve (Gard), is a French libertarian singer-songwriter, who knows a strong notoriety in the years 1970.

Son of a militant trade-unionist to the factories Renault pus deputy of the Nièvre and of a mother seamstress at home. He He interrupted his classical studies at the age of 16, in 1953, and joined Renault in Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine), which he left to join an itinerant amateur theater company, La Roulotte, between 1954 and 1958.

After being called up during the Algerian War, in 1958-1960, he was assigned to the signals department. He returned briefly to the Renault factories, then worked at the ORTF, mainly as a stage manager and director, before starting to sing.

He became known in the early 1970s during the revival of the French song, impregnated with folk, carried by protest themes, alongside Dick Annegarn, Catherine Ribeiro, Mama Béa, of the Occitan Joan-Pau Verdier.

Songs such as Tranche de vie, L'alternative, Rachel, Participe présent impose him as one of the militant voices of this time. He participated in the music of the film by Gébé and Jacques Doillon, L'An 01 in which he made an appearance.

Shortly before his death, François Béranger recorded an album devoted to the repertoire of the Quebec singer Félix Leclerc (the record will be published after his death). He performed for the last time in Paris in September 2002 at the Limonaire. His very last appearance on stage was at La Cigale, during a concert of Sanseverino. The latter, who had recorded and played Le Tango de l'ennui, had invited him on stage to sing this classic of his repertoire.

He died of cancer at his home, at 66 years.

On October 17, 2003, after a funeral in the parish of Saint-François in Montpellier, he was buried in the family vault in the Champ Juvénal cemetery in Castelnau-le-Lez.