Raymond Lefebvre

Raymond Lefebvre

Birth : 1929-11-20, Calais, Pas-de-Calais, France

Death : 2008-06-27

History

Raymond Lefèvre (20 November 1929 – 27 June 2008) was a French easy listening orchestra leader, arranger and composer. Born on 20 November 1929 in Calais, France, Raymond Lefèvre is best known for his interpretation of the 1968 theme "Soul Coaxing (Ame Caline)" (composed by Michel Polnareff), which became an international hit. He also wrote soundtracks for movies with Louis de Funès such as La Soupe Aux Choux (1981) or the series Le Gendarme de Saint Tropez. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, he accompanied Dalida on most of her recordings (Bambino, Por Favor, Tu peux tout faire de moi, Quand on n'a que l'amour), amongst many others. He started his musical career in 1956 on the Barclay Records label. His recordings were released in the United States on the Kapp and Four Corners record labels until 1969. He was accepted at the Paris Conservatory when 17 years old. During the early 1950s he played the piano for the Franck Pourcel orchestra. In 1953 he played the piano at the Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. He started his musical career in 1956 on the Barclay label and recorded his debut album that year. He worked on the French television programmes Musicorama (1950s) and Palmarés des Chansons (1965, 1966, 1967) accompanying such famous artists as Dalida, Claude François, Richard Anthony, with his own orchestra. His recording of "The Day the Rains Came" was a best seller in the United States in 1958. The song "Ame câline" (Soul Coaxing) became an international hit in 1968 and "La La La (He Gives Me Love)" - an instrumental adaptation of 1968's Eurovision Song Contest's winning song by Spanish singer Massiel - was a minor hit in 1968 in Canada and the United States. In 1969, his recording of "La Reine de Saba" (Queen of Sheba) became a big hit in Japan. From 1972 until the early 2000s, he undertook several successful tours of Japan. He worked on the soundtracks of many Louis de Funès movies. Lefèvre conducted entries four times at the Eurovision Song Contest, three times for Monaco (in 1961, 1962, and 1963), and once for Luxembourg in 1970. Raymond Lefèvre died in Seine-Port, France on 27 June 2008 at the age of 78. Source: Article "Raymond Lefèvre" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Profile

Raymond Lefebvre

Movies

The Gendarme and the Gendarmettes
Original Music Composer
Cruchot's police office moves into a new building. They do not only get high tech equipment, but also four young female police officers to educate. All of them scramble to work with them -- and cause pure chaos while being distracted by the fine ladies. Then they get into real trouble when one after the other of their female colleagues is kidnapped.
The Cabbage Soup
Original Music Composer
Two buddy farmers are visited by aliens who like their domestic cabbage soup.
The Gendarme and the Creatures from Outer Space
Original Music Composer
The bungling inspector Cruchot finds himself trying to save the residents of St. Tropez from some oil-drinking humanoid aliens. The only way to tell the aliens from the real people, besides their constant thirst for oil-products, is that they sound like empty garbage cans when you touch them. Chaos is ahead.
Jo
Original Music Composer
Selling author, Antoine Brisebard is a victim of a blackmailer, Jo, which threatens to jeopardize his reputation by revealing the past of his wife Sylvia. While the latter must pass the same night to take possession of the money required, Brisebard accidentally kills ...
The Gendarme Takes Off
Original Music Composer
The whole clique of Cruchot's police station is retired. Now he lives with his rich wife in her castle - and is bored almost to death. He fights with the butler, because he isn't even allowed to do the simple works. But when one of the clique suffers from amnesia after an accident, all of the others reunite and kidnap him, to take him on a tour to their old working places and through their memories. In their old uniforms they turn St. Tropez upside down.
The Gendarme Gets Married
Original Music Composer
The Saint-Tropez police launch a major offensive against dangerous drivers. Marechal Cruchot (Louis de Funès) relishes the assignment, which he pursues with a manic zeal. Cruchot is after an offending driver, who turns out to be Josépha (Claude Gensac), the widow of a highly regarded police colonel. When they meet, Cruchot falls instantly in love....
Un drôle de colonel
Music
The Exchange Student
Original Music Composer
Monsieur Bosquier, the owner of a private school, is far from pleased when his eldest son, Philippe, fails his end of year exams. He decides to send his wayward offspring to England to improve his English. In exchange, Philippe’s host, a wealthy whisky distiller, Mac Farrel, will send his daughter, Shirley, to live with the Bosquiers in France. However, Philippe has already decided to spend the summer holidays on a yacht with his friends, so he sends a fellow student, Michonnet, to England in his place. The deception is soon discovered but things go from bad to worse when Philippe and Shirley fall in love and fly to Scotland to get married...
The Gendarme in New York
Original Music Composer
The second installment of Gendarmes series, tells the story of Sergeant Cruchot, who, together with his faithful comrades, has been sent to the International Congress of Gendarmerie in N.Y.
Déclic et des claques
Music
Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez
Original Music Composer
The ambitious police officer Cruchot is transferred to St. Tropez. He's struggling with crimes such as persistent nude swimming, but even more with his teenage daughter, who's trying to impress her rich friends by telling them her father was a millionaire and owned a yacht in the harbor.
The Virgins
Music
The story of five girls that lose their virginity.