Danyel Gérard

b. 7 March 1939, Paris, France. Gerard spent much of his childhood in South America but he was a Parisian student when taken under the wing of Lucien Morisse, a Gallic equivalent of UK svengali Larry Parnes. Gerard's debut single, a 1958 adaptation (in French) of the nursery rhyme ‘Billy Boy', can be cited as the country's first original attempt at rock ‘n' roll. Its singer's continued commercial prosperity was stifled by national service in Great Kubylie. During this two-year absence, he was overtaken by Johnny Hallyday, Eddy Mitchell and other newer icons. Demobbed, he regai...