Laurent Voulzy was born in 1948 in Paris but his two parents come from Guadeloupe, a French island in the Caribbean. During his childhood and teenage years, he lived in a universe that spoke the creole language, and was very influenced by music from the Carribbean but also by music from the Anglosphere. He began to play guitar quite early and made various projects in his teenage years, where he played either drums or bass or guitar. He began to make several records, with a limited success. In the 1970’s he met the singer Alain Souchon and began with him a long-term collaboration, that’s still effective today. Generally, Voulzy being a great composer, he writes the music to the songs (for himself or for Souchon), while Souchon writes the lyrics (for himself or for Voulzy). This formula has been used in a lot of both musician’s songs.
His songs are about various subjects, but several of them talk about where he comes from and the music that influenced him.
[More about him on Wikipedia]
- Belle-Île en Mer, Marie Galante
- Rockollection
- Fille d’avril
- Jeanne
- Les nuits sans Kim Wilde
- Le coeur grenadine
French Music into English 