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{{Short description|Monégasque musician and poet (1916–1993)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians -->
| name            =  Léo Ferré
| image           = Léo Ferré-130909-0006WP.jpg
| image_size      = 250
| caption         = Ferré in 1973
| background      = solo_singer
| birth_date      = {{birth date|1916|8|24|df=y}}
| birth_place     = [[Monaco]]
| death_date      =  {{Death date and age|1993|7|14|1916|8|24|df=y}}
| death_place     =  [[Castellina in Chianti]], Italy
| genre           = [[Chanson]], [[Expressionist music|expressionist]], classical, [[spoken word]], pop
| occupation      = Musician, singer-songwriter, composer, conductor
| instrument      = Piano, vocals
| years_active    = 1946–1991
| label           = [[Le Chant du Monde]], [[Odeon Records|Odeon]], [[Barclay Records|Barclay]], [[CBS Radio Network|CBS]], [[RCA Records|RCA]], [[EPM Musique|EPM]], La Mémoire et la Mer
| associated_acts =
| website         = {{URL|www.leo-ferre.com}}
}}

'''Léo Ferré''' ({{IPA|fr|leo feʁe|lang}}; 24 August 1916 – 14 July 1993) was a [[Demographics of Monaco|Monégasque]] poet and composer, and a dynamic and controversial live performer. He released some forty albums over this period, composing the music and the majority of the lyrics. He released many hit singles, particularly between 1960 and the mid-1970s. Some of his songs have become classics of the [[Music of France|French chanson]] repertoire, including "[[Avec le temps (Léo Ferré song)|Avec le temps]]", "C'est extra", "Jolie Môme" and "Paris-Canaille".

== Early life ==

Ferré was the son of Joseph Ferré, French staff manager at [[Monte Carlo Casino]], and Marie Scotto, a Monégasque dressmaker of Italian descent from [[Piedmont]];<ref>{{cite book|last1=Vassal|first1=Jacques|title=Léo Ferré, la voix sans maître|date=2013|publisher=Le Cherche midi|location=Paris|isbn=978-2-7491-2833-7|page=17|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RYqkipx7-dUC}}</ref> he had a sister, Lucienne, two years older.

Ferré had an early interest in music. At age seven, he joined the choir of the [[Monaco Cathedral]] and discovered [[polyphony]] through singing pieces by [[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina]] and [[Tomás Luis de Victoria]]. His uncle, former violinist and secretary at the Casino, used to bring him to performances and rehearsals at the [[Monte Carlo Opera]]. Ferré listened to such musicians as bass singer [[Feodor Chaliapin]], discovered [[Beethoven]] under the baton of [[Arturo Toscanini]] ([[Coriolanus Overture|Coriolanus]]), and was deeply moved by the [[Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)|Fifth Symphony]]. But it was the sweet presence of composer [[Maurice Ravel]] during ''[[L'Enfant et les Sortilèges]]'' rehearsals that impressed him the most.<ref>Interview with Michel Lancelot, ''La Mémoire courte'' ([[Europe 1]]), 1969.</ref>

At age nine, Ferré entered Saint-Charles College of [[Bordighera]], run by the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Italy. He remained there for eight long years of severe discipline and boredom.<ref name="rfi">{{cite web |url=http://rfimusique.com/siteen/biographie/biographie_6301.asp |title=Léo Ferré |work=[[RFI Musique]] |date=November 2000 |access-date=28 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202222700/http://rfimusique.com/siteen/biographie/biographie_6301.asp |archive-date=2 December 2013 }}</ref> He wrote about this lonely and caged childhood in an [[autofiction]] (''Benoît Misère'', 1970). He graduated from high school in Monaco, but his father did not let him attend the Conservatory of Music.<ref name="rfi"/>

== Career ==

In 1945, while still a "farmer" and a Jack-of-all-trades at [[RMC (France)|Radio Monte-Carlo]], Ferré met [[Edith Piaf]], who encouraged him to try his luck in Paris.<ref name="rfi"/>

In April 1947, Ferré agreed to tour in [[Martinique]], which turned out to be disastrous.<ref name="rfi"/> From the end of 1947 Ferré produced and hosted on Paris Inter station several cycles of programs devoted to classical music. In ''Musique Byzantine'' (1953–54), he expanded his topics on aesthetics, such as tonality necessity, exotic melody, opera (the "song of rich people"), boredom, and originality or "marshmallow music".<ref>Léo Ferré, "La musique souvent me prend... comme l'amour", ''La Mémoire et la mer'', 1999, p. 91.</ref>

In 1950, to submit Verdi examination at [[La Scala]] in Milan, he wrote the libretto and music of an opera called ''La Vie d'artiste'' (same title as the song). It transposed his past years' experience into a kind of a black comedy but Ferré did not seem to like it much, finally abandoning it for other projects.<ref>Quentin Dupont, "Vous savez qui je suis, maintenant?", ''La Mémoire et la mer'', 2003, p. 421.</ref> He began to sing in larger venues such as l'[[Olympia (Paris)|Olympia]], as the opening act of [[Josephine Baker]] in 1954.<ref name="rfi"/> In 1956, Ferré wrote and composed ''La Nuit'' (''The Night''), a ballet with sung sections commissioned by choreographer [[Roland Petit]], but which failed to find an audience.<ref name="rfi"/> In the late 1950s, he began releasing [[protest songs]]. In the song ''Chanson vulgaire (T’as voté)'', he invoked anarchist criticisms of voting, singing "if you voted, it’s because you thought you had some choice, so don’t complain".<ref name="Laberg">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Laberge|first=Yves|date=2009|title=Music, Songs, and Protest, France|editor-first=Immanual|editor-last=Ness|encyclopedia=The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest|pages=1–3 |doi=10.1002/9781405198073.wbierp1056 |isbn=978-1-4051-8464-9 }}</ref> In the early 1960s, he denounced the French prosecution of the [[Algerian War]] in the songs ''Regardez-le'' and ''Mon général''. He also wrote [[anti-Francoism|anti-Francoist]] songs, condemning the [[Francoist Spain|dictatorship]] of [[Francisco Franco]] in ''Franco, la muerte'' and ''L'Espoir''.<ref name="Laberg"/>

From 1960 to 1970, Ferré worked with arranger [[Jean-Michel Defaye]], whose classical skills and taste fit well with Ferré's musical sensitivity (they were both fans of [[Maurice Ravel]]'s works for example). They maintained a steady pace of creation, recording almost an album a year, sometimes more. This artistic output, including the way Ferré would write for symphonic orchestras after 1970, would have an influence in the English-speaking world over such singer-songwriters as [[Scott Walker (singer)|Scott Walker]],<ref>Young, Rob (2013). ''Scott: The Collection 1967–1970'', Universal.</ref> [[Martin Newell (musician)|Martin Newell]]<ref>Newell's musician Louis Philippe says [http://www.louisphilippe.co.uk/mp3s.html on his website] they went for the Léo Ferré treatment in the string arrangements of a song such as "Arcadian Boys", from ''The Off-White Album'' (1995), since Ferré is one of Newell's favourite singers.</ref> and [[Benjamin Clementine]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-12-16 |title=Benjamin Clementine: the future sound of London |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/music/benjamin-clementine-the-future-sound-of-london-8987765.html |access-date=2024-08-13 |website=Evening Standard |language=en}}</ref>

In March 1968, Ferré did not return home after a gig. In his absence, Ferré's chimpanzee Pépée suffered a fall and refused to be approached. Eventually, Madeleine asked a hunter neighbour to put the chimpanzee out of its misery. Ferré's requiem for the primate would be his eponymous song "Pépée". The singer blamed his wife for Pépée's death and they would divorce after lengthy procedures.<ref>{{cite web |first= Henry |last= Samuel |url= http://www.theage.com.au/world/tyrannical-chimp-ruins-childhood-20130524-2k5ch.html |title= Tyrannical chimp ruins childhood |publisher= [[The Age]] |date= 24 May 2013 <!-- |quote= <big>NSFCS:</big><small><sup>Not Safe for Common Sense</sup></small> Typical media sensationalist tripe, blaming the victim (chimpanzee) instead of the amateur captors/keepers --> }}</ref><ref name="PSA #2">{{cite web |url= http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/exotic_pets/facts/dangerous-exotic-pets-primates.html |title= Dangerous Exotic Pets: Primates |publisher= [[Humane Society]] }}</ref>

During the [[May 68|civil unrest of May 1968]], Ferré was invited by radical students to speak before a [[political demonstration]], but he declined the offer. Ferré's sympathies with [[anarchism]] were well known and a recurring theme in his songs, but he was not a political activist; his anarchism was a purely personal philosophy.<ref name="Hawkins"/> In his 1967 song about the [[anarchism in France|French anarchist movement]], ''Les Anarchistes'', he sung that "{{lang|fr|y’en a pas un sur cent et pourtant ils existent}}" ({{langx|en|"There isn't one in a hundred, and yet they exist"}}).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Berry|first=David|year=2016|title=Anarchists and anarchisms in France since 1945: introduction and sources|journal=Modern & Contemporary France|volume=24|issue=2|pages=115–126|doi=10.1080/09639489.2016.1154307}}</ref> After the May 1968 uprising, he released songs invoking [[revolution]] ''L’Été 68'' and ''Comme une fill''.<ref name="Laberg"/> He expressed [[anti-clericalism]] in the song ''Monsieur Tout-blanc'', which criticised the Catholic Church for collaborating with [[Nazi Germany]], and in the anarchist anthem ''Ni Dieu ni Maître'', he denounced [[capital punishment]]. Although briefly a member of the [[French Communist Party]] and a supporter of the Maoist paper ''[[La Cause du peuple]]'', he remained a committed [[anti-authoritarianism|anti-authoritarian]], mocking leading Marxist figures such as [[Vladimir Lenin]] and [[Mao Zedong]].<ref name="Hawkins">{{cite journal|last=Hawkins|first=Peter|year=2003|url=https://journals.openedition.org/volume/2250|title=The career of Léo Ferré: a Bourdieusian analysis|journal=Volume!|volume=2|issue=2|pages=55–67|doi=10.4000/volume.2250|issn=1634-5495}}</ref>

In 1969, Ferré settled in [[Tuscany]], in Italy. The huge success of "C'est extra", an erotic ballad, greatly expanded his audience, especially among the French youth, who recognized in the poet the "prophet" of his own rebellion.<ref name="rfi"/> Backed by this new energy, Ferré began to smash traditional song structures to explore [[spoken word]] and long monologues. With very precise work on the voice (rhythm, speech) and [[rhetoric]]al writing derived from the prose of poet [[Arthur Rimbaud]], Ferré ritualized his speaking in an incantatory and dramatic fashion.<ref>Céline Chabot-Canet, ''Léo Ferré : Une voix et un phrasé emblématiques'', L'Harmattan, 2008.</ref>

In 1975 Ferré conducted successively the orchestra of the Institut des Hautes Études Musicales in [[Montreux]], the [[Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège]], and the [[Pasdeloup Orchestra]] at the [[Palais des congrès de Paris]]. It was a perilous challenge for Ferré, who conducted the orchestra and sang at the same time. He mixed Ravel's [[Piano Concerto for the Left Hand (Ravel)|''piano concerto for the Left Hand'']] and [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s ''[[Coriolan Overture]]'' with his own compositions and reversed the placement of the orchestra. 140 musicians and choir singers were on stage. This was an unprecedented performance, breaking free from conventions and blending separated worlds. Concerts were sold out for five weeks, but critics from the classical music field rejected this hybrid show.<ref name="rfi"/>

From 1976 to 1979 he toured less. He drifted from his violently declamatory expression of revolt to avoid being typecast.<ref>"I think the revolt is no longer appropriate. Revolt is a way of getting into the City. This is a tribal virtue (...)." "Technique de l'exil" ("The Exile Technique"), in ''La Mauvaise graine'', Édition N° 1, 1993.</ref>

In 1976, Ferré signed with [[CBS Records International]]. From then until the end of his career the majority of his recordings would be made with the [[Milan]]-based [[RAI National Symphony Orchestra]] under his conducting.<ref>For contractual reasons, the orchestra would be named Orchestre symphonique de Milan on record sleeves.</ref> CBS soon dropped Ferré, whose commercial potential was estimated too low (his new aesthetics of symphonic down-tempo being against the current of all musical trends, it was complicated to put the artist on the radio and reduced the possibility of a hit). Being dropped by the "professionals", and disgusted for good with being "a merchandise for producers",<ref>Interview with ''La Nouvelle République du Centre-Ouest'' newspaper, 5 June 1979.</ref> Ferré refused to accept French song prizes.<ref>Interview with Jean-Louis Foulquier, ''Pollen'' ([[France Inter]]), 1987.</ref> He also refused the proposal to enter the [[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]] (at the highest grade) and to support President of France [[François Mitterrand]] in his reelection campaign in exchange for leading and conducting of a first-class symphonic orchestra. He refused being guest of honor in the [[Victoires de la musique]] (Music's Victories),<ref>Robert Belleret, ''Léo Ferré, une vie d'artiste'': ninth part, chapter "Je te donne ces vers...", Actes Sud, 1996.</ref> annual French award ceremony recognizing the best musical artists of the year. Ferré used to say: "The only honor for an artist is not getting any".<ref>Interview Pierre Bouteiller, [[France 3]], August 1984.</ref>

Léo Ferré died at his home in July 1993 at the age of 76. He was buried at the [[Monaco Cemetery]].<ref name=amisperemonaco>{{cite web|title=Visite funéraire de Monaco|url=http://www.appl-lachaise.net/appl/article.php3?id_article=59|website=Amis et Passionés du Père-Lachaise|access-date=26 December 2015}}</ref>

== Discography ==

=== Studio albums ===
{{col-start}}
{{col-2}}
* 1953: ''[[Paris canaille (album)|Paris-Canaille]]''
* 1954: ''[[Chansons de Léo Ferré]]''
* 1954: ''[[Le Piano du pauvre]]''
* 1956: ''[[Le Guinche]] (Huit Chansons nouvelles)'' 
* 1956: ''[[Poète... vos papiers !]]''
* 1957: ''[[Les Fleurs du mal (Léo Ferré album)|Les Fleurs du mal]]''
* 1957: ''[[La Chanson du mal-aimé]]''
* 1958: ''[[Encore... du Léo Ferré]]''
* 1960: ''[[Paname (album)|Paname]]''
* 1961: ''[[Les Chansons d'Aragon]]''
* 1962: ''[[La Langue française]]''
* 1964: ''[[Ferré 64]]''
* 1964: ''[[Verlaine et Rimbaud]]'' (2×LP)
* 1966: ''[[Léo Ferré 1916-19…]]''
* 1967: ''Cette chanson (La Marseillaise)''
* 1967: ''[[Léo Ferré chante Baudelaire]]'' (2×LP)
* 1969: ''[[L'Été 68]]''
* 1969: ''[[Les Douze Premières Chansons de Léo Ferré]]''
{{col-2}}
* 1970: ''[[Amour Anarchie]]'' (2×LP)
* 1971: ''[[La Solitude]]''
* 1972: ''[[La Chanson du mal-aimé]]''
* 1972: ''[[La Solitudine (album)|La Solitudine]]''
* 1973: ''[[Il n'y a plus rien]]''
* 1973: ''[[Et… basta !]]''
* 1974: ''[[L'Espoir (album)|L'Espoir]]''
* 1975: ''[[Ferré muet... dirige]]''
* 1976: ''[[Je te donne (album)|Je te donne]]''
* 1977: ''[[La musica mi prende come l'amore]]''
* 1977: ''[[La Frime]]''
* 1979: ''[[Il est six heures ici et midi à New York]]''
* 1980: ''[[La Violence et l'Ennui]]''
* 1982: ''[[Ludwig-L'imaginaire-Le bateau ivre]]'' (3×LP)
* 1983: ''[[L'Opéra du pauvre]]'' (4×LP)
* 1985: ''[[Les Loubards]]''
* 1986: ''[[On n'est pas sérieux quand on a dix-sept ans]]'' (2×LP)
* 1990: ''[[Les Vieux Copains]]''
* 1991: ''[[Une saison en enfer (album)|Une saison en enfer]]''
{{col-end}}

=== Live albums ===
* 1955: ''Récital Léo Ferré à l'Olympia''
* 1958: ''Léo Ferré à Bobino''
* 1961: ''Récital Léo Ferré à l'Alhambra''
* 1963: ''Flash ! Alhambra – A.B.C.''
* 1969: ''Récital 1969 en public à Bobino'' (2×LP)
* 1973: ''[[Seul en scène (Olympia 1972)]]'' (2×LP)
* 1984: ''Léo Ferré au Théâtre des Champs-Élysées'' (3×LP)
* 1988: ''Léo Ferré en public au TLP Déjazet''

=== Posthumous releases ===
* 1993: ''Alors, Léo...'' (live at the TLP Déjazet 1990, 2xCD)
* 2000: ''[[Métamec]]'' (unreleased album demo tapes)
* 2000: ''[[Le Temps des roses rouges]]'' (78s songs from 1950)
* 2001: ''[[Sur la scène...]]'' (live at [[Lausanne]] 1973, 2×CD)
* 2001: ''Un chien à Montreux'' (live at [[Montreux]] 1973, EP)
* 2003: ''[[Les Chansons interdites… et autres]]'' (songs from 1961 previously published on Eps)
* 2004: ''[[De sac et de cordes]]'' ([[radio drama]] from 1951)
* 2004: ''[[Maudits soient-ils !]]'' (''[[Verlaine et Rimbaud]]'' album demo tapes, 2×CD)
* 2006: ''[[La Mauvaise Graine]]'' (radio sessions & interviews from 1959)
* 2008: ''[[Les Fleurs du mal (suite et fin)]]'' (unreleased album demo tapes, 1976–77)
* 2018: ''[[Je parle à n'importe qui]]'' (unreleased album demo tape, 1977)

=== Boxed sets, compilations, and rarities ===
* 2013: ''[[L'Indigné]]'' (20xCD)
* 2018: ''[[La Vie moderne: intégrale 1944-1959]]'' (14CD covering the 15 first artist's years)
* 2020: ''[[L'Âge d'or: intégrale 1960-1967]]'' (16CD covering the next eight artist's years)
* 2021: ''[[La Solitude: intégrale 1968-1974]]'' (18CD covering the next seven artist's years)
* 2022: ''[[La Marge : intégrale 1975-1991]]'' (20CD covering the last sixteen active artist's years)

== See also ==
* [[L'Affiche Rouge (poem)|"L'Affiche Rouge" (poem)]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Léo Ferré}}
* {{Official website}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140504141425/http://www.onemanchanson.com/recordings/ 25 songs of Léo Ferré translated into English (complete lyrics)]
* [http://www.jchr.be/chansons/ferre.html Vinyl discography] {{in lang|fr}}
* [http://brassensbrelferre.free.fr Recording] of the unique interview with [[Georges Brassens]] and [[Jacques Brel]], 6 January 1969 {{in lang|fr}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040807021952/http://www.lehall.com/galerie/ferre/index.html Pays-Âges de Léo Ferré] – a gallery of places and people in Ferré's life {{in lang|fr}}

{{Léo Ferré}}

{{Portal bar|France|Music|Biography}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferre, Leo}}
[[Category:1916 births]]
[[Category:1993 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century classical composers]]
[[Category:Monegasque male singers]]
[[Category:Monegasque anarchists]]
[[Category:Monegasque poets]]
[[Category:French male singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:French singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:French anarchists]]
[[Category:French satirists]]
[[Category:French satirical musicians]]
[[Category:Sciences Po alumni]]
[[Category:French people of Italian descent]]
[[Category:Monegasque people of Italian descent]]
[[Category:People of Piedmontese descent]]
[[Category:20th-century French poets]]
[[Category:20th-century French male singers]]