European Film Star Postcards: Pierre Perret

01 March 2025

Pierre Perret

French singer and composer Pierre Perret (1934) is a legend of French chanson. His repertoire ranges from children's songs to comic, erotic and politically committed songs full of humour and tenderness. He is recognised as an outstanding poet and he also appeared in French films.

French postcard by Publistar Marseilles, no. 953. Photo: André Nisak, Paris / Vogue.
French postcard by PSG for Corvisart, Epinal, no. 1283. Photo: Disques Vogues.

French postcard by PSG for Corvisart, Epinal, no. 1283. Photo: Disques Vogues.

In military prison during the final entrance exam to the Paris Conservatoire

Pierre Perret was born Pierre Max in 1934 in Castelsarrasin, Tarn-et-Garonne. His parents, Maurice and Claudia, ran the Café du Pont in Castelsarrasin, where he spent much of his childhood. Here he learned to use jargon and slang.

As a child, he appeared in two films, the crime drama Dernier atout/The Trump Card (Jacques Becker, 1942) starring Mireille Balin and Raymond Rouleau, and the drama Le carrefour des enfants perdus/Children of Chaos (Léo Joannon, 1944) starring René Dary.

At 14, he signed with the Conservatoire de Musique de Toulouse and the Toulouse Conservatoire of Dramatic Art. At 19 he won the first prize for saxophone. From 1953 to 1956, he did his military service and was unable to take the final entrance exam to the Paris Conservatoire, in Marcel Mule's class, as he was in military prison that day. He set up his first music group and performed at balls, family gatherings and other regional events.

In 1957, he was signed by producer Eddie Barclay and met his future wife, Simone Mazaltarim at Barclay's studio. His first single, 'Moi j'attends Adèle', was released that year. A recording at the Olympia for the radio programme Musicorama helped to put him on the map.

In 1958, Perret toured Parisian cabaret bars and crossed France and Africa as the opening act for the American group The Platters. He also played a small role in Les étoiles de midi/Stars at Noon (Jacques Ertaud, Marcel Ichac, 1958). In November of that year, a pleurisy forced him to take two years off recuperating in a sanatorium.

French promotion card by Disques Vogues. Photo: André Nisak, Paris.

Italian collector card in the Hit Collection series by Panini. Photo: WEA / Filipacchi Music.

Le Zizi - His biggest hit

In 1960 Pierre Perret released 'Le Bonheur conjugal', but it was not a big enough success and Barclay did not renew his contract. He married Simone Mazaltarim, renamed Rebecca, in 1962, Their daughter Julie was born in 1963. He moved to Gennevilliers with his family, where he stayed for eight years.

Perret signed a six-year contract with Vogue and found a new impresario in Lucien Morisse. His first big hit came in 1964 with 'Le Tord-boyaux', which sold 75,000 copies. In 1966, the song 'Les Jolies Colonies de vacances' was a big hit, selling 200,000 copies. Perret enjoyed a string of successes and gave several concerts, opening for artists as diverse as Johnny Hallyday, Nana Mouskouri and the Rolling Stones on their first concert in France.

In 1969, he left Vogue and decided with his wife to self-produce by founding Editions Adèle, named after his first song. In the same year, he returned to the cinema. He played the title character in Claude Autant-Lara's comedy-drama Les Patates/Potatoes with Rufus, for which he also wrote the music.

The next year, he acted in the failure Un été sauvage/A Savage Summer (Marcel Camus, 1970) with Nino Ferrer and Katina Paxinou. In 1971 he played Judge Roy Bean in the Western parody Le Juge/Judge Roy Bean (Jean Girault, Federico Chentrens, 1971) with Silvia Monti and Robert Hossein.

1971 saw the release of 'La Cage aux oiseaux', which sold 300,000 copies. From 1974 onwards, Pierre Perret's records were arranged by Bernard Gérard, replacing Jean Claudric who had been orchestrating the singer since he joined Vogue. In 1975, he had his biggest hit with 'Le Zizi', which sold over 600,000 copies.

French promotion card by Disques Vogues. Photo: P.P.P.

A master of the subtleties of the French language and slang

Pierre Perret is a master of the subtleties of the French language and French slang. He even rewrote some of Jean de La Fontaine's fables. His songs are often cheeky, such as 'Le Zizi' (The Willy). He asks pertinent questions in a seemingly naive child's tone, with a malicious smile, but always with humanism and candour.

He also has written politically committed songs like 'La bête est revenue', 'La petite kurde', and 'Vert de Colère'. His song 'Lily' became a classic anti-racist song and won him the LICRA prize in 1978. Other politically committed songs followed, on abortion ('Elle attend son petit' in 1981), famine, excision and more generally the condition of women in Africa ('Riz pilé' in 1989), war ('La Petite Kurde' in 1992), ecology ('Vert de colère' in 1998) and the rise of fascism ('La Bête est revenue').

Released in 1998, this song against the Front National earned him many insulting letters. In 1995, Perret recorded a duet with Sophie Darel, 'Maître Pierre' for the album 'C'était les Années Bleues'. He participated in the committee for the simplification of the administrative language (COSLA). In 2020, Pierre Perret embarked on a major tour entitled 'Mes adieux provisoires', which was disrupted by the Covid pandemic, declaring that it would ‘surely’ be his last tour.

In 2023, he released a new album, 'Ma vieille carcasse', accompanied by the video 'Paris saccagé', criticising the policies of the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. Alongside his singing activities, Pierre Perret has published several biographical works since his first book 'Adieu Monsieur Léautaud' (1972) was published. In 2009, Manuel Poirier made a film about Pierre Perret's childhood, based on his autobiography, 'Le Café du point'.

Perret himself could be seen in a bit role in the film Sous les étoiles de Paris/Under the Stars of Paris (Claud Drexel, 2020) starring Catherine Frot. He also wrote about another passion, gastronomy. Pierre Perret is still married to Simone Mazaltarim. They have three children but their daughter Julie died in 1995. The couple lives in Nangis, France.