John William
Better known by his artist name John William, Ernest-Armand Huss was born on October 9, 1922 in Grand-Bassam, today in Côte d'Ivoire but then in Afrique-Occidentale Française (AOF), a general government that brought together eight French West African colonies in a single federation between 1895 and 1958. Taken from his mother when he was just a year and a half old, he was entrusted to a distant relative in Seine-et-Marne, where he grew up. After completing his schooling, at the age of 17 he became an apprentice fitter-toolmaker at the Renault factory in Boulogne-Billancourt. During the Second World War, he was arrested, imprisoned, tortured and politically deported to the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg, before being taken in by the Swedish Red Cross at the end of the conflict. Unwilling to return to factory work, he took singing lessons and adopted the pseudonym John William. Aware of the growth and new popularity of American music, he began to perform in cabarets, becoming increasingly famous, particularly in 1952, when he won the Grand Prix d'interprétation de Deauville for his song "Je suis un nègre" (I'm a Negro). This success was confirmed in 1961, when he was awarded the Coq d'or de la chanson française for "Le voyageur sans étoile", a song for which he also received the Médaille de la Ville de Paris, and in 1966, when he won the best-selling record of the year award at Midem in Cannes for "La Chanson de Lara". He definitively established himself in the hearts of the public with his world-famous film credits, including Alamo, Lawrence of Arabia, An Island in the Sun, The Longest Day, The Great Escape, and above all Doctor Zhivago with "La Chanson de Lara". In the early 1970s, he became the lead singer on the ocean liner France, which won him a new American audience, for whom he was particularly popular. In 1990, he published his autobiography, in which he recounts in detail the ordeal of his deportation. 2005 promises to be a busy year, with a farewell tour planned in Martinique, but which he has to cancel for health reasons. Awarded the Légion d'Honneur the same year, he finally passed away in Antibes (Alpes-Maritimes) six years later, on January 8, 2011, at the age of 88. Several compilations pay tribute to him, such as Anthologie 1952-1962, released in 2015.
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Le train de l'amour (feat. Claude Vasori et son orchestre) (Mono version)
Franse chansons - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vieux frère / Hadji baba (feat. Mario Bua et son orchestre) (Mono Version)
Originele soundtracks - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Si toi aussi tu m'abandonnes (Mono version)
Franse chansons - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1953
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
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Navarone (Mono Version)
Franse chansons - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
3h10 pour Yuma (Mono Version)
Franse chansons - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Le Jour Le Plus Long
Wereldmuziek - Released by TP4 Music on 6 jan. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mississippi
Pop - Released by Parlophone (France) on 1 jan. 1958
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Esmeralda (Mono Version)
Franse chansons - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Orfeu Negro (Mono Version)
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
John William, vol. 9 (Mono Version)
Franse chansons - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Old Man River (Mono Version)
Franse chansons - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Les âmes fières (feat. Claude Vasory et son orchestre) (Mono Version)
Franse chansons - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Les yeux du diable / Vous qui partez (feat. Wal-Berg et son orchestre) (Mono Version)
Franse chansons - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1954
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
John William, no. 14 (Mono Version)
Franse chansons - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Si toi aussi tu m'abandonnes (Mono Version)
Franse chansons - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1963
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Seuls avec notre amour (feat. Claude Vasori et son orchestre) (Mono Version)
Wereldmuziek - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Les chevaliers / Mississipi (feat. Mario Bua et son orchestre) (Mono Version)
Franse chansons - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vintage French Song No. 134 - EP: Day O
Pop - Released by Vintage Music on 12 okt. 1957
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tan Lejos de Mi Amor / Tabaco
Pop - Released by All Around The World on 26 jun. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
John William, no. 1 (Mono Version)
Franse chansons - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo