Christophe Rippert

Born on May 3, 1969, in Saint-Priest in the Rhône region, Christophe Rippert initially set his sights on tennis, a sport he played at a high level, before being spotted by producer Jean-Luc Azoulay. Azoulay offered him the role of young Luc in the series Premiers baisers, which he produced with his company AB Productions for TF1. His character quickly gained in stature, and the audience, mostly young and female, made him one of their favorites. So much so that in 1992, Jean-Luc Azoulay asked Christophe Rippert to record a song, "Un amour de vacances", which was an instant hit, selling almost 500,000 copies and launching the first album of the same name, released in 1993. That year, at the height of his popularity, he opened for teen idol Hélène Rolles at the Zénith in Paris and on the tour that followed. Riding the wave, he released a second opus in 1994, but À Corps Perdu was not as successful as its predecessor, despite being certified gold. In 1995, the sitcom Premiers baisers drew to a close, becoming Les Années fac and still featuring Christophe Rippert prominently in the cast. A third album, Juste Ces Mots, was released in 1995, but was a commercial failure as the AB Productions sitcom craze faded. He then turned to communications, setting up his own agency, after unsuccessfully pursuing his acting career. After a 13-year absence, he returned to song in 2011, releasing three new songs sung entirely in English, heralding the 2012 release of the album Free.