Les Vagabonds

Les Vagabonds are a French rockabilly revival band whose breakout hit, "Le Temps des Yéyés," topped the national singles chart for seven weeks in 1990. Comprised of Thierry Burani (aka Ted; vocals; born August 16, 1966), Alain Ciavarella (aka Jess; guitar; born May 22, 1965), Jean-Pierre Simon (bass; born September 23, 1965), and Francis Belin (aka Dany; drums; born July 28, 1968), the band made its recording debut in 1986 with the 45 rpm single "Reviens-moi" on the label Village Music. Three years later the band released its second single, "Le Temps des Yéyés," on the Orlando label . Arranged by Michel Gouty, "Le Temps des Yéyés" entered the French singles chart in January 1990 and hit number one in March. It spent seven weeks total at number one on the singles chart and set the stage for the band's follow-up singles: the Top Ten hit "Le Temps des Copains" and the Top 30 hit "Nos Plus Belles Années." Amid this wave of breakout success, Les Vagabonds released their full-length album debut, Nos Plus Belles Années (1990), which features each of the band's first three hit singles. Also in 1990, the band also released a one-off holiday single, the Top 20 hit "Père Noël Rocker, Bonne Année." The following year Les Vagabonds released their second album, Les Fous du Succès (1991), which spawned another round of singles -- the Top 30 hit "Buona Sera Signorina," the Top 40 hit "Go to America," and "24.000 Baisers" -- though none came close to rivaling the popularity of "Le Temps des Yéyés." Successive albums (Live à l'Olympia 92, 1992; Tout Va Bien, 1993) and singles ("Le Rock de Chez Nous," "Le Temps des Souvenirs") continued to mark a sharp downturn in the band's popularity. The best-of collection Le Meilleur des Vagabonds (1995) ultimately signaled their demise.
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