André Popp - Biography
By J Poet
André Popp was an important French composer of pop songs, but he’s best known in America for writing “L’aour est bleu (Love Is Blue)” a worldwide #1 hit for bandleader Paul Mauriat, and two quirky space age bachelor pad records - Delirium in Hi-Fi (1957 Columbia, 1997 Basta Holland) and Poppped!, released in the US as Presenting Pop! (1957 Columbia, 1997 Basta Holland). He went on to compose a best selling children’s introduction to the orchestra The Adventures of Piccolo, Saxie and Company (1957 Philips), music for films like Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece and wrote and arranged for many other artists including Astrud Gilberto, Claudine Longet, Francine Laine and Herman’s Hermits. Today, he is retired and living quietly in Paris.
Andre Popp was born in Fontenay-le-Comte, a small town in the west of France, in 1924. His father played organ in the local church and Popp studied music at the Saint Joseph Institute. He took over his father’s musical duties at church when his father enlisted during WW II. While still in high school, he met singer and lyricist Jean Broussole, who went on to fame as a member of the pop group Compagnons de la Chanson. Together they moved to Paris and stared writing songs including the hits “Papa Loubourer” and “Il Dansait”. They also worked on a series of children’s recordings The Adventures of Piccolo, Saxie and Company (1957 Philips). Popp wrote the music, Broussole the words. The records introduced children to the sounds of the different instruments in the symphony orchestra. In 1957 the series was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque, the French Grammy, for Best Children’s Music. His inventive arranging on an album by the singer and jazz critic Boris Vian called Chansons possibles et impossibles (1956 Phillips France) got him his own record deal.
Using the name Elsa Popping et sa musique sidérante, Popp started work on what was to become Delirium in Hi-Fi (1957 Columbia, 1997 Basta Holland). He had met a sound-effects wizard named Pierre Fatosme and together, in the days before stereo, they set out to create a three dimensional soundscape. Fatosme envisioned sounds with a flat, close up pan, mid distance pan with some reverb, and distant pan with echo. He also brought a library of sound effects to the sessions. They recorded conventional acoustic instruments then played them back at half or double speed or backwards. They recorded vocals backwards, then had the singer learn the backwards words and sing them onto tape that was then played backwards to achieve an odd vocal effect. The tunes were all familiar French hits, but the arrangements remain some of the most innovative ever written. The album is unlike anything before or since, a delirious tape mash up of commonplace and what were then futuristic sounds that retain an innate musicality despite all the musical puns and sound effects. Delirium in Hi-Fi wasn’t a big seller, but musicians, sound engineers, and DJs worldwide loved it. It was soon out of print, but for the 1997 reissue the original tapes were flown to the Phillips state of the art digital facility, Wisseloord Studios, for remastering.
Popp and Fatosme collaborated again on Poppped!, released in the US as Presenting Pop! (1958 Columbia, 1997 Basta Holland). This time they toyed with Popp’s own compositions, and while the arrangements are just as strange, the absence of sound effects makes it an almost conventional listen. It contains “Les Lavandieres du Portugal (Portuguese Washerwomen)”, later an international hit by Jacqueline François and one of his best-known tunes. Holiday for DJs (1963 Phillips, 1996 Basta Holland) is another album of quirky original music, with Popp undermining the conventions of easy listening with his mischievous, lively arrangements.
For the rest of his career, Popp eschewed the odd sounds he experimented with in favor of mainstream pop. In 1960, he won the Eurovision Song Contest with “Tom Pillibi” sung by actress Jacqueline Boyer; it was only the second time France had won the contest at that time. In 1967, “L’amour est bleu (Love Is Blue)” came in fourth in the Eurovision Contest, sung by Vicky Leandros, who had a big hit with it in Japan and Canada. The next year, Le Grand Orchestre de Paul Mauriat took an instrumental version of the song to #1 all around the globe. “L’aour est bleu (Love Is Blue)”has become one of the most covered tunes in pop history. Why Say Goodbye (1968 MGM) is a light pop album, very mainstream and includes Popp’s own version of “L’amour est bleu (Love Is Blue)”.
Between film and TV scores, Popp made a few more albums before retiring in the early 80s, all long out of print. Popp Musique (2002 Tricatel Ltd, UK) collects some of his work on CD, while Musique Qui Fait Popp: Highlights from the Works of Andre Popp 1952-1962 (1999 Basta Holland) is a recreation of his early work by the Dutch Metropole Orchestra. Rosemary Clooney recorded a version of Popps’ “The Adventures of Piccolo, Saxie and Company” on her 1950s children’s album Clooney Tunes (2004 DRG).
