“An incomparable friend”: Herbert Léonard owes his greatest hit to Julien Lepers

“I was proud to work with him”

The providential meeting between Herbert Léonard and Julien Lepers happened in the early 80s through a person: Vline Buggy, famous lyricist for Claude François (“Belles! Belles! Belles!”, “Si j’avais un marteau”, “J’attendrai…”), Hugues Aufray or Johnny Hallyday. “ I went to see her to present my songs and she said to me: “What you do is very good, do you know Herbert Léonard?” From then on, we practically never left each other for 10 years ” remembers with emotion the one who would much later host the cult show “Questions pour un champion” on France 3. Their alchemy was immediately obvious. ” I remember everything with him… We got along well artistically, I showed him the melody three times on the piano, he adopted it and with him, it took on an extraordinary dimension in the studio, it was night and day. I was proud to work with him during all those years ” confides Julien Lepers, who would make “Pour le plaisir” the hit of the summer of 1981 with, in total, more than 2 million estimated sales: ” It’s a melody that people expect, in tune with the times, magnificent lyrics and then that voice! When you listen to it again, how well he sings all the same “.

For Herbert Léonard, he also co-signed “Amoureux fous” with Julie Pietri, a big hit in 1983, “Sur des nuits érotiques”, the title “Flagrant délit” which was a hit in Canada and “Ça donne envie d’aimer”: “ With Herbert I think we stopped counting after 3 million records sold… It was very strong! ”

“He knew his time was running out.”

Close friends, the two men have always kept in touch and called each other ” every week ” since Herbert Léonard’s recent health problems. ” I dreaded that moment, the moment of the announcement of his death. I had him 6 or 7 days ago, he told me that he felt very weak. He knew he was sick and fragile, he was very, very lucid. He knew that his time was limited ” attests Julien Lepers, with a heavy heart. Despite the illness, they planned to work on ” songs together “. ” I had a project for him, I wanted us to do a scene, me at the piano and him only a stool with a microphone that would have sung… I had been talking to him about it for at least three years. But he wanted to add a guitar, a drum kit, we talked, we argued a bit… He was a really nice guy, an incomparable friend and a great artist, a very great singer, one of the very best French singers ” the 75-year-old host is keen to emphasise, for whom this loss is terrible to live through: ” I keep the memory of someone precious to me, very precious, an incomparable friend… It will be an immense loss “.