Marc Ogeret

Paris, France

Marc Ogeret (25 February 1932 – 4 June 2018) was a French singer.

Ogeret was born in Paris in 1932. His mother was a dressmaker and his father worked in the health service of the ministry of war. At 17, he dropped school and worked as an apprentice in a foundry. He later worked in a Renault car factory. Some comedians among his friends convinced him to join them as an actor, and to accompany them with his guitar.

Ogeret started singing around 1954 songs from songwriters such as Félix Leclerc and Léo Ferré outside coffeehouses. Film director Pierre Prévert, the brother of poet Jacques Prévert, gave him the opportunity to sing in Parisian cabarets.

Ogeret recorded his show dedicated to poems by Louis Aragon. In 1965, he was offered the opening act for Georges Brassens on Bobino's stage. In 1968, he recorded two sets of revolutionary songs, but the issue was postponed due to the May 1968 events in France. He became famous for his sober renderings of anarchist and communist anthems such as The Internationale.

He also recorded sea shanties and Le Condamné à mort, a set of poems written by Jean Genet about gay sex in prison. He did a tour in USSR in 1974.

In the late-1970s, he recorded four studio albums of Aristide Bruant's songs. He lived with lifelong partner Anita, and they had a daughter, Zoé.

He was made Knight (Chevalier) of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1996. Ogeret died on 4 June 2018 at the age of 86.

Source: Article "Marc Ogeret" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.