00:00...man who brought America to France, and they adored him for it.
00:04Johnny Alliday began his career nearly 60 years ago,
00:06bowled over by the new sounds coming from the States.
00:11France's post-war baby boomers craved novelty and the whiff of social rebellion,
00:16and Johnny gave it in spades.
00:18He became the leader of what they called the Yeah Yeah Generation.
00:23The fans, and later nearly all of France,
00:26came to see him as part of the national family.
00:28His life, its high points and its sadnesses became their life, right up to the end.
00:35And so today there's mourning for a singer who's accompanied France
00:38through all the changes of modern times.
00:43From the Algeria war to Instagram, Johnny has been there,
00:46singing the classics, adding new tunes, updating his image,
00:50but always back on stage to give again.
00:53What people say they loved about him was his working man's simplicity and his dedication.
00:58As radio and television broadcasts suspended regular programmes today,
01:04the tributes have been pouring in.
01:06President Macron said what many are saying,
01:08that in all of the French there was something of Johnny.
01:11His public is in tears, he wrote.
01:13We'll never forget his name, nor his face, nor his voice.
01:16He's gone to the pantheon of song,
01:18next to the legends of rock and blues who he so loved.
01:21In recent years, Johnny Alliday had been in poor health, lung cancer,
01:26but he kept performing right until a few months ago.
01:29In the English-speaking world, people affected to see him as a bit of a joke,
01:33and it's true that though he loved Elvis and the Rolling Stones,
01:36Johnny never made it in the US or Britain.
01:39But that was not the point.
01:41Johnny Alliday played American-style music,
01:43but to his core, he was French.
01:45And today, for everyone here, a little bit of France has disappeared.
01:51Hugh Schofield reporting there on the career of Johnny Alliday.
01:55Well, the French ambassador, Jean-Pierre Julliet, is here.
01:59Thank you very much for coming in.
02:01Thank you very much.
02:01He was really Belgian then, not French.
02:03As many French singers, he was Belgian,
02:10but he spent all his life in French.
02:14And for France, his life for Jacques Brel,
02:18for France, Johnny, Johnny, and Johnny, c'est la France.
02:24His name was Jean-Philippe Smet.
02:27He was quite divisive though, wasn't he?
02:29Because he broke away from that traditional sort of chanson genre of singing.
02:34Yes.
02:36For us, and it's why we are very painful,
02:42whatever the generation, whatever the political side,
02:47whatever you like the rock or not the rock,
02:50but he accounts at the beginning of the 60s,
02:54the rupture from the old generation
02:57with the, as we say in French,
03:01the baby boom generation.
03:04And he was the French man the most known in France.
03:11Certainly was.
03:12A hundred million records that he sold.
03:14More than a hundred million.
03:16You met him.
03:17What was he like?
03:18I met him once in a concert, after a concert.
03:24And he was very calm.
03:26He was very cautious.
03:28And he was clever because he spoke about their songs and so on.
03:37And I, it was a very attached man.
03:43And as you see, for France lost today a part of our country.
03:53It's incredible to, to, to, to, to, to see that
03:57because for the French population
03:59and for all the, the, the population, for the, you see,
04:03for the ambassadors, but for, also for the workers,
04:07for the, for all the people this morning, it was very awful.
04:11I, I was so painful that it was terrible for me to work this morning.
04:16Of course, because he's always been there, all living memory.
04:19He's always been there for you.
04:20But you say that he was calm and cautious.
04:23And yet he lived his life as a rock star.
04:25Yes.
04:26A full five marriages.
04:27Yes.
04:27But after and when he was in, on TV or was he, if he was with you in an interview,
04:37he was always very calm after a, a, a show.
04:43Which were your favorite songs of his?
04:45Oh, I have so many, but I love very much Que Je T'aime
04:51and another is L'envie, D'avoir Envie, made by Jean-Jacques Goldman.
04:57Why did we not understand Johnny Holiday in the English-speaking world?
05:01Just briefly.
05:02Just briefly because I think that, however, his best memory,
05:09his best memory on scene was in London five years ago in 2012 in the Royal Albert Hall.
05:21And because he sees many people and a lot of people grew up to the scene like during the 60s.
05:29And for him, it was, I think, his best memory on scene.
05:36Ambassador Jean-Pierre Jouillet, thank you so much for coming in.
05:39I hope you'll come and see us again soon.
05:40Thank you very much.
05:41It's time for a look at the weather forecast with Sarah.
05:46Good afternoon.
05:47We've got some potentially disruptive weather on the cards over the next 24 to 48 hours.
05:53A wind warning issued, an amber warning from the Met Office, so do be prepared.
05:57We could well see winds storm force 80 miles per hour or more during Thursday.
06:01Now, through Wednesday evening and overnight tonight, the wind's really picking up.
06:05Gales or severe gales in the north and the west as this band of rain tracks its way southeastwards
06:09across much of the country.
06:11So it is going to be a mild start to your Thursday morning.
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