00:00...man who brought America to France and they adored him for it.
00:03Johnny Alliday began his career nearly 60 years ago, bowled over by the new sounds coming from the States.
00:11France's post-war baby boomers craved novelty and the whiff of social rebellion, and Johnny gave it in spades.
00:17He became the leader of what they called the Yeah Yeah generation.
00:23The fans, and later nearly all of France, came 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 through all the changes of modern times.
00:42From the Algeria war to Instagram, Johnny has been there, seeing the classics, adding new tunes, updating his image, but
00:50always back on stage to give again.
00:53What people say they loved about him was his working man's simplicity and his dedication.
00:59As radio and television broadcasts suspended regular programmes today, the tributes have been pouring in.
01:06President Macron said what many are saying, that 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, next to the legends of rock and blues who he so loved.
01:22In recent years, Johnny Alliday had been in poor health, lung cancer, but he kept performing right until a few
01:28months 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, Johnny never made it in the US or
01:38Britain.
01:39But that was not the point.
01:40Johnny Alliday played American-style music, but 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.
02:00Thank you very much.
02:01He was really Belgian then, not French.
02:04As many French singers, he was Belgian, but he spent all his life in French.
02:13And for France, his life for Jacques Brel, for France, Johnny, Johnny, and Johnny, c'est la France.
02:23His 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.
02:33Yes, for us, and it's why we are very painful, whatever the generation, whatever the political side, whatever you like
02:48the rock or not the rock.
02:50But he encounters at the beginning of the 60s, the rupture from the old generation with the, as we say
03:00in French, the baby boom generation.
03:04And he was, he was the French man, the most known in France.
03:11Certainly was.
03:12A hundred million records that he sold.
03:14More than one.
03:15More than a hundred million.
03:16You met him.
03:17What was he like?
03:18I met him once in a concert, after a concert, and he was very calm, he was very cautious, and
03:28he was clever because he spoke about their sounds and so on.
03:37And I, it was very attached man, and as you see, for France lost today a part of our country.
03:53It's incredible to see that because for the French population and for all the population, for the, you see, for
04:03the ambassadors,
04:04but for, for, also for the workers, for 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, he's always been there for you.
04:20But you say that he was calm and cautious, and yet he lived his life as a rock star to
04:25the full five marriages.
04:27Yes, but after, and when he was in, on the TV, or was he, if he was with you in
04:36an interview, he was always very calm after a, a, a, a show.
04:42Which were your favourite songs of his?
04:45Oh, I have so many, but I love very much Que Je T'aime, and another is L'envie, d
04:54'avoir envie, made by Jean-Jacques Goldman.
04:57Why did we not understand Johnny Halliday, in the English-speaking world, just briefly?
05:01Just briefly, because I think that, however, his best memory, his best memory on scene was in London, five years
05:16ago, 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.
05:35Ambassador Jean-Pierre Jouillet, thank you so much for coming in.
05:38I hope you'll come and see us again soon.
05:40Thank you very much.
05:41Thank you very much.
05:42It'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.
05:52A wind warning issued, an amber warning from the Met Office, so do be prepared.
05:57We could well see winds stormforce 80 miles per hour or more during Thursday.
06:01Now, through Wednesday evening and overnight tonight, the wind's really picking up.
06:04Gales or severe gales in the north and the west, as this band of rain tracks its way southeastwards across
06:10much of the country.
06:11So it is going to be a mild start to your Thursday morning.
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