The French singer, songwriter and actor Johnny Hallyday (actually Jean-Philippe Smet) was born on June 15, 1943 in Paris. With him, Rock Music came to France: with his rock songs, sung in French, he inspired the public since the early 1960s. In his long career, he sold an estimated 85 million records and even in 2017 his album “Rester Vivant Tour” was honored in France with a gold record. Johnny Hallyday completed 180 tours with more than 15 million listeners, and after hearing about five sold-out concerts at the Stade de France in 1998 with 450,000 sold tickets, even Mick Jagger expressed himself approvingly: “In France, Hallyday is unattainable”.
On December 6, 2017 Johnny Hallyday died in Marnes-la-Coquette from lung cancer.