Chatelineau
Francesco (his real first name) Barzotti was born on July 23, 1953 in Châtelineau in Hainaut to Italian immigrants. He spent his entire childhood near Pesaro on Italy’s Adriatic coast before returning to Belgium at the age of eighteen.
galleys
He debuted the song in 1971, but his first album was unsuccessful. Claude Barzotti then worked as a builder and bicycle mechanic before becoming artistic director of the Vogue record company.
Madam
In 1982 the song Madame appeared in 45 rounds, which he had already marketed in 1974 with complete indifference. This time the radios are hanging. He sold 700,000 copies. His first hit.
The ritual
In 1983 he sang his roots in the popular Le Rital. Worldwide box office with 1.7 million copies sold. His biggest hit, his signature and a huge shift in perception. Overnight, “Rital” loses its pejorative connotation.
Canada
The country where the singer is most popular. In the mid-1980s, he sold more records there than Johnny and Cabrel. He’s been there 87 times. In 1985 he gave a young singer from Quebec his opening act opportunity. Her name: Celine Dion.
alcohol
Claude Barzotti led an unbridled sentimental life and plunged into the abyss of alcohol. He admitted to drinking up to ten bottles of whiskey a day. His 2012 song Je reviens d’un voyage addresses the issue with great sincerity.
court hearing
In 1996 everything changed. A singer, whom he promised to start his career, accuses him of rape. The affair made a lot of noise, the radios forgot about it, Canada no longer invited it to tour. Claude Barzotti is cleared of all charges at first instance and on appeal. But he won’t recover.
A man
In 2019 he released his latest album “Un homme”, a testament record in which he returned in particular to his excesses and his mistakes. The CD is unsuccessful. Barzotti was very bitter about this experience, which he described as “the last chance”.
farewell
In 2020, Claude Barzotti announces that he is ending his career, fed up with not being able to give concerts anymore because of the health crisis but also because of his major health problems (pancreatitis and kidney surgery).
Court Saint Etienne
At his home in Court-Saint-Étienne, Claude Barzotti died of pancreatic cancer (like Arno) on Saturday 24 June 2023, a month before his seventieth birthday. For many, this eternal ritual will remain, “both in voice and in gesture.”