Goodbye Johnny

[T42]

Johnny Hallyday has died of lung cancer, at the age of 74.

[citoyen]

Has Macron declared a day of national mourning yet?

I never had much time for his music but I was amazed at how big a cultural icon he still was in France even by the early 90s when I lived there. Probably a similar kind of status to Paul McCartney over here. Don't know how much relevance he has to French kids today though.

[pcolbeck]

Not sure about the youth market he but still sells massively in France. According to Wikipedia his 2014 album "Rester Vivant" sold 132,000 copies in the first week, more than any other album in France that year.

[citoyen]

Blimey.

[pcolbeck]

At one stage it seemed that every record shop in France was compelled by law to have a life size cardboard cut out of Johnny.

[pcolbeck]

1 million people outside the church in Paris for his funeral. Amazing.

[T42]

There's a video going round of Jean d'Ormesson (one of the greatest French authors since WW2) saying that he would consider it most unfortunate to die just one day before a star. That's exactly what happened to him: he died last Tuesday.