Florent Pagny

Florent Pagny
Pagny in 2017
Pagny in 2017
Background information
Birth nameFlorent Pagny
Born (1961-11-06) 6 November 1961 (age 61)
OriginChalon-sur-Saône, France
GenresPop
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • actor
Instrument(s)Guitar
Years active1987–present
Websitewww.florentpagny.org (in French)

Florent Pagny (born 6 November 1961) is a French singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He records his work in French, as well as in Italian, Spanish and English. His greatest hits include "N'importe quoi", "Savoir aimer" and "Ma Liberté de penser"—all three were number one in France. As of 2018, he has sold more than 6 million singles and 10 million albums, becoming the 17th best-selling artist of all time in France.

Early years

Florent Pagny began his artistic career as an actor in popular films and television dramas. He appeared in La Balance, L'As des as, and A Captain's Honor or Fort Saganne.

In 1987, he wrote his first song titled "N'importe quoi". Pagny's first album, Merci, was released in 1990. The album's songs, mainly written by himself, began to attract controversy[vague], with the press eventually boycotting some of them. This led to a decline in sales, culminating in personal problems. His follow-up album, Réaliste, was also not as successful.[citation needed]

Jean-Jacques Goldman wrote three songs for Pagny under the pseudonym Sam Brewski, and presented to him a new staff. The album Rester vrai marked the beginning of his career as a performer only. Bienvenue chez moi, a semi-compilation released in 1995, was a smash success. Pagny also covered "Caruso", the hit originally performed by Lucio Dalla.

Pagny as a performer

He decided to move to Argentinian Patagonia to flee the French tax authorities and to start a new life with his wife, Azucena, and their children.[citation needed] Recently, Pagny said he had enrolled his children in Miami because he didn't want them to speak Arabic while returning from school. His next album, Savoir aimer, was released in 1997. It was composed by a number of writers, including Jean-Jacques Goldman, Erick Benzi, Jacques Veneruso, Zazie and, Pascal Obispo, who also produced the album. "Savoir aimer" turned out to be an immediate success.

In 1999, Pagny released an album of cover versions of his old song, Recréation. From "Môme Julie" to "Antisocial", he mixed musical styles and dabbled with techno arrangements.

Pagny then alternated studios and cover albums (at least in part) and regularly changed his look. In 2000, he released the album Châtelet Les Halles, whose title song was produced by Calogero. He followed that with 2, an album composed of duets released in 2001. In 2003, he returned with Ailleurs land, whose first single, "Ma Liberté de penser", was composed by Pascal Obispo and Lionel Florence and deals with Pagny's problems with the French treasury. Finally, in 2004, Pagny released Baryton, an album composed of opera songs.

In 2007, Pagny released an album of covers of songs originally composed and performed by Jacques Brel entitled Pagny chante Brel.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Year Album Peak
position
Certification Notes
FR
BEL
(Fl)

BEL
(Wa)

SWI
1990 Merci 10
1992 Réaliste 20
1994 Rester vrai 19
1997 Savoir aimer 1 1 23
  • BEA: Platinum
  • IFPI SWI: 2× Platinum
1999 RéCréation 1 4 94
  • SNEP: Platinum
2000 Châtelet Les Halles 1 3 16
  • SNEP: 2× Platinum
  • IFPI SWI: Gold
Double CD
2001 2 3 3 8
  • BEA: Gold
  • IFPI SWI: Gold
Covers overdubbed as duets
2003 Ailleurs land 1 1 2
  • SNEP: Diamond
  • BEA: Gold
  • IFPI SWI: Platinum
2004 Baryton 1 1 19
  • SNEP: 2× Platinum
  • BEA: Platinum
  • IFPI SWI: Gold
2006 Abracadabra 2 2 13
  • BEA: Gold
  • IFPI SWI: Gold
2007 Pagny chante Brel 3 1 28
  • BEA: Platinum
11 covers of Belgian singer Jacques Brel
2009 C'est comme ça 2 1 16
  • SNEP: 2× Platinum
  • BEA: Gold
Album in Spanish
2010 Tout et son contraire 1 1 31
  • BEA: Platinum
2012 Baryton. Gracias a la vida 2 176 5 40 Album in Spanish
2013 Vieillir avec toi 1 91 1 9
  • SNEP: Diamond
  • BEA: Platinum
2016 Habana 2 146 4 6
  • SNEP: Platinum
Album in Spanish
2017 Le présent d'abord 2
110 1 1
  • SNEP: 2× Platinum
  • BEA: Gold
2018 Tout simplement 5 4 17
2019 Aime la vie 2
169 2 5
  • SNEP: Gold
2021 L'avenir 1 183 1 8

Live albums

Year Album Peak
position
Certification
FR
BEL
(Wa)

SWI
1998 En concert 2 3
  • SNEP: 2× Platinum
  • IFPI SWI: Gold
2004 Été 2003 à l'Olympia 11 4 37
  • SNEP: Diamond
2005 Baryton – L'intégrale du spectacle 24 12 95
2012 Ma liberté de chanter - Live Acoustic 6 4 42
2014 Vieillir ensemble - Le live 33 13 30

Compilations

Year Album Peak
position
Certification
FR
BEL
(Wa)

SWI
1995 Bienvenue chez moi 1 1
  • BEA: Platinum
1999 Les talents du siècle 47
2008 Les 50 plus belles chansons 39
2008 De part et d'autre – Triple Best Of 2
2014 Integrale 2
2018 Toujours et encore 11 38

Singles

Year Single Peak
position
Certification Album
FR
BEL
(Wa)

SUI
1988 "N'importe quoi" 1 - -
  • SNEP : Platinum
"Laissez-nous respirer" 8 - - -
1989 "Comme d'habitude" 6 - - -
1990 "J'te jure" 16 - - - Merci
"Ça fait des nuits" 17 - - -
"Presse qui roule" 24 - - -
1991 "Prends ton temps" 42 - - -
1992 "Tue-moi" 24 38 - - Réaliste
1993 "Qu'est-ce qu'on a fait?" 46 - - -
1994 "Est-ce que tu me suis?" 45 - - - Rester vrai
"Si tu veux m'essayer" 7 - - -
1996 "Caruso" 2 3 - - Bienvenue chez moi
"Oh Happy Day" 8 - - -
1997 "Savoir aimer" 1 1 -
  • SNEP : Diamond
Savoir aimer
1998 "Chanter" 16 15 -
  • SNEP : Gold
"D'un amour l'autre" 83 - - -
"Dors" 29 28 - -
1999 "Jolie môme" 13 11 - - RéCréation
2000 "Les parfums de sa vie (je l'ai tant aimée)" 38 30 - -
"Et un jour, une femme" 3 1 - - Châtelet Les Halles
2001 "Châtelet Les Halles" 45 5* - -
"Terre" 37 1* - -
2002 "L'air du temps"
(with Cécilia Cara)
20 19 - - 2
2003 "Ma liberté de penser" 1 1 8
  • SNEP : Platinum
  • BEA : Gold
Ailleurs land
"Je trace" 26 34 65
2004 "Y'a pas un homme qui soit né pour ça"
(with Calogero und Pascal Obispo)
20 - 45 /
"Io le canto per te" 28 12 - Baryton
2006 "Là où je t'emmènerai" 4 7 39 Abracadabra
"Le mur" - 8* -
2007 "À tout peser à bien choisir" - 6* -
"Un ami"
(with Marc Lavoine)
- 25 - Marc Lavoine album
Les duos de Marc
2008 "La chanson de Jacky" - 6* - Pagny chante Brel
"De part et d'autre" - 13 - De part et d'autre – Triple Best of
2009 "C'est comme ça" - 11 - C'est comme ça
"Amar y amar" - 12* -
2010 "Que nadie sepa mi sufrir" - 17* -
"Si tu n'aimes pas Florent Pagny" - 46 - Tout et son contraire
"Te jeter des fleurs" - 19 -
2011 "8ème merveille" - 3* -
"Je laisse le temps faire"
(with Pascal Obispo)
- 18* -
"Tout et son contraire" - 12* -
2012 "A la huella a la huella" - 16* - Baryton. Gracias a la vida
2013 "Les murs porteurs" 23 25 - Vieillir avec toi
"Vieillir avec toi" 68 2* -
"Souviens-toi" 147 - -
2014 "Le soldat" 61 50 -
2015 "Nos vies parallèles"
(with Anggun)
47 39
- Toujours un ailleurs
2017 "Le présent d'abord" 38
- -
"La beauté du doute" 66
- -

*Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts.

Filmography

Year Title Role Director Notes
1980 Inspector Blunder Michel's friend Claude Zidi
1987 Les keufs Jean-Pierre Josiane Balasko

Awards

Preceded by Victoires de la Musique
Male artist of the year

1998
Succeeded by

This page was last updated at 2023-03-18 21:45 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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