William Sheller had the blinding trajectory of a dark star. The brilliant and tortured singer-songwriter and pianist had been somewhat forgotten since his retirement from the stage. Presented as “the child of Mozart and the Beatles”who was on a par with Alain Souchon and Michel Jonasz, the 77-year-old artist remains missing from the music scene to this day, just like Jean-Jacques Goldman.
In the album Just Sheller, It impresses with its brilliance and elegance and numerous French artists claim its heritage. Reinvented, his songs appear as if they were new. Sheller himself was surprised.
“You knew how to make these songs your own, making them explode, tense, avant-garde, he wrote to his 17 interpreters. You have imprinted the most intimate part of your personality on it. I even discover words that seemed to me as if they had been written by someone else, perhaps by you with the intentions with which you wrote them. »
Devouring melancholy
With a piano voice and the most radical simplicity, each artist was invited by producer Laurent Manganas to record their song alone. Sheller’s only request was to invite Véronique Sanson, his “soul sister”, who put all her energy into it Proud and crazy about you.
Sixteen other actors shared the roles: Jeanne Cherhal basketball, Sheller’s bizarre, slightly perky cheerfulness; to Albin de la Simone, the rhythmic pulsation of Oh, I’m running alone. Eddy de Pretto and Sofiane Pamart share the irony of Rock ‘n’ Dollars. Emily Loizeau keeps the secret of Mirror in the mud. For Vincent Derlem, the poetry of Daughters of the Dawn ; to Laura Cahen with Mom is crazy and Florent Marchet, who sings Nicholasthe strongest lyrics about childhood…
At the climax of an album of peaks we find the devouring melancholy of William Sheller revived by the sensitivity of four great artists. Calogero interprets with poetry A lucky manMarie Flore is alive Simply With a slightly broken voice, Cyril Mokaiesh reveals the subtlety of a little-known song. I wanted it too. Alex Beaupain hante A place to live, in a painful and passionate version that constantly navigates between intimate rifts and vivid hope.
The song, a question of transmission
“Classics” are being reborn, In an old rock’n’roll who Marie Poulain honors, or The spiral notebook inhabited by Malik Djoudi. As for Zaho de Sagazan, she sings Vienna from Barbara to commemorate the day when the brown lady told the young musician, her arranger of the album, about it The wolf, “You should sing!” “.
The song is about transmission, the young guard remembers. Jeanne Cherhal discovered the album as a teenager Only shelling during the Victoires de la Musique 1992, which crowned him. “This record grabbed me, attracted me, grabbed me. As I listened, re-listened, and devoured it, I began to play the piano. I challenged myself to play anything. Without knowing it, Sheller was my piano teacher. I learned music from him »she trusts.
Albin de la Simone remembers hearing Oh, I’m running alone on radio in 1979. “I was in fourth grade. This song has been ingrained in me for over forty years. » The artist says he did it “slightly brutalized” his piano by tapping his hand on it and rubbing the tuning key against the metal parts to create percussion sounds on this track. He remains fascinated by the “virtuoso construction” of Sheller’s works. “The lyrics stimulate the music and create an emotional impact. His melodies are acrobatic with rich and sophisticated chord changes. »
For his part, Alex Beaupain was very impressed at 12 years old the song video Excalibur, signed Philippe Druillet. In 1991, at the age of 16, his discovery of the artist caused a shock. “Sheller authorized me to do this job A lucky man. I, a pianist who didn’t have a rock group and lived in Besançon, thought that I would never be able to sing. Only shelling gave me the feeling that anything was possible just behind a piano. »
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Music and cinema to find Sheller
Just Sheller. This album of covers by 17 artists will be released October 13th (Barclay-Universal). Two concerts will take place at the Philharmonie de Paris on October 17th and 18th.
The best of Sheller. A three-CD (or two vinyl) box set contains 58 songs from Sheller (released October 13, Mercury-Universal-Panthéon).
Only shelling. The 1991 album with A happy man, Considered the best of William Sheller and is available on CD or two vinyls (Mercury).
The poet’s bride. Sheller plays the role of a somewhat fanciful priest in this film by Yolande Moreau, which hits theaters on October 11th.
