Les Players C/O Laurent Dumm (CHANTEURS ET CHANTEUSES)
19 Rue Keller, 75011 Paris, France

Inspired by the Shadows and Duane Eddy, Les Players were a 4 piece rock ‘n’ roll combo formed by 17 year olds Hervé Roy (organ), Christian Martin (bass), Michel Libretti (lead guitar) and Jean Pierre Prevotat (drums) in 1961. After appearing at the legendary Paris nightclub Le Golf Drouot and winning the Twist competition at the Piscine Royale, they released more than 20 EPs over a five year career from 1961-66. After they split, Jean Pierre Prevotat joined the progressive rock band Triangle, and Hervé Roy released a number of excellent Library music releases for the Tele Music label.

Le Balajo
9 Rue de Lappe, 75011 Paris, France

The Rue de Lappe was the spiritual home of musette music during its golden age. In the 1930s there as many as seventeen musette dance halls located on the street, including Le Chalet, La Boule rouge, Les Barreaux verts, Le Bal Chambon, and Au Vieux Bal des Familles. Only one still survives to this day, Le Balajo, which opened in 1935. Accordionist Jo Privat was a regular at Le Balajo for more than fifty years, he even composed a song named after the venue, which became the establishment’s anthem.

Max Fournel – COMEDIENS
41 Rue de Lappe, 75011 Paris, France

Actor Max Fournel made his stage debut with the Comédie-Française, one of the world’s oldest theatre companies still in operation today. He would appear in more than 15 productions for the state troupe from 1962-66. After this classical start he moved into TV and film, appearing in multiple episodes of Au théâtre ce soir, the programme that broadcast theatrical performances on French television. It was a show that he would return to again and again, not just as an actor but as a director too, taking the helm 8 times from 1975 to 1982.

Tony Rallo (Guitare)
10 Rue de Charonne, 75011 Paris, France

Best known in the UK for his 1979 hit disco single Holdin’ On, Tony Rallo first made a name for himself in 1960s Paris. As the sixties turned into seventies he worked as a guitarist with Joe Rossi, Michel Delpech, Jeanne Moreau, and Pierre Vassiliu. Parallel to his career as a musician he worked more and more as a conductor and bandleader, directing recordings for Les Guitars Unlimited, François De Roubaix, Elsa Martinelli and Daniel Beretta. In 1976 he wrote and directed Catherine Ferry’s entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, her performance of Un, Deux, Trois secured second place for France. Rallo was the conductor of many of Dalida’s recordings.

André Frank (Poete)
97 Av. Ledru Rollin, 75011 Paris, France

A man of immense culture, André Frank was a poet, drama critic and General Secretary of the Antonin Artaud Theatre, and then the Renaud-Barrault Company. Alongside Jean-Louis Barrault he founded the journal Les Cahiers, a publication created in 1953 as part of the performances of the Renaud-Barrault company. In 1956 he was appointed head of the drama department at ORTF (Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française), the year the department moved to Buttes-Chaumont. He remained there until a year before his death in 1971.

Le Bistrot du Peintre
116 Av. Ledru Rollin, 75011 Paris, France

Located on the ground floor of the building designed by architect Jules Galopin in 1902, this cafe was originally called À Jean Pierre, vins, liqueurs, bières, café, billard. After changing its name from Le Carrefour and then to La Palette Bastille, it has been called Le Bistrot du Peintre since 1997. This old-fashioned brasserie has a varnished wooden facade in the Art Nouveau style and an interior decorated with plasterwork and ceramics, including two ceramic figures of women. Artists and painters that lived nearby and may have frequented the cafe include Pierre Desbois (108 Av. Ledru Rollin), Marie Madeleine Albeaux (107 Av. Ledru Rollin), Albert Froger (36 Rue Keller), Marcel Bilger (92 Rue de Charonne), and Séverin Rappa (37 Rue de Charonne).

Jack Irsa (CHEFS D’ORCHESTRES)
54 Rue Trousseau, 75011 Paris, France

Drummer Jack Irsa formed his first band while attending the Frédéric Mistral Chantiers de la jeunesse camp during WW2. Young men of military age (20 years old) from the unoccupied zone and North Africa were drafted into these youth work camps for a six-month period. After the war Irsa played in Marcel Azzola’s accordion dance band alongside Didi Duprat on guitar, and Pascal Groffe on bass. In the 1960s he fronted his own combos and orchestras including the western themed Jack Irsa Et Ses Cow-Boys.