HUGUES AUFRAY. The singer Hugues Aufray participates in the show “La Boîte à Secrets”, on France 3, this Friday, October 28, 2022.
The secret box by Hugues Aufray. The singer lends himself to the game of the France 3 broadcast, this Friday, October 28, 2022. The opportunity to look into the life of the 93-year-old artist. Or rather, on the double life of Hugues Aufray. The singer married a dancer, Hélène Faure in 1951. The couple has two daughters, Marie, born in 1958 and Charlotte, born three years later, in 1961. Still married with this first love, the artist dates another woman, Muriel, since 2005.
“Today I’m often on the road again. Sometimes I come home at 5 a.m., after hours in the minibus. Hélène can’t live such a life, she doesn’t want to listen to me anymore sing for the hundredth time Celine Where Santiano. The biological clocks of men and women are not in sync, and going on tour alone is a bit hard. There is therefore a young woman in my life.”, he justified in the columns of Liberation in 2012. Thanks to his union with Hélène, Hugues Aufray is the grandfather of seven granddaughters and even has five great-grandchildren. son Hélène Faure, his wife and mother of his children, died on October 6, 2022.
In the same interview with Le Matin in 2015, Hugues Aufray explained that he had lived since 2005 with a companion, younger than his wife Hélène, named Muriel. “Our biological clocks, between men and women, are not the same. Viagra, I don’t know (…) it’s true, I have a young girlfriend”, explained the singer. From now on, even if he has never divorced Hélène Faure, the artist shares his life with Muriel between his house in Marnes-la-Coquette in the Parisian suburbs, and his farm near Orgnac-l’Aven, in Ardèche. .
Hugues Aufray is a French singer specializing in folk and melancholy songs. In nearly sixty years of career, the native of the Paris region has endeavored to convey messages as committed as they are poetic. Miles away from the wild landscapes he depicts, Hugues Aufray is the third son of a noble French family. He is the third child of an industrialist, Henry Auffray and Amielle de Caubios d’Andiran. Fleeing the abuses of the Second World War, his family sailed between Madrid and the south of France during his childhood. But the artist, who dreamed of becoming a sculptor or painter, was quickly noticed for his qualities as a performer. In 1959, he made his first record with a year marked by The Puncher of the Lilacs and There was Fanny singing. He quickly became friends with other great composers such as Georges Brassens and Serge Gainsbourgwith whom he co-wrote numerous titles.
His music reflects the character: authentic. His love for the acoustic guitar gave him his first successful title in 1961 with Santiano, who has since become a legend of French song. This title, like many of the artist’s flagship songs, is a cover translated from another language. During several trips to the USA, he befriends the American legend Bob Dylan, whose instrumental tastes he shares. Three years after a stint in Eurovision, he saw an important year in 1966 with his flagship hit Celineand Stewball. But out of step with the star system, Hugues Aufray does not like Paris. Often on the road, he will withdraw several times from the musical scene to favor breeding, contact with nature and the ecological cause.
The biography of Hugues Aufray is as rich as his career is long. Still active today, until recently he wrote for the greatest artists, such as Johnny Hallyday a few years before his death. Despite an advanced age, this lover of the scene still performs very regularly across France. Some of his titles, like Santiano, Stewball Where Celine, still remain today essentials of French song. Here is the story of these two titles.
This immense success of Hugues Aufray, Santianois originally a British sailor song, called santianna. The singer modifies the rhythm and makes it faster and more cheerful, on a text written by the lyricist Jacques Plante. In the lyrics, he describes a ship, this “famous three-master as thin as a bird” of “eighteen knots, four hundred tons”, with on board a sailor who “has a heavy heart” to leave Margot at Saint- Bad. “Hold on to the wave and hold on to the wind Hisse et ho, Santiano”, is a refrain sung by many generations and which has made its singer one of the most popular singers.
- It’s a famous three-master as thin as a bird Hoist and ho, Santiano! Eighteen knots, four hundred tons / I’m proud to be a sailor there;
- Chorus : Hold on to the wave and hold on to the wind Hoist and ho, Santiano! If God still wants straight ahead / we’ll go as far as San Francisco;
- I’m leaving for long months leaving Margot / Hisse and ho, Santiano! My heart was heavy to think of it / Passing the traffic lights of Saint-Malo;
- Chorus : Hold on to the wave and hold on to the wind / Hoist and ho, Santiano! If God always wants straight ahead / We’ll go as far as San Francisco / They say that there the money flows freely / Hoist and ho, Santiano / We find gold at the bottom of the streams / I’ll bring back several ingots ;
- Chorus : Hold on to the wave and hold on to the wind / Hoist and ho, Santiano! If God still wants straight ahead / We’ll go to San Francisco;
- One day, I’ll come back laden with gifts / Hisse et ho, Santiano / Back home, I’ll go see Margot / On her finger, I’ll put the ring on;
- Chorus : Hold on to the wave and hold on to the wind / Hold on to the course, hold on to the wave / Hoist and ho, Santiano! On the sea that arches its back / We will go as far as San Francisco.
Hugues Aufray is an animal lover in general, and horses in particular. A passion turned into a song, Stewballreleased in 1966, the same year as another of his hits, Celine, which we will discuss below. The title Stewball is inspired by several other songs which, since the 18th century, tell different stories around a racehorse. In the 1960s, Hugues Aufray and Pierre Delanoë transformed this story into the tragic one of a “white horse” who “was called Stewball” who had to be “finished off” after having fallen seriously during a horse race, destroying the hopes of earning money from a poor family man.
- His name was Stewball / He was a white horse / He was my idol / And I was ten years old;
- Our poor father / To buy this thoroughbred / Had put into the business / Up to his last franc;
- He had in mind / To make him a great champion / To liquidate our debts / And pay for the house;
- And believed in his luck / He engaged Stewball / On a beautiful Sunday / At the Grand Prix de St-Paul;
- “I know, said my father” / “That Stewball will win” / But, after the river / Stewball fell;
- When the vet / Suddenly finished him / I saw my father cry / For the first time;
- His name was Stewball / He was a white horse / He was my idol / And I was ten years old.
The title Celine by Hugues Aufray was released the same year as Stewball, in 1966, on the same 45 rpm. Written and composed by him, Vline Buggy and Mort Shuman, it is one of the singer’s most famous songs and inspired many parents for the first names of their little girls, as was the case for Celine Dion, who inherited this name from cause, or thanks, to the title of Hugues Aufray. Before he interpreted it, the title would have been proposed to Claude Francoiswho would have refused to sing it.
- Tell me, Céline, the years have passed / Why didn’t you ever think about getting married? / Of all my sisters who lived here / You’re the only one without a husband;
- No, no, no, don’t blush, no, don’t blush / You have, you still have beautiful eyes / Don’t blush, no, don’t blush / You could have made a man happy;
- Tell me, Céline, you who are our eldest / You who were our mother, you who replaced her / Did you once live for us / Only without ever thinking of you?
- No, no, no, don’t blush, no, don’t blush / You have, you still have beautiful eyes / Don’t blush, no, don’t blush / You could have made a man happy;
- Tell me, Céline, what has become of him / This nice fiancé whom we have never seen again? / Is it not to abandon us / That you let her go?
- No, no, no, don’t blush, no, don’t blush / You have, you still have beautiful eyes / Don’t blush, no, don’t blush / You could have made a man happy;
- But no, Céline, your life is not lost / We are the children you never had / I knew it a long time ago / And I will never forget it;
- Don’t cry, no, don’t cry / You still have the eyes of yesteryear / Don’t cry, no, don’t cry / We will always stand by you / We will always stand by you.
Santiano, Stewball and Céline are not the only songs from Hugues Aufray’s repertoire to have become popular and to have survived the ages. In 1963, he made a big impression at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “As soon as spring returns”, although he did not win. The singer imposes himself by his style, mixing traditional French songs with American rhythm’s’blues, as evidenced by another piece that has become a folk hit, The coulor pencilsreleased in 1966. It is this song that he will perform in front of Martin Luther King at the Palais des Sports, confirming his stature as a committed singer. Another famous song by Hugues Aufray is a title sung by generations and generations of students in France: Farewell Professora title written by Vline Buggy and Hugues Aufray, composed by Jean-Pierre Bourtayre and released in 45 rpm in 1968.
The life of Hugues Aufray, made of musical successes and commitment, was also synonymous with drama. At 27, the singer’s brother committed suicide. Guest of the JT of 20 hours de France 2, presented by Thomas Sotto, last August, he mentioned this ordeal when the journalist asked him what he would have changed in his career if he could. “I would do a lot of things again. But I don’t think you can start a sentence with the word ‘if’. You don’t have to do it again. I think I made my career my way. my brother who raised me, Francesco, who I lost, who was 27, who committed suicide… He had a world career to do, he didn’t have that career. done, in my own way, his career, “he confided.
If his songs are sung in many summer camps or at school, Hugues Aufray has also distinguished himself by his commitment over the years. In the 1960s, he became involved in anti-Vietnam war demonstrations; supports François Mitterrand until his electoral victory in 1981 or committed himself to ecology and against racism by participating in particular in the concert in the presence of Martin Luther King at the Palais des Sports in Paris in May 1966. In his songs, Hugues Aufray deals with his themes that are dear to him: respect and fraternity. In 2020, the singer is committed alongside Cédric Villani for the municipal elections.