BIOGRAPHY OF MIKE BRANT. The documentary “Mike Brant, the shooting star”, broadcast this Friday June 10, 2022 on France 3, traces the extraordinary life of the singer who died at the age of 28 in 1975.
[Mis à jour le 10 juin 2022 à 19h46] Mike Brant, the shooting star : in the documentary broadcast on France 3, this Friday, June 10, 2022 from 9:10 p.m., we follow in the footsteps of this singer with dazzling success and tragic destiny. In this film, directed by François Chaumont, we find the testimonies, among others, of his friends Nicoletta, Sheila, Stone, Philippe Lavil and Jean-Jacques Debout. From his meteoric rise to his tragic death, the documentary traces the life of this artist who became an idol.
At the height of his fame in the 1970s, the singer’s exhaustion began to be felt. In 1974, he began to frequent an unsavory environment. However, his creativity is not affected because he comes out That’s how I love you, Come tonight as well as you my child. But it was during this year that the star showed her first signs of depression.
On November 21, 1974, he made his first suicide attempt in Switzerland. Mike Brant jumps from his hotel window. He survived with multiple fractures. On April 25, 1975, the singer threw himself from the terrace of a friend’s Parisian apartment, on the sixth floor of a building located rue Erlanger, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The same day released his new album. He died in the ambulance which transported him to the Ambroise Paré hospital in Boulogne-Billancourt. He was only 28 years old. The following week, his song Tell him comes out and sells a million copies. Two weeks after his death, he was finally buried in Haifa.
Moshe Michael Brand, alias Mike Brant, was born on February 1, 1947 in Famagusta, Cyprus and died on April 25, 1975 in Paris, France. Israeli singer and composer, he established himself on the European music scene in the 70s. Success is there thanks in particular to his titles Let me Love You, Who will know or Tell him. But he has difficulty managing his fame, which plunges him into a deep depression.
Son of Bronia Rosenberg, a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, and Fichel Brand, a Polish guerrilla, Mike Brant will not speak until the age of 5. Very quickly attracted by singing, he joined a choir. He left school when he was 13 years old. Aged 15, he joined the group Chocolates, led by his younger brother and accordionist, Zvi. With the voice of Mike Brant, they meet a real triumph among young audiences.
In 1968. Mike Brand embarked on a solo career. He performs in Tehran and is spotted by Sylvie Vartan and Carlos, his secretary. The following year, Carlos introduced him to Eddy Barclay. It is finally Jean Renard, the artistic director of Sylvie Vartan and Johnny Hallyday, who supports it.
In 1970, released his first 45 laps: Let me Love You. The success is such that the title is exported to Germany and Italy and the song is recorded in both languages. The popularity of Mike Brant, who embodies the perfect Latin lover, is growing more and more. It attracts many groupies and movie directors. But the artist prefers the provincial music scene and declines all offers of the 7th art.
In 1972, with his title Who will knowa cover of What will be by José Feliciano, the singer still knows success. The same year, he composed It’s my prayer and chained more than 250 galas in one year. Recordings continue: You’re so pretty, All the colours, Just a tear and All taken back and the tours are linked to the four corners of the world: Europe, Japan or even Australia.
It was an integral part of his character: seduction and romanticism. However, Mike Brant’s private life was far from happy during his (short) life. At 16, the young man falls in love with Sarah Itskovitch, an air hostess and her neighbor, ten years older than him. An age difference very badly perceived by the parents of Mike Brant, although their relationship lasted three years.
In New York, he then met Michal Tal, a fellow Israeli engaged in the same troupe. But the romance does not last and the two lovers are quickly separated. They will then maintain the flame by correspondence. Mike Brant will also have a relationship with singer Dalida. In October 1973, the singer met another air hostess, named Guita, of Polish origin. A tumultuous relationship, eaten away by jealousy, which will end in 1974, the year during which Mike Brant, left by his sweetheart and depressed, makes a first suicide attempt. Before his death, the singer had also appeared on the arm of a certain Lena, his last known companion. Many other relationships are attributed to the seductive artist.
“Mike has always been left by the women he loved. After his last partner Lena, there was Guita, a Canadian air hostess, who had difficulty accepting his career and asked him to choose. He felt betrayed”, summed up his niece Yona Brant in the columns of Here Paris in May 2020.