Jean Vallée born 2 October 1941

 

Jean Vallée (born Paul Goeders in Verviers on 2 October 1941 – 12 March 2014, Clermont-sur-Berwinne) was a Belgian song writer and performer. Vallée was made Knight in the Order of the Crown by HM Albert II in 1999.

Back in 1966, known as Paul Goeders, his real name, the singer won the prestigious French Chanson Award at the Spa Festival in Belgium. This would launch the career of Jean Vallée. He recorded his very first album in 1969.

 In 1970, he was selected to represented Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest held in Amsterdam with the song Viens l’oublier, ranking 8th overall. In 1971 he penned one of most famous songs of the Greek diva Nana Mouskouri, entitled La vague (The Wave) which became one of his biggest hits.

In 1978, Jean Vallée was once more selected to represent Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest. In Paris, he ranked 2nd with L’amour ça fait chanter la vie right behind the Israeli entry. When Israel became the clear winners during the voting, most of the Arabic stations ended their transmission of the contest. Jordanian TV finished the show with a photo of a bunch of daffodils on screen, later announcing that the Belgian entry was the actual winner.

In 1980, Jean Vallée performed the role of Javert in Les Misérables, by famous French director Robert Hossein. The musical gathered more than 500,000 spectators. In 1999, the singer was made a Knight of the Belgian Order of the Crown by King Albert II of the Belgians.

In 2008, he presented a show in tribute to his elder compatriot Jacques Brel. Sharing his time between France and Belgium, Jean Vallée kept performing until the very end. Here’s “Clopin Clopant” from a Readers Digest compilation “Souvenez – Vous! Circa 2009.
 

 

His health had deteriorated since December 2013, one of his last public appearances during a concert of his good friend 1973 Eurovision winner Anne-Marie David. He had returned from Paris to  his home country in his last days to die.

 

He died on March 12, 2014 in Clermont-sur-Berwinne, Belgium. According to the report of his death, Jean died of Cancer. (Info edited from Wikipedia & esctoday.com)

Here is a clip of the Belgian entry at the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest. Jean Vallée - "L'amour ça fait chanter la vie" ("Love makes life sing")