Sylvie Vartan and Johnny Hallyday, it will never end

This weekend, Le Figaro was in studio with Sylvie Vartan. The most beautiful to go dancing repeated the show she will give in homage to Johnny Hallyday at the Grand Rex on October 23 and 24.

"Johnny, I think of him everyday. It's crazy, says Sylvie Vartan while walking on a path in the middle of nowhere in Bondy north of Paris. He disappeared two years ago and it looks like it was yesterday. Time has passed at such a speed. I always find it hard to realize that he is no longer there. "For her, having lived a lot should allow you to take a little height, it's quite the opposite, it weakens."

Her husband, the American producer, Tony Scotti looks at her. These two are in love as in the first day. He who will tell us many anecdotes about Johnny, adds: "as we say in Hollywood, we lost a star but up there in the sky shines a new star and it is Johnny."

As it is not the two screenings of archival images at the Olympia in early December or the successful concerts of Jean-Baptiste Guegan that will live the songs of Johnny Hallyday as it should, Sylvie Vartan has took things in hand. On Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 October, she will pay homage to the Grand Rex during a concert that promises to be exceptional.

Three hours of show, three costumes changes designed by Hedi Slimane, thirty songs: "70% will be those of Johnny and 30% will be mine, explains Sylvie who will be joined at a specific moment on stage by their son David.

In 2018, I cut the last twenty minutes of my concert to pay homage to him. I could not do otherwise. But it was not enough. Then I recorded an album of covers of his songs. This time it's a show only for Johnny. "

Tony Scotti: "All those who grew up with Sylvie and Johnny will be back in this gay, fanciful time where music counted a lot. There are many anecdotes to tell about their songs, about their duets. "A show full of surprises, he does not want to reveal anything. Just be sure he will start with three minutes where "Johnny will be alone on stage", through his voice and private photos where it will be rediscovered as Sylvie wants to remember him, that is to say "Young, sunny and beautiful as a god."

The musicians of always Johnny and Sylvie

To repeat with her musicians, Sylvie Vartan came here north of Paris in a studio appreciated by the show-biz for its discretion. Between railways and sheds, finding the address without a GPS is impossible.

In the overheated room, the faithful team is already there. In front of Sylvie bursting with laughter, Didier, his polyglot bodyguard chained the jokes in German. "Memories of my past on the big screen," he says without saying more.

The musicians warm up, turn the pages of their scores. Leaning on the piano, the artistic director Philippe Russo discusses with his wife, the chorister Isabelle Staron. Claude Bessot dit Kako, the trumpet player of Eddy Mitchell and Johnny Hallyday is faithful to the job. As in the great American shows of Sylvie at the Palais des Congres in the mid 70's.

Basically, Claude Engel scratches some chords on his guitar. "He too is with Sylvie since always," says Albert Penouel, the director of production. On the red sofa facing the stage, Sylvia Bonhomme communicating Sylvie Vartan chat with Ariane responsible for the fan club and derivatives.

An "On two three oven!" Bursts. Facing the musicians, Tony Scotti headphones on the ears, raises his arms like a conductor. Let's go for Gabrielle and a frenzied medley rock. Under the amused look of Sylvie jumping, Didier goes wild raising his leg as high as a Crazy dancer. Everyone claps their hands, beats the measure with their feet and crosses their wrists on "Dying of love chained."

The atmosphere at the Grand Rex promises. Sure What makes the blondes cry, Tony spreads his arms and imitates the helicopter quoted in the lyrics. We laugh heartily. Sure Love is like a cigarettehe's not kidding anymore. "Everyone has gone wrong! "He growls interrupting the set. "Tony is always right," half jokes Sylvie. I'm trying to catch him from time to time but …. "

At the edge of the stage, Jacques Rouveyrollis, the legendary designer of lights teases the big band: "So who missed the bridge of the chorus? It's the fault of whom? Maybe Kako? "Tony turns, falsely tired:" See, that's why we're still doing rehearsals.

All this band played the tubes of Johnny and Sylvie, hundreds of times together on stage! " Memories memories, Sylvie is testing a slower version than the original. It suits his grave voice well. She closes her eyes, sips a mint green tea and holds "the night".

In a corner, the painter and graphic designer Jean-Jacques Billore reveals slideshows he designed for the show: "It's not easy, it is necessary that the images run at the right pace on the words of Sylvie." Exactly , disaster. Tony turned on the stopwatch on his mobile phone: "There are 40 seconds too many!" "No way to cut the slide," retorted Sylvie who loves the choice of photos of her and Johnny. "I looked at billions of shots, it's amazing, there are tons that I had never seen. There is no need to say, the youth is beautiful and it is the happiness that radiates. "For the images and sound to form a poetic ensemble, the musicians will resume three times instead of two the end of a song. Jean-Jacques Billore confides: "Sylvie has a lot of esteem for the work of others."

"You thought the music was easy?", Slipped Tony before sounding the break: "Break, Eating, Entracte!" "We see that Muffin is not there, Sylvie remarks while talking about his bichon loved it. When she hears these words, she runs as if she has not eaten in days. "Now eight years old, Muffin stayed at home, Villa Montmorency in western Paris. "She must bicker with Harlow (as Jean Harlow) the new bitch of the household," worries the singer of the Maritza. "Yes, but here anyway, here the sound is too loud," says Didier.

The reciprocal friendship of Tony and Johnny

At lunch served in another rehearsal room under a giant mirror ball – "they repeat The Bulgarian voices? "Didier jokes referring to Sylvie Vartan- Slavic origins, Tony multiplies anecdotes. That does not bother him to produce a show in homage to the ex-husband of his wife? "I have never been jealous or afraid of Johnny. I was like a big brother for him. He was a great guy. We got along very well because we shared the same tastes for music. As I worked with many legends, he loved that I tell him stories about Tina Turner, Barbra Streisand …, he says. Once at home, Johnny said to me as he looked at Sylvie, "you know, she was my wife." I answered him tit for tat: "but now it's mine." Sylvie who watches over mine In a word, her husband adds: "Tony liked Johnny a lot and vice versa. He even made it in a movie The Iron Triangle. We had all gone together to Sri Lanka. "

The last time Tony saw Johnny was a few years before he disappeared. "At that time, he phoned Sylvie all the time. He needed his advice. He had a lot of respect for her. Sylvie has always been very worried about him. "And to tell another anecdote:" Sylvie and I are very friends with Priscilla Presley. One night, she came to dinner at home in Los Angeles with Johnny. He was delighted to meet Elvis' widow. Unfortunately, she already had someone in her life. Priscilla is a very good person. She has taken Elvis' posthumous career into her own hands and manages her tremendously well. I hope for Johnny's, it's not too late. "

Judicial showdown with Laeticia Hallyday, it will not matter. Sylvie Vartan is too intelligent and great lady to lower herself to this level. His concerts at the Grand Rex still anguish a little. "It's a special show with joy and emotion but at the last note, it's really the end. I'm going to be very sad, "she says with a veiled look behind her smoky beige glasses. That the fans are reassured, it does not announce at all his farewells. A new, more theatrical show is already in the pipes for 2020.