André Charles Jean Popp (19 February 1924 – 10 May 2014) was a French composer, arranger and screenwriter.
André Popp was born in the Vendée region, Western France, where he grew up in his grandparents' villa. His mother sent him to a piano teacher when he was five years old. Later onwards, at secondary school, André played the church organ after the cleric originally entrusted with this task had been enlisted into the French army upon Germany's declaration of war in 1940. During the war years, André met songwriter Jean Broussolle, with whom he travelled to Paris after the liberation of France.
With Broussolle, Popp tried breaking into the Parisian music industry by signing many songs, most notably 'Grand papa laboureur', which was recorded by Cathérine Sauvage. In the late 1940s, Popp also worked as a piano accompanist for theatres and record companies. Later on, after a particularly well-received Christmas broadcast for which he had written the music, Popp was signed by French radio as a producer and conductor (1953). Having formed his own orchestra, he entertained nationwide audiences with his instrumental compositions and arrangements in different styles in 'La bride sur le cou', a weekly radio programme which ran for five consecutive years.
Meanwhile, Popp continued composing songs, amongst which big (international) hit successes such as 'Les lavandières du Portugal' (Portuguese washerwomen), originally recorded by Jacqueline François (1954), Eurovision winner 'Tom Pillibi' for Jacqueline Boyer (1960), and 'Manchester et Liverpool' for Marie Lafôret (1967). As an arranger, he worked with many different artists, most notably Jacques Brel, for whom he wrote the original score to 'Quand on n'a que l'amour'. He orchestrated a number of Juliette Gréco albums in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Testimony to Popp's creativity is the creation of an educative symphonic work for children, 'Piccolo, Saxo et Cie.', for which he teamed up with his old friend Jean Broussolle. The first of the four ‘Piccolo, Saxo et Compagnie’ albums, released in 1956, won the Grand Prix du Disque. He also released several instrumental albums, including the innovative 'Delirium in Hi-Fi' (under the pseudonym Elsa Popping) and two LPs with ukelele virtuoso Herb Ohta.
In the Eurovision Song Contest, after his victory with 'Tom Pillibi' (France 1960, lyrics by Pierre Cour), Popp composed three more Grand Prix entries: 'Le chant de Mallory' (Rachel, France 1964), 'L'amour est bleu' (Vicky Leandros, Luxembourg 1967), and 'Une chanson c'est une lettre' (Sophie Hecquet, Monaco 1975). For the last-mentioned song, Popp conducted the Eurovision orchestra himself. Indeed, the haunting "Love Is Blue", as it became known internationally, turned into a worldwide standard.
Popp had a singular knack for writing melodies that appealed to the collective consciousness. Originally recorded by Les Compagnons De La Chanson, "Tzinerlin", with an English lyric by Jack Fishman, became "Years May Come, Years May Go", the last UK Top 10 hit for Herman's Hermits in 1970. In 1979, Popp won the Grand Prix Académie Charles Cros for the second time, on this occasion for his music to a series of audio reworkings of Hergé’s cartoon creation ‘Tintin’. In the 1970s and 1980s, Popp continued writing songs for artists such as Mireille Mathieu, Nicole Croisille, and Gérard Palaprat. He also continued writing film scores, his last being Pineapple Express in 2008.
Popp died at his apartment in the Paris suburb of Puteaux on 10 May 2014. The day a pre-recorded interview, his last, was broadcast on the radio station France Musique. As French media remarked, this was a fitting farewell for the master of the soundscape and the composer whose series of Piccolo, Saxo Et Compagnie recordings had introduced several generations of children to the nuances of the orchestra.
(Edited mainly from “And The Conductor Is”)