Eddy Mitchell

Claude Moine (French pronunciation: [klod mwan]; born 3 July 1942), known professionally as Eddy Mitchell, is a French singer and actor. He began his career in the late 1950s, with the group Les Chaussettes Noires (The Black Socks). He took the name Eddy from the American expatriate tough-guy actor Eddie Constantine (later the star of Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville), and chose Mitchell as his last name simply because it sounds American. The band performed at the Parisian nightclub Golf-Drouot before signing to Barclay Records and finding almost instant success; in 1961 it sold two million records.

Heavily influenced by American rock and roll, Mitchell (who went solo in 1963) has often recorded outside France, at first in London, but later in Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee. Guitarists Big Jim Sullivan and Jimmy Page and drummer Bobby Graham were among the British session musicians who regularly supported him in London. For his American recordings he employed session men such as Roger Hawkins, David Hood, Jimmy Johnson, Kenneth Buttrey, Reggie Young, David Briggs, Charlie McCoy, Leland Sklar, Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper and others.

He received a César Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1996 for his role in the French comedy Le bonheur est dans le pré (1996) directed by Étienne Chatiliez.

A great lover of American films, Mitchell hosted La Dernière Séance, a TV show about American cinema from 1981 to 1998 on FR3 (later France 3). Its format was like an old-fashioned double-feature picture show, with two movies, cartoons, newsreels, and stage attractions. The title was taken from the name of one of Mitchell's albums, which in turn took it from the French title of the movie The Last Picture Show.