Les Charlots
French group of musicians, comedians, and actors
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Key Takeaways
- Les Charlots , known as The Crazy Boys in the English-speaking world, was a group of French musicians, singers, comedians and film actors, who were popular in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s.
- They renamed themselves Les Charlots and remained active from 1966 to 1997, then again briefly from 2008 to 2011 (as a duo).
- Their light-hearted comedy style was influenced by the style of popular Italian group Brutos and by the anarchist humor of the Marx Brothers.
- "Phil" (guitar, backing vocals), Luis Rego (rhythm guitar, piano, backing vocals) and Jean-Guy Fechner (drums, backing vocals).
- Creation of Les Problèmes Rinaldi and Sarrus were musicians in various short-lived groups ("Les Rebelles" and "Les Tarés", for Sarrus) and they first met in 1963.
Les Charlots, known as The Crazy Boys in the English-speaking world, was a group of French musicians, singers, comedians and film actors, who were popular in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s.
The group was active first from 1965 to 1966 as "Les Problèmes", under which name they made an album with the French singer Antoine. They renamed themselves Les Charlots and remained active from 1966 to 1997, then again briefly from 2008 to 2011 (as a duo). Charlots is slang for "clowns" or "idiots" rather than being a direct reference to Charlie Chaplin, whose character of The Tramp was called Charlot in France.
Their light-hearted comedy style was influenced by the style of popular Italian group Brutos and by the anarchist humor of the Marx Brothers.
The five members were Gérard Rinaldi (vocals, saxophone, accordion), Jean Sarrus (bass, backing vocals), Gérard Filippelli, a.k.a. "Phil" (guitar, backing vocals), Luis Rego (rhythm guitar, piano, backing vocals) and Jean-Guy Fechner (drums, backing vocals). Filippelli was nicknamed "Phil" as there were two "Gérards" in the group.
Creation of Les Problèmes
Rinaldi and Sarrus were musicians in various short-lived groups ("Les Rebelles" and "Les Tarés", for Sarrus) and they first met in 1963. They became friends and decided to form a rock band, even though at the time, Rinaldi was more into jazz than rock. In 1964, they were joined by Luis Rego, then in 1965 by Gérard Filippelli and Donald Rieubon on drums.
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