Hitting the right key with adoring fans
RICHARD Clayderman has long been a guilty pleasure of mine. Back in the 1980s, when Pink Floyd and Steely Dan albums took pride of place in my collection, there was a Best Of Clayderman disc well hidden somewhere amidst the punk and heavy rock of my rebellious youth. In many a Rathmines and Rathgar bedsit, his easy listening music became the soundtrack to my student years, a musical appetiser to Chianti and candlelight when the possibility of romance was on the menu. If you couldn’t seal the deal with the fleet-fingered Frenchman’s melodies, it was never meant to be.
Decades later, time has clearly been kind to the 59-year-old pianist born Phillipe Pages. With his trademark blond mop and gleaming pearly whites, the musical phenomenon who has sold 85 million albums continues to perform to rapturous applause across the globe. He may not have the moves of Jagger, but don’t bet against his bank balance or fanbase being just as big. With his lavishly orchestrated reinterpretations of popular hits and well-known pieces from the classical repertoire, he has carved out a ‘chillax’ vibe that’s uniquely his own. Clayderman has collected 267 gold and 70 platinum discs in almost every country in the world — a fair haul for a session musician who became a star by accident.
