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.
Speaking from his home in France, he talks about his long-standing affection for the Irish landscape: “Every time I come to Ireland, I try to explore as much as my schedule will allow,” he said. “It is such a green and unspoiled country, I feel very happy always to be there.” Having played in Dublin a few months ago, he will play just one concert in Killarney on this visit. “I have never been to Kerry and am hoping to see some of its famous scenery while I am there, particularly the Lakes of Killarney and the Gap of Dunloe.”
At age 12, Clayderman could read music better than words and, having won a place at the prestigious Paris Conservatoire, eventually graduated top of his class. The lucky break that would change the young Frenchman’s life came in 1977 when legendary music producer Olivier Toussaint auditioned him to play a new tune composed to celebrate the birth of his musical partner Paul de Senneville’s daughter, Adeline. “As soon as I heard Richard play, I knew he was the right one,” Toussaint recalled years later. “He had a soft touch and a good technique but, just as importantly for me, he was also modest, charming and a good-looking guy, with none of the arrogance of some others I had met.”
‘Ballade Pour Adeline’ became an overnight global phenomenon. Still encoring the song today to ecstatic applause, Clayderman credits its success to its melodic simplicity.
“I was seduced by the melody as soon as I heard the song, but I had no idea it would become such a huge success. It is a melody that is simple and beautiful, and touches people’s hearts.”
With a musical repertoire grounded firmly in romance, he admits to never growing tired of playing Adeline, even after all these years.
“It has been the piece of music that gave me the chance to perform a lifetime of concerts,” he says. “I never grow tired of playing it because we perform it in many different ways — with full orchestra, with only strings, and also just the piano. For me, this music will always be special,” he adds.
Clayderman’s music has been the backdrop to many a wedding proposal or anniversary waltz — significant occasions he is happy to acknowledge at his concerts.
“There are many, many people who will tell me a certain tune was playing when they met, or fell in love,” he says. “If they wish me to play this song at a concert, I am honoured to do that — after all, these are my fans.”
He also credits a recurring name on birth registers across the world to his music: “There have, over the years, been many babies called Adeline, and this is also something from which I take much joy.”
Clayderman’s work ethic remains undimmed even after four decades at the top. Practising up to four hours every day, he still spends most of the year touring, arranging and recording. “My concert audience is very eclectic,” he says of his enduring popularity. “There are parents with their young children who are piano students, teenagers who are piano lovers, and grandparents who have been my fans forever. All generations are present.” And some of us are there, lost in the melody, remembering evenings of romance in Rathmines bedsits….
- He has performed more than 1,900 concerts in the world and recorded over 1,200 titles.
- He has sold 85m albums, 340 of them gold and platinum.
- He has performed more than 800 concerts in Japan alone.
- He has received 50,000 bunches of flowers on stage.
- His concert tours have clocked up more than 3m kms.
- He has played 4,000 different pianos
- He has performed Ballade pour Adeline more than 8,000 times.
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