Quote Originally Posted by Dublinblue View Post
Saw him live once many years ago. I never really understood how he was so popular. What I've heard seemed to be derivative American music, rather than having anything distinctively French about it
Many countries launched their own versions of Elvis and the like - and regurgitated the format decade after decade. Consider Tommy Steele, Cliff Richard, Alvin Stardust etc. Having a local Elvis or similar has the advantage of the individual singing in the native language - and Rock'n'Roll was never really been a French thing really so at least he put a French twist on it. Not my cup of tea but there you go...