He could sing a song himself, with fake Charles Trenet tunes. But Jean-Max Rivière is a talented lyricist. He is the composer of many songs for Brigitte Bardot, Dalida, Juliette Gréco, Françoise Hardy, France Gall, Sylvie Vartan and Serge Reggiani. He died on Saturday at the age of 88 in Royan (Charente-Maritime), we learned from his family.
Together with the composer Gérard Bourgeois, with whom he formed a prolific duo in the 1960s and 70s, Jean-Max Rivière signed “La Madrague” for Brigitte Bardot in 1962, but also “C’est rigolo”, “At the end of the summer”, “Moi je play”…
Their hundreds of co-productions were also performed by Juliette Gréco (especially “Un petit Poisson, un petit oiseau” in 1966), Les Compagnons de la chanson, Michel Delpech and even Dalida.
A longtime member of Sacem’s board of directors, Jean-Max Rivière adapted the American hit “I Only Want to Be With You” for Richard Anthony in 1964, which became “Now You Can Go Away.”
For France Gall, Jean-Max Rivière and Gérard Bourgeois, who died in 2016, signed “It’s snowing” and “You don’t have the right” in 1966. Two years later, Serge Reggiani achieved success with another of their creations, “Il suffisait de quasi rien”.
Jean-Max Rivière also participated in the rock opera “La Révolution française” by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil. Also a singer, he recorded several records in the 1960s.
“The person I owe my entire career to has just passed away… His name: Jean-Max Rivière, great writer,” wrote singer Alain Turban on Facebook, who owes several titles to him including “Marionnette” and “Quatrième Dimension”.
