Pierre Vassiliu, who was born in Val de Marne on 23 October 1937, grew up surrounded by the influences of two very different cultures. His father who worked as a doctor, came from Rumania, while his mother was born in Tours in Northern France. Pierre, who displayed little enthusiasm for his school studies, was passionate about horses and he spent most of his childhood and early adolescence taking part in show-jumping competitions. Pierre’s other great passion in life was music and when he was not in the stables, he was to be found experimenting with riffs on his guitar. Together with a friend who shared his passion for Georges Brassens, Pierre would spend his evenings started hanging out in jazz clubs.

In the late 50’s Pierre, who had started writing songs in his free time, launched his own music career, making his public début at the famous Paris cabaret L’Ecluse.

In 1962 Pierre went into the studio to record his début single (written in collaboration with his brother Michel). "Armand" would prove a huge hit with French music fans, going on to sell over 150,000 copies. Following this success the singer was invited to appear at the legendary Paris music-hall L’Olympia where he performed as a support act for The Beatles. By this point Pierre Vassiliu was really beginning to make a name for himself on the French music scene and after his appearance at L’Olympia he set off on a 2-month tour with three other French stars Françoise Hardy, Jacques Dutronc and Johnny Hallyday. Pierre then went on to record a whole string of hits singles including "Charlotte", "Ivanhoe" and the highly controversial "La femme du sergent" (which ended up being censored because of the Algerian war). Pierre Vassiliu’s hard-hitting lyrics proved extremely popular with the French public and his reputation soon rivalled that of the famous French songwriter Pierre Perret.

In 1964 Vassiliu became involved with the world of French film, when the famous director Claude Lelouch asked him to compose the soundtrack for his film "Une fille et des fusils". Vassiliu went on to compose a number of other film scores and he soon put his extraordinary songwriting talent to use, penning hits for French music stars such as Claude François, Yves Montand, Eddy Mitchell. Vassiliu also wrote a few songs for the legendary German star Marlene Dietrich.

Concentrating all his efforts on his songwriting career, Vassiliu did not go into the studio to record his own début album, "Amour Amitié", until 1969. It was around this period that the singer decided to move to the South of France, where he would live in the Lubéron region for the next fifteen years of his life.

In 1972 Vassiliu proved that he had yet another talent up his sleeve when he landed his first acting role, starring in a television movie opposite Claude Brasseur. 1972 was a busy year for Vassiliu, for after the film came the release of his second album "Attends". This album marked something of a turning-point in Vassiliu’s music, distinctive South American influences beginning to creep into his work at this point. Latin American influences were to become increasingly important to Vassiliu’s new style. Indeed, one of the greatest hits of Vassiliu’s entire career was his 1973 version of the Brazilian singer Chico Buarque’s hit "Qui c'est celui là?". (While French music fans adored the song, a number of Brazilian musicians strongly disapproved of Vassiliu’s comic version of their cherished classic, complaining that Vassiliu was making a mockery of a political protest song).

Meanwhile Vassiliu was establishing an excellent reputation for his live performances. The singer’s natural charisma and his total ease in front of his audience made him an increasingly popular live act, especially when he began working with talented musicians such as Bernard Lubat and Claude Engel in 1974.

In between his hectic touring schedule and his numerous trips abroad, Vassiliu still found time to work in the studio, more or less sticking to his routine of recording a new album every year. Yet, while s 1974 album "Qui c'est celui-là?" proved enormously successful, his later albums - an untitled work in 75, "Alentour de lune" (1976), "Vassiliu déménagement" (1978), "Toute nue" (1979) , "Le Cadeau" (1981) "Présentement" (1982) and "Roulé Boulé"(released in 1984) - met with a rather lukewarm reception from the public and the critics.

In 1984 Pierre Vassiliu headed off to Africa to give a series of concerts in Dakar and perform at the opening of a private holiday resort. This trip was to mark the beginning of the singer’s passionate love affair with Africa. Pierre Vassiliu soon decided to move to Senegal, taking his wife Laura and his children with him. After spending an idyllic year living in a beach-house in Casamance, the family returned to Dakar when Laura was about to give birth to her next child. Once the family had settled in Dakar, Pierre took over the management of a local restaurant, gradually inviting more and more local musicians to come and perform there and eventually transforming the restaurant into a music club. This first African venture soon proved to be thoroughly exhausting and Vassiliu decided to slow his lifestyle down somewhat. Heading off to Mbour (a small town of 70,000 inhabitants set in the bush about 80 km south of Dakar) Vassiliu opened a much smaller restaurant in association with a former wrestling champion. This new venture meant that he could spend more time just hanging out and enjoying Africa, as had been his intention in the first place.

After two years in Africa, Vassiliu finally returned to France in 1986, immediately going into the studio to record a new single entitled "Toucouleur" (which went on to do fairly well in the charts). After an extremely intensive touring schedule which began in 86 and continued right through 87, Vassiliu set up home in the South of France near Toulouse. By 1987 he was back in the studio recording a new album entitled "L'Amour qui passe". Two year later Vassiliu organised another extensive tour then returned to the studio to record a new single (his own witty and sarcastic version of the old 50’s hit "Les Grillons"). The single failed to make any great impact on the French charts but this did not stop Pierre Vassiliu from continuing his successful concert tours in France and abroad, even if the French media largely ignored him.

But all this changed in 1993, when Johnny William (the son of accordionist André Verchuren) offered to produce Pierre Vassiliu’s new album. Vassiliu, who was having an enormous amount of trouble finding a producer at the time, gratefully accepted and the result was the excellent album "La vie ça va". This new album, heavily influenced by Vassiliu’s African years, began to attract an enthusiastic response from French music critics. Encouraged by this success Vassiliu returned to the studio in 1995 to record "Les délires de Vassiliu", an album featuring new versions of all his greatest hits. "Ma cousine et mon cousin", "D'amour et d'amitié" and the legendary "Qui c'est celui-là?" were injected with a new spark and a lively fusion of Gypsy jazz and musette.

Vassiliu made a major comeback in 1998 with a powerful new album entitled "Parler aux anges" (Talk to the Angels). Released in May of this year, the album finds Vassiliu returning to the hard-hitting lyrics of his former years, railing against the inertia and apathy of the 1990's. "Parler aux anges" includes a special tribute to Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara, Vassiliu having recorded an interesting new version of the famous hit "Hasta Siempre Commandante".  

In May 98 Vassiliu turned his attention to cuisine once again, organising a 'gastronomic cruise' aboard the luxury liner "Norway" (which was specially renamed "France" for the occasion!) Vassiliu not only supervised the hors d'oeuvre on the cruise, he also took charge of the music, inviting two groups on board and giving a memorable performance with his own band.

Compared with more mainstream singers, Pierre has chosen to pursue a very different musical route, but he has nevertheless made an important contribution to the French music scene. Remaining open to musical influences from other parts of the world, Vassiliu has integrated non-French rhythms and melodies into his sound (in spite of the fact that this did not always guarantee chart success at home).

May 98