Hervé Fornieri was born in Villefranche-sur-mer in the South of France on April 24^th 1945. His fascination with America began very early on Coca Cola, jukeboxes and, of course, rock‘n’roll. The seminal moment came in 57 when he heard Elvis Presley’s "Heartbreak Hotel" : he decided to take up music and become a singer.

In 1960, in Nice, with his friends Jean-Claude and Gérard Roboly, guitarists, and Gérard Jacquemus, a bassist, Hervé (who had renamed himself Dick Rivers after the character played by Elvis Presley in the film "Loving You") started a group called the "Chats Sauvages". The following year, the group, who had practised relentlessly, went up to Paris to try and make a name for themselves. After various ups and downs, they recorded their first single on the Pathé Marconi label. The rest is history: hits such as "Ma petite amie est vache", "Twist à Saint-Tropez" and "Est-ce que tu le sais", and the triumphal tours, etc.

Despite the group’s success, Dick Rivers wanted to embark on a solo career. He convinced his artistic director at that time, Monsieur Guiter, and in autumn 62 released a single, "Baby John" which sold 200.000 copies. He was top of the bill for a week at the Théâtre de l’Etoile in Paris, his new English backing group, the Krewcats. At the end of the year he brought out his first album.

Accentuating the crooner side of his rock‘n’roll image, Dick Rivers did French cover versions of Lennon and McCartney standards and had one of the biggest hits of 63, "Tu n’es plus là", the French version of Ray Orbison’s "Blue Bayou".

In 64, his first genuine solo album came out. The main title, "Rien que toi", was a big hit. In November, Dick Rivers shared the bill with the famous Californian group, the Beach Boys, at a live radio concert at the Olympia in Paris. The following year, he brought out "Va t’en va t’en", the French cover version of the Moody Blues hit, "Go now", which went straight to the top of the charts of "Salut les Copains," the famous programme on the French radio station Europe 1.

Whereas in 65 he had done several French tours with, among others, Lucky Blondo and Françoise Hardy, he now set his sights on Canada where, in 67, he received a golden disc for his number 1 hit, "Viens me faire oublier".

Although he had already sold around five million discs, Dick Divers left for the United States in 67 to record an album with some of the biggest rhythm‘n’blues musicians of the day. "Dick Rivers Story", recorded in the famous Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama, remains one of his best albums from that period.

The end of the sixties was a difficult time: the yéyé wave had been and gone and the hippie movement, in full expansion, forced musicians like Dick onto the sidelines. But is was an experimental period for the crooner-rock musician, who teamed up with Gérard Manset in 69 to record "L’interrogation", a musical comedy-album with 72 musicians.

In Canada, where Dick Rivers had remained just as popular, he performed live with the group Labyrinthe. He then recorded "Dick’n’roll", an album of rock-‘n’-roll standards, rearranged and sung in English. He recorded a second volume, "the Rock Machine", in 72. Several hits (some of them penned by Alain Bashung) kept Dick Rivers in the public eye: "Marilou", "Rock’n’roll Star" and above all "Maman n’aime pas ma musique", a golden disc in 74.

Still just as attached to American music and culture, in 76, he recorded a country rock album, "Mississippi rivers" whose sleeve was designed by the Morris, the artist who created Lucky Luke. "Je continue mon rock’n’slow", the singer seemed to be saying, backed on this occasion by a band of excellent transatlantic musicians.

Several hits punctuated this otherwise calm 80s : "Cinderella", "les Yeux d’une femme" or "Nice baie des Anges". In 82, the "Sans Légende" album went almost unnoticed. Diversifying his activities, in January 83 he presented his history of pop and rock music on Radio Monte Carlo and published his first book of memoirs, "Hamburger, Pan-bagnat et Rock’n’roll". He followed this up in 89 with his first novel, "Complot à Memphis".

The end of the decade saw the release of a double thematic album, "Dick Rivers présente Linda Lu Baker", the story of a star of the fifties, with Francis Cabrel, Liane Foly and the Golden Gate Quartet among others.

After many years without performing live, Dick Rivers went on a tour with Francis Cabrel called "Rock and Roll Show", in which they sang American standards in English. A year later, in Austin, Texas, he recorded a tribute to the singer Buddy Holly. Bernard Droguet wrote the French lyrics of "Holly days in Austin", which came out the following year.

Still just as popular in Canada, a compilation of his greatest hits of the sixties came out in 93 : another transatlantic success for the French rock star, followed by a triumphal tour. In France, the compilation, "Very Dick", which came out the following year, covered thirty years of his career.

But his real recording come-back came in 95 with the release of an album of original material, "Plein Soleil", produced by Patrick Coutin. A blend of country ballads and Tew-Mex, the disc, which had an American feel to it and a very up-to-date sound, was hailed by the critics as his best album in years.

Encouraged by these successes, he returned to Bobino in Paris for ten days in November 95, backed by American musicians. With his jet-black hair slicked back, his thin silhouette and inevitable cowboy boots, he appeared on excellent form. His son Pascal (born in 66), a video clip director, filmed his father’s return to the Paris stage.

After the release, in 95, of the double album, "Authendick", he did a concert at Disneyland Paris to celebrate his fiftieth birthday, following this up with an appearance at the Olympia on January 9th 97, to celebrate Elvis Presley’s birthday (the 8th). Eric Clapton’s bassist and ex-Rolling Stone Mick Taylor played alongside him at this rock-‘n’-roll celebration.

Intent on recording more personal material without ever abandoning his old passions, the singer with the deep voice brought a new album, "Vivre comme ça", at the beginning of 98. No less than sixteen composers and lyric writers worked on the thirteen tracks: André Manoukian, David McNeil, Marc Morgan, etc. The first single, "La trahison des mots" is about show business and double-dealings. Following the release of this single, Rivers embarked on a major national tour, stopping off at the Casino de Paris on 24th, 25th and 26th April 98.

After starring in his first feature film (Jean-Pierre Mocky's "La Candide Madame Duff") in 1999, Dick turned his attention to his music career once again, performing some 60 dates across France, Belgium and Switzerland. The singer kicked off the new millennium with a memorable concert in Paris on March 28th then headed down to the French provinces before flying abroad for a new series of concerts. In November 2000 he headed out to Austin (Texas) to record an album celebrating his 40 years in showbizz.

Meanwhile, Rivers continued with his writing career, publishing a new novel in the spring of 2001 (his second after "Complot à Memphis", published in 1989). Set, like its predecessor in the U.S., "Texas Blues" is perhaps best described as a love story with a rock'n'roll background.

As usual, Dick went back to music and, in October, released a new album, "Amoureux de vous" which he had produced together with Patrick Coutin. Featuring tracks penned by such diverse celebrities as writer Philippe Labro, Francis Basset or Thierry Sforza, the album counterbalanced its syrupy arrangements by a rock’n’roll-looking sleeve: a pin-up with a tattoo of Dick Rivers on her back called up the singer’s initial inspiration. Nothing terribly new for the fifty-six-year-old singer who quietly continues on his way, keeping to the-middle-of-the-road but adding to it a few grandfather’s rock’n’roll touches.

Monsieur Rivers, a man committed to diversifying his career, appeared on the airwaves of France Bleu in September 2002, presenting a show called "Very Dick", which retraced the history of rock music. Meanwhile, he continued to perform on the live circuit in France, playing a series of concerts which included two memorable appearances at Le Petit Journal Montparnasse, in Paris (24 & 25 October 2002).

Later that year, Dick Rivers would dub the voice of the tiger Shere Kahn in the French adaptation of the Walt Disney film "The Jungle Book 2." He appeared in front of the cameras himself in 2003, starring in Jean-Pierre Mocky's comic film "Le Furet" alongside Jacques Villeret and Michel Serrault. On 7 October 2003, fans were treated to a greatest hits album entitled "Autorivers", featuring 20 of the French rocker's biggest chart-toppers to date. (The album included two songs written by Axel Bauer: "Je traverse sans regarder" and '"Je m'en fous.")

2004 was a year marked by Dick Rivers's stage debut. He appeared in the Jean Genet play "Les Paravents", staged at the Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris. The play, directed by Jean-Baptiste Sastre, proved to be a big hit with theatre-goers and Rivers remained in his role from 8 January to 3 February. After this thespian success, Rivers went on to dub the chimp Cheetah in the French adaptation of "Tarzan 2." Later that year, he received red carpet treatment at the Cannes Film Festival, appearing as a surprise guest star of George Lucas's (the creator of "Star Wars").

After another stint on television at the end of 2005, presenting the Saturday night erotic show "Paris Playmate, l'ultime séance" on the cable channel Paris Première, Dick Rivers turned his attention back to his singing career. When it came to preparing material for a new album, he invited a host of new songwriters on board (including Francis Cabrel, Mickey 3D, M, Benjamin Biolay, Mathieu Boogaerts and Axel Bauer). His new album, "Dick Rivers" – the 30th of his career – was released on 27 March 2006, giving him a new lease of chart life.

In May 2006, the 60-year-old star published his autobiography, "Rock n'Roll", looking back over his long and diverse career. Dick Rivers celebrated his 45th year in showbizz in style with a series of concerts that lasted all year. In July 2006, he put in an appearance at the Festival des Terres-Neuvas in Brittany, where he shared the stage with rock'n'roll legends Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. After performing at the Festival de Blues d'Avoine in Touraine, Rivers organised a special birthday show, "La Fête à Dick", at the Francofolies music festival in La Rochelle. Meanwhile, the album "Dick Rivers" was reissued in a special collector's edition, featuring a cover of a song by one of his all-time idols: the Johnny Cash classic "I Walk the Line."

Dick Rivers proved to be an indefatigable performer on the live circuit, assuring a packed schedule of concerts throughout 2007. After appearing at a country music festival organised in Mirande, in the south of France, the veteran showman headed off to Belgium before returning to France to play in Coudekerque-Branche (near Dunkirk). In October 2007, Rivers flew out to perform an extensive tour of Canada which coincided with the release of a DVD and a greatest hits compilation. In November 2007, Dick Rivers performed three consecutive dates in Quebec.

Dick Rivers made a comeback on the recording front in June 2008 with "L'homme sans âge", an album recorded in London. The music and lyrics on this new opus were written by Joseph d'Anvers, the young singer, songwriter and composer who has become the 'darling' of the new French chanson scene. The pair had met two years earlier while both appearing at the Francofolies music festival in La Rochelle. The twelve tracks on "L'homme sans âge" were in a moody, introspective vein, Rivers crooning his way through tales of love disappointments, loneliness and old age.

This somewhat darker album seemed to suit the singer's personality down to the ground. What's more, Rivers collaborated with a crack team in the studio this time round, working with producers Kevin Bacon and Jonathan Quarmby, guitarist Marc Sherridan and drummer Larry Ciancia. Joseph d'Anvers also played harmonica and contributed vocals on several tracks on "L'homme sans âge."

Dick Rivers devoted much of 2008 to touring, playing an intensive series of concerts both at home in France and abroad. His schedule included appearances at the Victoriaville festival in Quebec, in May, and he returned to Quebec in July to perform at the ever-popular "Festival d'été."

August 2008