Gérard Blanchard was born in Tours on February 7th, 1953. Childhood was not a particularly happy affair, what with health problems and boredom at school. The entertainment and music world attracted him early and Henri Salvador, the French comic and crooner, was preferable to school. At around 10, he began accompanying his father, a house painter, on site. With his first earnings, he bought himself an accordion. Gifted at drawing, he much preferred caricaturing his teachers to doing equations. He did, however, manage to get his school leaving certificate at fourteen. He missed apprenticeship as a tiler by the skin of his teeth, when a teacher advised his mother to send him to Tours school of art. At 14, he thus began studies which at long last interested him. At 18 he left with a diploma in fine arts, for his military service.

In the seventies, Gérard Blanchard led a Bohemian life of music and painting. He also picked up his accordion again, after it had sojourned for several years in a cupboard. He exhibited a few times, in between myriad odd jobs. And, of course, he began to play accordion in the local dances in his area, adding humour and energy to his performances. One thing led to another, and he began writing words and composing songs. This grew into a group, Roxy Musette. 

With the punk movement around 1977, Gérard Blanchard turned towards more violent, rage-filled music, and left the accordion to one side. With a new group, Gueule d'Amour, his songs became more radical under the influence of Louis-Ferdinand Céline. At the same time, his first cartoon strip was published, a work entirely drawn with a ball-tip pen: "Tête à Claques mais sans plus". 

At the end of the seventies, he set up a third group, JO BB Fok, which was out of sync, like Frank Zappa. This was fairly successful, and performed in the first half of the Starshooter (former group of the singer Kent) concerts. 

With the eighties, his experiences with groups came to an end, and Gérard Blanchard returned to the accordion. Now able to draw on a large selection of songs, he toured the country and gave concerts in scattered café-theatres. In 1981, he joined a troupe of actors, l'Escarpolette, which brought him to Paris. After a few jigs in famous café-theatres, La Tanière or La Vieille Grille, he met the singer Danielle Messiah. With her help, he signed with Barclay in 1981. 

In the synthetic eighties, Gérard Blanchard's accordion added a homely note to the landscape of French song. At the time, the accordion was considered as popular poor French, peasant-ignorant, by the rock world. Ten years later, it figured largely in the music produced by French singers. In any case, Gérard Blanchard was largely instrumental in overturning prejudice. 

With his very first album, Gérard Blanchard made his mark in French song history. This album, published in 1982 under the title "Troglo Dancing", contained nutty texts with puns like Bobby Lapointe or Gainsbourg, and rock-popular dance music with a swing. One particular track, "Rock Amadour", was a huge success, riding a tidal wave of popularity with 750,000 sales. An enormous hit, one of those that can stifle a singer's career, it is still one of the biggest hits of the eighties. A second successful track, "Marylou", sealed Blanchard's success and put him on the French song map for good. 

The following year, another album, "Matinée et soirée" came out, followed by a third in 1984, "Version Pauvre du Lac des Cygnes" (poor man's version of Swan Lake). This, recorded in London, was promoted by a tour which was difficult and gave rise to conflicts. And because the second two albums did not receive the acclaim of the first, Gérard Blanchard became depressed and tired. He stopped touring, and disappeared from the gossip columns for a time. In 1985, Josiane Balasko, the actress, commissioned the music for her film, "Sac de Noeuds". 

It was only in 1987 that Gérard Blanchard appeared in the limelight again. His album "Amour de Voyou" appeared in the top 50 (the French ranking at the time) with his track "Elle voulait revoir sa Normandie". This, a pastiche of a Forties hit which had been sung by Jean Lumière, gave Blanchard another hit, and brought him back to the stage. In 1988 he sang at the Printemps de Bourges festival and toured France with his accordion for several months. Theatres were filled to capacity, clearly affectionate with this craftsman of music, whose comfortable repertoire is rich and furiously laden with emotion. Moreover, accordion music had begun to return to fashion, and was being adopted by lots of groups. 

The next album sold well enough for Gérard to be invited to many festivals again. In September, he held an exhibition of drawings, which he had continued to practice. Then in October he held a series of concerts in Paris. 

In 1991, he signed with EMI, which published a new album, "Clochard Milliardaire". This was followed by a new tour with 50 concerts, showing his huge popularity. Another period of silence opened from 1992 to 1994, except for a book of drawings on the theme of …the accordion. But it was hard working silence, for Gérard Blanchard was still painting, drawing and composing. Thus, in 1994, two albums - one of songs, another of drawings- came out simultaneously, both called "Branle-Poumon" (Bellows Wanker, his accordion's nickname). On the record, Gérard plays with the accordionist Richard Galliano, but on his lengthy tour, he went around with a group of four musicians, including a visit to the Francofolies festival at La Rochelle in July, in the pretty travelling tent of Magic Mirrors. Then on 27 and 28 September he performed at the Petit Journal Montparnasse, in Paris. This small theatre, the high altar of jazz, shows how capable Gérard Blanchard is of adapting an new style. His repertoire is now moving towards jazz and blues, while still retaining that authentic French faubourg sound. 

Gérard Blanchard has come a long way since "Rock Amadour". But he is still proud of his old hits! Indeed, in 1996 the singer decided to re-record a selection of his old classics. His album "Blanchard s'la joue solo", recorded live in the Studio Davout, is a selection of former hits, in a more sober, realistic, serious but funny vein. His experiment was a success and revealed the poetic foundation of this artist's work. 

Blanchard fans would have to wait another couple of years before their idol returned to the live circuit. In fact, the singer would finally leave his native Touraine at the beginning of 99, returning to Paris to perform at "L'Ailleurs" (a small, intimate venue in the heart of the Bastille district) on 4 and 5 February. Fans who expected the singer to embark on a major comeback tour after these concerts were to be disappointed however! Blanchard used these concerts to experiment with a series of new songs then promptly disappeared into the studio with his violinist Pierre Bloch to transform them into tracks for his new album.

In 1998 he released "Taciturne Cromagnon", an album that did not provoke much reaction. Blanchard promoted it on stage in February 99 when he left Touraine for the small stage of the Ailleurs near the Bastille in Paris. Afterwards, the artist did a few gigs that enabled him to test the new songs he was working on with his friend, guitarist Pierre Bloch.

It was not before 2003 that he released his tenth record—it was time! Being faithful to his poetic vein, he entitled it "la Migraine du Moineau" (The Sparrow’s Headache).

April 2003