Gilbert Bécaud at Père-Lachaise: what does the tomb of the famous singer look like?

95 years ago, a legend of French song was born. François Gilbert Léopold Silly was born on October 24, 1927 in Toulon. While his parents divorced some time after his birth, he took the surname of his father Louis Bécaud as his artist name in 1952, according to biographers Annie Reval and Bernard Reval in Gilbert Bécaud, Jardins secrets, published by Editions France- Empire.

In his early days in the 1950s, Gilbert Bécaud intended to make a career in music. If we know the artist today for his hits like I’m coming back to get you, And now or Nathalie and Hello life, he is also famous for his famous polka dot tie suit. As Bertrand Beyern tells us, during a visit to Père-Lachaise where “Monsieur 100,000 volts” has been resting since 2001.

Before experiencing success, Gilbert Bécaud was looking for work and turned to a piano bar in the hope of getting hired. “During his first audition, he forgets to bring a tie. He was not allowed to go on stage”, he evokes for Planet. On the verge of being dismissed by the boss who cared about the reputation of his establishment, the musician’s mother finds him a solution.

“As her mother accompanied her that day, she runs to their hotel. She opens the suitcase and she had brought a beautiful summer dress for the holidays, in polka dot patterns. She sacrificed it by cutting a kind of tie”, reveals the speaker. “His son had a triumph and it became his fetish object. He always sang with a polka dot tie”.

More than 20 years after his death, Gilbert Bécaud is a national monument of French variety which continues to attract the curious to his grave. The opportunity for Bertrand Beyern to slip us an unusual anecdote. During a walk, this cemetery specialist saw “two elderly ladies who unfolded a real polka-dot tie on his grave”. Like what, his memory will live forever through his personality and his fantasies.

But, what does the burial of this man who caused scenes of hysteria at each concert look like today? Failing to be able to break the seats of the Olympia, the fans gather at his grave and share beautiful photos on the web. Here is an anthology in our slideshow.