The only son of Philippe Delerme, author of La Première Gorgée de Bière, which in three years won almost 1 million readers. Vincent Delerme was born on August 31, 1976 in Evreux.
It was a family of literature teachers, where culture plays a very important role. His parents had a second job. His father, Philip, was a writer, and his mother, Martin, is an illustrator and writer of detective novels for children.
Little Vincent watched a significant number of shows and simply adored Jean-Michel Caradec, Yves Dutey, Philippe Chatel. Music for his father is one of the main directions in art. One of his favorite albums is probably Alain Souchon Toto, 30 ans, rien que du malheur. Vincent also grew up listening to the music of Barbarae tde Gilbert Laffaille.
In 1993, as a high school student, Vincent Delerme celebrated his 17th birthday with friends from the coldwave band Triste Sire. The guys were fans of Cure and Joy Division.
During this time, Vincent Delerme wrote songs at home himself. The songwriting was inspired by Michel Berger and William Scheller. Then young Vincent decided to study the piano. The young man needed this skill to be able to accompany himself.
He then began his studies at Modern Letters at the University of Rouen. In the future, he saw himself as a teacher.
Education was a turning point in Delerme's life - he began performing in the theater, actively working with the troupe and became seriously interested in cinema. In particular, his favorite director was François Truffaut, to whom he dedicated his master's thesis in 1999.
Vincent did not abandon playing the piano, thanks to which he put all his experiences into music. Especially the theme of childhood and nostalgia is present in most of his texts.
Vincent Delerm's first performance as a singer
Despite his love for the stage, he remains dissatisfied with his dramatic and theatrical productions. The self-taught pianist then chose to finally focus on songwriting.
He started modestly and quietly. As a result, Vincent had a panic that the record companies were in no hurry to show him their interest.
His first performance was in 1998 at the Salle Ronsard in Rouen. But serious performances began in 1999 after the artist released his first album.
What inspired Vincent? Of course, they were mostly English-speaking artists like The Smith and Pulp.
Delerme was very fond of raising social issues in his works. In particular, this concerned the topic of relations between people.
After the release of the album, the singer went on a small tour, performing at le Limonaire, le théâtre des Déchargeurs.
When he arrived in Paris in 2000, he really enjoyed walking down Rue Robert-Étienne in the 8th arrondissement, where François Truffaut, whom he respected and loved, had his studios. Of course, he knew the capital of France well in all its charm. Paris will remain in his heart as one of the best cities in the world.
The singer likes the Saint-Michel publishing house, for him it is nostalgia for art cinemas on Champollion street, for walks among book sellers on the embankments, as well as for famous Parisian cafes.
Vincent continued to perform at the cabaret "Marais" in front of a small audience. One evening in the dressing room, Vincent met writer Daniel Pennack and Vincent Frébo, owner of the label Tôtou Tard.
It seemed that this was a gift of fate. But the real luck is a meeting in 2000 Vincent with Francois Morel, actor Les Deschiens from the troupe of Jérôme Deschamps.
When he listened to Delerme's demo, he actually fell in love with the music. François began to distribute the record. In particular, he managed to promote Delerme's music on France Inter radio.
With about 50 songs in his repertoire, Vincent Delerme has not yet recorded a full-length album and performed at the Liberation Theater once a week during 1 and 2000.
Vincent Delerme's first disc
At the end of April 2002, his first album Chez Tôtou Tard was released. The virtuoso musician Cyril Vamberg, pianist Thomas Fersen, double bassist Yves Torchinsky and arranger Joseph Rakai participated in the recording of the disc. Vincent retained his love for orchestral music and baroque motifs, which he demonstrated to the audience.
In two and a half months, the album sold 50 copies without advertising, except for regular concerts in France. Then you could watch how the album continued its development. He reached the milestone of 100 thousand discs sold.
2004: Kensington Square
April 2004 was marked by the release of a new album, Kensington Square. The singer again invited several of his friends to collaborate - Irena Jacob for the Deutsch Gramophon song, and Keren Ann and Dominic A. sang Veruca Salt and Frank Black with him.
The theatrical interlude for Vincent Delerme is also part of his work. He is the author of the play Le Fait d'habiter Bagnolet, directed by Sophie Lecarpentier.
In the same spirit as his songs, the work is about a moment from everyday life, about the meeting of a man and a woman. In particular, the play was performed in Paris, at the Théâtre du Rond-Point, in 2004 and will be repeated in 2005.
Vincent's third album was released in September 2006. Les piqûres d'araignée was recorded in Sweden with Swedish director Peter von Poel and his musicians.
In 2007, Vincent Delerm's first two live recordings were released one after the other: Vincent Delerm à La Cigale and Favorite songs.
The latest album is a series of duets filmed from 21 November to 9 December at La Cigale featuring guest artists such as Georges Moustaki, Alain Chamfort, Yves Simon and Alain Souchon.
2008: Quinze Chansons
Vincent Delerme released another album in November 2008 Quinze chansons ("Fifteen Songs"). From the side of the sound, one can note jazz melodies, gentle ballads and the inheritance of the country style of Leonard Cohen.
The recording features the faithful assistants of the musician, arrangers and composers: Albin de la Simone, J.P. Nataf, Swede Peter von Pohl.
In January 2009, Vincent took his "Fifteen Songs" on a rather successful tour. He performed at La Cigale in Paris every Monday from 9 February to 9 March. On 3 and 4 July he performed at the Bataclan in Paris and recorded a DVD for the occasion.
At the end of 2011, Vincent Delerme published a CD book for children, Léonard a une sensibilité de gauche, with contributions from Jean Rochefort.
The singer presented a new show "Memory" from 6 to 30 December 2011 at the Theater Bouffe du Nord in Paris. From January to April 2012 he toured France with this show. In January 2012, he received the title of knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.
2013: Les Amants Parallèles
Vincent Delerme finished the Memory Tour at the Olympia Concert Hall on April 16, 2013. A few months later, in September, he presented Ce(s) jour(s) -la at the Cent Quatre in Paris, which consisted of videos and portraits created during the May 2012 presidential election.
In November, the artist released Les Amants Parallèles, a concept album of original songs about romantic encounters and relationships between a man and a woman.
It was with the help of sound engineer Maxime Le Gul and director and arranger Clement Ducol, who had already worked with the singer Camilla, that Vincent Delerme recorded 11 songs. It was a setting that was reminiscent of French New Wave films, as Vincent Delerme said.
The tour consisted of almost 50 concerts and began on January 31, 2014. On January 22, 2015, he performed at the Olympia Concert Hall in Paris.
In addition, the shooting of his first feature film, Je ne sais pas si c'est tout le monde, which began in autumn 2015, was delayed due to lack of funding.
Vincent Delerme now
In October 2016, the singer and composer released his sixth album À présent ("Now"). The lyrics are intimate: the subject matter ranges from the memory of a grandfather to childhood in Rouen, always with a hint of nostalgia.
In a duet with Benjamin Biolay, Les chanteurs sont tous les mêmes, he also mentioned the singer's daily life, less charming than the image that is presented to the environment.
Also, Delerme published in Actes Sud a collection of photographs "Songwriting". Then came another collection that mentions the places that his grandfather often visited in his youth (“This is a place that still exists”), and another that talks about holidays (“Endless Summer”).
In November of the same year, he again went on a trip to France, Belgium and Switzerland.
