Daniel Balavoine

French rebel and avant-garde pop singer-songwriter known for his high pitched voice, he was lead vocalist of the pop band "Présence" (1971-1974). During his teenage years, he interpreted Bob Dylan and Deep Purple in the streets of Pau, Southern France. Becoming a chorister for the future disco star Patrick Juvet who launched his career in 1974, he was engaged in the musical La Révolution française and went on to a solo career. He sang in a second musical, Starmania (1978). Then he worked with renowned English sound engineer Andy Scott and was on track to record a new album in English, inspired by Peter Gabriel.

However, he died on 14 January 1986 at age 33 in a helicopter crash in a desert in Mali, during the Paris-Dakar rally. That year he had founded a humanitarian operation "Action Ecoles" which provided water pumps to some African countries. Balavoine was also the godfather of "Les Restos du Coeur" (Restaurants of the heart), created to feed poor people.

He lived with French singer Catherine Ferry and Belgian Linda Lecomte. Married to Jewish Moroccan Corinne Barcessat, they had 2 children, Jérémie, born in 1984, and Joana, born in 1986.