French star Sacha Distel dies
Sacha Distel, who switched from jazz guitar to singing and won millions of women fans around the world, died in the south of France today, aged 71. He had been ill for some time.
His hits included Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head from the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
At the height of his popularity he had his own British TV series.
Distel, the son of a Russian immigrant, was born in Paris in 1933 and began studying piano at five.
He took up guitar 10 years later with talent that led him to eventually play with some of the world’s jazz greats, including Dizzy Gillespie and Lionel Hampton.
Distel was voted best guitarist by Jazz Hot magazine and by several critics’ polls in the late 1950s.
He also had a minor acting career and appeared in numerous films such as Louis Malle’s comedy Zazie in the Subway. He also wrote theme music for the film The Seven Deadly Sins.
Distel had a relationship with Brigitte Bardot in the early 1960s.
He was awarded France’s most prestigious civilian honour, the Legion of Honour.
On BBC’s Desert Island Discs earlier this year revealed details of surviving as a Jew during World War Two and the impact the war had on him and his family. His mother survived 19 months internment in a Nazi camp.
