Richard Clayderman

Richard Clayderman, my favourite piano composer opened the new contemporary romantic style. He is one of the world's most popular and prolific entertainers. 

Through his distinctive and very personal style of playing, he has continued to charm audiences the world over and continued to break new ground and conquer new territories. His music, which speaks a single universal language, has endeared him to millions of people. 

Richard Clayderman was introduced to American audiences the same year with the release of his album "Amour" and he followed it up with the appearances on several major US talk shows. Because Richard Clayderman wasn't well known in the United States, yet he was labeled as "The World's Most Popular Pianist".

In Britain, the success story started several years before when his debut album, "Richard Clayderman", sold a million copies.

Today, Richard Clayderman has arguably done more to popularize the piano around the world than anyone since Beethoven. He has created a New Romantic style through a repertoire that includes the very best of original material, combined with melodies that embrace the entire musical spectrum...and he has certainly emerged as one of the world's most prolific recording artists in modern times.

Richard Clayderman was born Phillipe Pages in Paris on December 28, 1953, as the son of a piano teacher. He spent the first few years of his life living together with his parents and sister in a one-room Parisian apartment, with a piano. As a natural talent, "My father never forced me to play", he says. "On the contrary, I used to ask him to show me how to play." He was given an old piano by his grandfather when he was 6, and people say that it was at this age, that Richard could read music with greater ease than he could speak his native French. He learned so quickly that within two years, he was entering and winning local competitions. 

"I became a little more expert at the piano when I was eleven, twelve and to avoid conflicts with my father, he recommended me to one of his closest friends, who taught at the Conservatory" he says. 

It was indeed at the age of twelve that he was accepted at the Paris Conservatoire of Music where, at sixteen, he won First Prize in the Piano Competition. A career as a classical concert pianist looked imminent. Then he decided to give it all up, turning to contemporary music instead. 

"I played Chopin and Debussy", he adds. "But I didn't want to be a classical pianist. It was good for my technique, but I wanted to be something different. So with some friends, I created a rock group. It was a tough time, a hard time and the little money we could make was devoted to buying equipment. In fact, I used to feed myself so badly, living mainly on sandwiches, that I had to have an operation for an ulcer when I was only seventeen." 

However, his life changed dramatically in 1978 when Olivier Toussaint and Paul de Senneville who successfully ran the French recording company, Delphine, auditioned him. 

'When I signed him, I told him that if we sell 10,000 singles, it would be marvelous, because it was disco at the time. And such a ballad would take time, but then it got very big in Spain; Germany followed and then France, South America, Japan, Australia...and finally England. We could not imagine it would be so big.' 

It was the start of what has become an outstanding success story and has seen Richard Clayderman hoisted to international super-stardom. Yet, prior to the release of the record, he was still known as Phillipe Pages. "My producers were a little bit afraid of my real name as it is pronounced differently in every country", says Richard. "So we decided to use my great grandmother's name, Clayderman, who was living in Sweden a century ago. This probably explains my blond hair and blue eyes." 

"Richard Clayderman speaks a language that all of us, men and women, young and old, hear in our hearts, the music of love and romance.' 

There seems no end to his continued worldwide success. Despite all his success, he remains very much a home loving man. "My family is extremely important to me", he says. "My mother, my wife Christine, my daughter Maud, my son Peter. They are what kept me going, my reason for living, apart from my music of course."

Otilia Stanciu
"D. Zamfirescu" School, Focsani, Romania
Teacher: Petru Dumitru <petrudumitru@netscape.net>