Michel Polnareff

Michel was born into an artistic family: his mother, Simonne Lane (1912-1973), was a Breton dancer and his father, Leib Polnareff (Russian: Лейб Полнарёв) or Léo Poll ^[fr] (1899-1988) was a Ukrainian Jewish^[1] immigrant from Odesa who worked with Édith Piaf. His father Leib pushed him into becoming a musician, and would not let him engage with his peers at a very young age. Michel attended the Cours Hattemer, a private school.^[2] He learned the guitar and the piano, and after his studies, military service, and a brief time in insurance, he began to play his guitar on the steps of the Sacré Cœur.

In February 1966, Polnareff won a contest in Paris, which prize was a recording contract with Barclay Records, but as part of the counterculture he turned down this opportunity.

It was Lucien Morisse, then a producer at Europe 1 and director of AZ Disc, who made him sign with his own record company. His first disc, La Poupée qui fait non (1966), which features Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, was an unexpected immediate success. Its new musical style and Polnareff's atypical image crossed borders. During this period, he played concerts in Brussels for one week sharing the bill with Jeff Beck. In France he gained many hits such as ‘La Poupée qui fait non’, ‘Love Me, Please Love Me’ (1966), ‘Sous quelle étoile suis-je né ?’ (1966), ‘Ta-ta-ta-ta’ (1967), ‘Âme câline’ (‘Soul Coaxing’) (1967), ‘Le Bal des Laze’ (1968), ‘Tout tout pour ma chérie’ (1969), ‘Holidays’ (1972), and ‘On ira tous au paradis’ (1972).

Polnareff also played with his image: long hair, black glasses, fancy trousers, and ambiguous provocations. His song ‘L'amour avec toi’ could not be aired before 10 P.M. because it was considered "pornographic" at the time in France. From 1969 on, Polnareff was hugely successful: tours, music videos, and hits. He also became the target of scandalmongers.

Tragedy struck in September 1970, when his friend Lucien Morisse committed suicide. Around the same time, he also suffered a relationship crisis. After a rest period in the Paris area, and long months in isolation and therapy healing from his depression, Polnareff gradually resumed touring. His health and his morale improved, but not his sight: he was forced to protect his eyes with thick, dark sunglasses. His problems didn't stop there. In 1972, a promotional poster for his 1972 ‘Polnarévolution’ tour showed his naked buttocks. Although the scandal benefitted him commercially, it brought censorship and lawsuits.^[3]

During a tour of Japan, he learned that Bernard Seneau, his manager, had run off with his money leaving him broke. Unable to pay his debts, and crushed by the death of his mother, he left France by boat for the United States, where he lived in anonymity. He was joined by his friend and long-time partner, Annie Fargue who became his manager and stayed in this capacity for many years even after their separation.

In 1975, Polnareff released his first and only album entirely sung in English (later renamed after the first song of the album, ‘Fame à la Mode’), recorded with some of the finest American musicians from that era (Lee Sklar, David Foster, Jim Knelter, Lee Ritenour ...) The song ‘Jesus for Tonight’, taken from the album, made it onto the American Billboard. He also created the soundtrack for the exploitation rape drama ‘Lipstick’ (1976), which starred American model Margaux Hemingway and her sister Mariel. However his success in the United States was not as great as in France. Polnareff missed his French roots and musical community. In 1975, unable to be on French soil, Polnareff performed in Brussels, with thousands of his French fans coming over by train to see him. His forced exile did not prevent him from composing, but his albums had mixed success. In the summer 1977, he released a new song called ‘Lettre à France’ ; unlike what the title might suggest, the song wasn't written for a girl called France but rather for his country that he missed a lot. The song was co-written by a friend of his and acclaimed French writer, Jean-Loup Dabadie. Dabadie's idea was to write an imaginary letter to France, the country Polnareff had left. This song immediately became very popular in France.

In 1978, he released the album ‘Coucou me Revoilou’, which wasn't particularly successful. It was the next album called ‘Bulles’ released in 1981 that was very well received and proved that he was still hugely popular in France. In 1985, he released yet another album, ‘Incognito’, which ironically was a relative flop. During this time, he also developed a passion for computers.

In 1989, without any promotion, ‘Goodbye Marylou’ invaded the airwaves and became an instant hit. For a year and a half, Polnareff was locked up at Le Royal Monceau in Paris and recorded ‘Kāma-Sūtra’. The album, featuring guitar parts by Mike Oldfield on two songs, was released in February 1990, met with commercial success, and marked Polnareff's true return to the French music scene, with hits such as ‘Kāma-Sūtra’, ‘LNA HO’, and ‘Toi et moi’.

Rumors spread about his health, and in 1994, he finally decided to have a cataract surgically (and successfully) removed to prevent him from becoming blind.

Polnareff returned to the United States and performed live at the Roxy Theatre on Sunset Boulevard on 27 September 1995, his lineup included executive-producer / guitarist Dick Smith (Earth, Wind, and Fire, Aretha Franklin) and Alex Acuña (Weather Report, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson). The performance was released the following year as ‘Live at the Roxy’. The album achieved platinum certification in France. To mark this occasion, the channel Canal + devoted a special to him in two parts : ‘À la Recherche de Polnareff’ ("In Search of Polnareff") is a documentary whose narrative arc is about investigators looking for Polnareff's whereabouts. The second part, ‘Rendez-vous à Zzyzx Road’, is an interview by Michel Denisot in the Mojave Desert, in which Polnareff appeared in military uniform (from whence his recent nickname "The Admiral" may come.) This was followed by an acoustic mini-concert in the middle of the Californian desert.

Following the media attention in 1995 and 1996, Polnareff could have restarted his career as though nothing had happened. In 1999, Polnareff released his first original single in ten years, ‘Je rêve d'un monde (When I'm in Love)’. However, due to poor promotional outlets, and the length of the song (approaching 13 minutes) which prevented extensive radio airplay, the song was a flop, and despite plans for a new album and tour following in the next couple of years, nothing came about.

However, his fans continued to await. In 2003, the compilation ‘Passé Présent’ was released, selling over 200,000 copies.

In 2004, Polnareff released an autobiography, ‘Polnareff par Polnareff’. He also insisted that the work on his next album was still going on.

On 12 May 2006, Michel Polnareff announced on national television that he would be giving a series of concerts between 2 and 14 March 2007, followed by a tour in France. Ticket sales rocketed, showing that Polnareff has not lost his gleam. He also released a brand new single, ‘Ophélie Flagrant des Lits’, to mixed success.

On Bastille Day 2007, Polnareff gave a free concert at the Champs de Mars, in front of the Eiffel Tower. Over 1,5 million people attended the 2007 tour.

In November 2013, Polnareff had sold in total of 3,9 million albums and 4,9 million singles in France.^[4]

In 2014, an authorized documentary called ‘Quand l'écran s'allume’ (its title borrowed from the opening line of ‘Goodbye Marylou’) hits theaters for an exclusive screening, followed by TV airing a few months later. Many tracks of his then-upcoming album would be previewed in this documentary, as Polnareff can be seen recording in studio, and playing piano in his living room.

On 8 December 2015, Polnareff announced the release of his new album in the first half of 2016 (between January and April 2016) and a new tour of 50 dates in France, Belgium and Switzerland, split into two legs : a first leg, due to start on 30 April 2016 in Epernay and end on 26 July 2016 (including a four-date stay at the Paris-Bercy Arena in early May 2016 and many appearances at summer festivals), and a second leg, due to start on 4 November 2016 and to end on 10 December 2016 in Bordeaux.

On 18 December 2015, a week before Christmas, Polnareff released ‘L'Homme en rouge’, his first single since 2006 (only as a digital download and on streaming). ‘L'Homme en rouge’ takes the point of view of a poor child disbelieving in Santa Claus.

In late April 2016, just before the beginning of the tour, Polnareff revealed that the new album was not finished yet, as he's still working on 3 of the 9 announced tracks due to appear on it, that he has planned to play live during the tour a new song from it entitled ‘Sumi’ about his SM experience with a geisha in Fukuoka, Japan and that a song he wrote about his son Louka – simply entitled ‘Louka's Song’ – will appear on the new album.^[5] Simultaneously, another autobiographical book, ‘Spèrme’, was released.

In December 2016, before the penultimate concert of the tour, Polnareff suffered a double pulmonary embolism, leading to the cancellation of the two remaining dates.

On October 3rd 2018, Polnareff announced the forthcoming release on November 30th of ‘Enfin !’ ("Finally !"), his (28-year) long-awaited new studio album. The album received mixed reception from the press.

On 24 July 2022, four years after the release of ‘Enfin !’, Polnareff announced a new album, consisting of some of his major hits done entirely on piano and vocals. The album did well, and prompted a French tour to promote it the following year.

In November 2024, Michel Polnareff announced the release of a new album and tour the following year, both deemed as "final", while releasing a new single, ‘Sexcetera’. In February 2025, he released a second single from the album, now postponed til April 2025, called ‘Tu n'm'entends pas’.

He had many girlfriends, including American actress Lynda Carter and Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel. His first major relationship was with his manager Annie Fargue. The two dated for over 20 years but were never married. In 2004, he met Danyellah, a French journalist and model. On 28 December 2010, Polnareff's girlfriend Danyellah gave birth to a boy, Louka, in Los Angeles; the baby was delivered by Polnareff. On 21 February 2011, Polnareff announced via a Facebook post that a DNA test had revealed that he was not the biological father of the child and that Danyellah had used a sperm donor. A later post indicated that his girlfriend had disappeared with the baby.^[6] They were separated for some months, but as of 2014^[update] were reunited with their son, Louka. ^[7] Today, they live in a house in Palm Springs where Polnareff has his own recording studio.

Sometime before Polnareff’s longtime friend and manager Annie Fargue died of cancer at 76 years old on March 4, 2011, Polnareff and Danyellah asked Fargue to be the godmother of their son.^{[citation needed]}

Jean-Pierre Polnareff, a character in the Japanese manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, is named after Michel Polnareff. He is a self proclaimed fan of the manga series and previously had his Twitter profile picture set as Jean-Pierre Polnareff.^[8]

In 1996, Mylène Farmer and Khaled covered ‘La Poupée qui fait non’. ‘On ira tous au paradis’ became the theme song of Restaurants du Cœur in 1998. His 1977 hit ‘Lettre à France’ enjoyed a new success in 2004 following its inclusion on the French version of the Star Academy talent contest.

In 2001, death rapper Necro sampled Polnareff's ‘Voyages’ for his song ‘Light My Fire’. English band The Shortwave Set sampled this song as well for their single ‘Is It Any Wonder ?’ in 2005. Masher (L)SD sampled ‘Sous quelle étoile suis-je né ?’ for his tune ‘Howards's Thinking Clearly’, on the CD ‘That's CRAZY Music’ (2005)

The 2004 Korean TV drama ‘Sorry, I Love You’ in Korean 미안하다, 사랑한다 (‘Mi'an'ha'da, Sa'rang'han'da’ or aka ‘MiSa’) soundtrack largely drew from Polnareff songs like ‘Qui a tué Grand' Maman ?’ and ‘Ça n'arrive qu'aux autres’. It was aired on channel KBS 2004/11/09~2004/12/28. The soundtrack was released in two commercial CDs.

• 1974: Polnaréflexions in collaboration with Jean-Michel Desjeunes, Editions Dire/Stock2
• 2004: Polnareff par Polnareff in collaboration with Philippe Manœuvre, Editions Grasset et Fasquelle
• 2013: Le Polnabook, de Michel Polnareff, Editions Ipanéma
• 2016: Spèrme, de Michel Polnareff, Editions Plon

• Christian Eudeline, Derrière les lunettes, ed. fayard, 2013 (ISBN 978-2-213-66680-8)
• Benoît Cachi, Polnaculte : Michel Polnareff vu par ses auteurs et par lui-même, ed. Tournon, 2007 (ISBN 978-2351440360)
• Christophe Lauga, Polnareffmania, ed. Scali, 2007 (ISBN 2350120848)
• Fabien Lecœuvre [fr], Polnareff, la véritable histoire d'une légende, ed. City, 2007 (ISBN 2352880459)
• Philippe Margotin, Polnareff, ed. de la Lagune, 2007 (ISBN 284969049X)
• Fabien Lecœuvre, Michel Polnareff, ed. Vaderetro, 2004 (ISBN 2847630104)

• Biography of Michel Polnareff, from Radio France Internationale
• Official Web Site : Michel Polnareff (news, discography, photos...)