Florent Pagny

Florent Pagny (born 6 November 1961) is a French singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He records his work in French, as well as in Italian, Spanish and English. His greatest hits include "N'importe quoi", "Savoir aimer" and "Ma Liberté de penser"—all three were number one in France. As of 2018, he has sold more than 6 million singles and 10 million albums, becoming the 17th best-selling artist of all time in France.

Florent Pagny
Pagny in 2017
Pagny in 2017
Background information
Birth nameFlorent Pagny
Born (1961-11-06) 6 November 1961
OriginChalon-sur-Saône, France
GenresPop
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • actor
Instrument(s)Guitar
Years active1987–present
Websitewww.florentpagny.org (in French)

Early years

Florent Pagny began his artistic career as an actor in popular films and television dramas. He appeared in La Balance, L'As des as, and A Captain's Honor or Fort Saganne.

In 1987, he wrote his first song titled "N'importe quoi". Pagny's first album, Merci, was released in 1990. The album's songs, mainly written by himself, began to attract controversy, with the press eventually boycotting some of them. This led to a decline in sales, culminating in personal problems. His follow-up album, Réaliste, was also not as successful.

Jean-Jacques Goldman wrote three songs for Pagny under the pseudonym Sam Brewski, and presented to him a new staff. The album Rester vrai marked the beginning of his career as a performer only. Bienvenue chez moi, a semi-compilation released in 1995, was a smash success. Pagny also covered "Caruso", the hit originally performed by Lucio Dalla.

Pagny as a performer

He decided to move to Argentinian Patagonia to flee the French tax authorities and to start a new life with his wife, Azucena, and their children. Recently, Pagny said he had enrolled his children in Miami because he didn't want them to speak Arabic while returning from school. His next album, Savoir aimer, was released in 1997. It was composed by a number of writers, including Jean-Jacques Goldman, Erick Benzi, Jacques Veneruso, Zazie and, Pascal Obispo, who also produced the album. "Savoir aimer" turned out to be an immediate success.

In 1999, Pagny released an album of cover versions of his old song, Recréation. From "Môme Julie" to "Antisocial", he mixed musical styles and dabbled with techno arrangements.

Pagny then alternated studios and cover albums (at least in part) and regularly changed his look. In 2000, he released the album Châtelet Les Halles, whose title song was produced by Calogero. He followed that with 2, an album composed of duets released in 2001. In 2003, he returned with Ailleurs land, whose first single, "Ma Liberté de penser", was composed by Pascal Obispo and Lionel Florence and deals with Pagny's problems with the French treasury. Finally, in 2004, Pagny released Baryton, an album composed of opera songs.

In 2007, Pagny released an album of covers of songs originally composed and performed by Jacques Brel entitled Pagny chante Brel.

Discography

Studio albums
Year Album Peak
position		 Certification Notes
FR
[1]		 BEL
(Fl)
[2]		 BEL
(Wa)
[3]		 SWI
[4]
1990 Merci 10 —
1992 Réaliste 20 —
1994 Rester vrai 19 —
1997 Savoir aimer 1 — 1 23
1999 RéCréation 1 — 4 94
  • SNEP: Platinum[5]
2000 Châtelet Les Halles 1 — 3 16
  • SNEP: 2× Platinum[5]
  • IFPI SWI: Gold[4]
 Double CD
2001 2 3 — 3 8
  • BEA: Gold[7]
  • IFPI SWI: Gold[8]
 Covers overdubbed as duets
2003 Ailleurs land 1 — 1 2
  • SNEP: Diamond[5]
  • BEA: Gold[9]
  • IFPI SWI: Platinum[8]
2004 Baryton 1 — 1 19
  • SNEP: 2× Platinum[5]
  • BEA: Platinum[10]
  • IFPI SWI: Gold[8]
2006 Abracadabra 2 — 2 13
2007 Pagny chante Brel 3 — 1 28 11 covers of Belgian singer Jacques Brel
2009 C'est comme ça 2 — 1 16
  • SNEP: 2× Platinum[5]
  • BEA: Gold[13]
 Album in Spanish
2010 Tout et son contraire 1 — 1 31
2012 Baryton. Gracias a la vida 2 176 5 40 Album in Spanish
2013 Vieillir avec toi 1 91 1 9
2016 Habana 2 146 4 6 Album in Spanish
2017 Le présent d'abord 2 110 1 1
  • SNEP: 2× Platinum[5]
  • BEA: Gold[17]
2018 Tout simplement 5 — 4 17
2019 Aime la vie 2 169 2 5
2021 L'avenir 1 183 1 8
2023 2bis 1 40 1 1

Live albums
Year Album Peak
position		 Certification
FR
[1]		 BEL
(Wa)
[3]		 SWI
[4]
1998 En concert 2 3
  • SNEP: 2× Platinum
  • IFPI SWI: Gold[4]
2004 Été 2003 à l'Olympia 11 4 37
  • SNEP: Diamond
2005 Baryton – L'intégrale du spectacle 24 12 95
2012 Ma liberté de chanter - Live Acoustic 6 4 42
2014 Vieillir ensemble - Le live 33 13 30

Compilations
Year Album Peak
position		 Certification
FR
[1]		 BEL
(Wa)
[3]		 SWI
[4]
1995 Bienvenue chez moi 1 1 —
1999 Les talents du siècle — 47 —
2008 Les 50 plus belles chansons — 39 —
2008 De part et d'autre – Triple Best Of — 2 —
2014 Integrale — 2 —
2018 Toujours et encore — 11 38

Singles
Year Single Peak
position		 Certification Album
FR
[1]		 BEL
(Wa)
[2]		 SUI
[4]
1988 "N'importe quoi" 1 - -
  • SNEP : Platinum
"Laissez-nous respirer" 8 - - -
1989 "Comme d'habitude" 6 - - -
1990 "J'te jure" 16 - - - Merci
"Ça fait des nuits" 17 - - -
"Presse qui roule" 24 - - -
1991 "Prends ton temps" 42 - - -
1992 "Tue-moi" 24 38 - - Réaliste
1993 "Qu'est-ce qu'on a fait?" 46 - - -
1994 "Est-ce que tu me suis?" 45 - - - Rester vrai
"Si tu veux m'essayer" 7 - - -
1996 "Caruso" 2 3 - - Bienvenue chez moi
"Oh Happy Day" 8 - - -
1997 "Savoir aimer" 1 1 - Savoir aimer
1998 "Chanter" 16 15 -
"D'un amour l'autre" 83 - - -
"Dors" 29 28 - -
1999 "Jolie môme" 13 11 - - RéCréation
2000 "Les parfums de sa vie (je l'ai tant aimée)" 38 30 - -
"Et un jour, une femme" 3 1 - - Châtelet Les Halles
2001 "Châtelet Les Halles" 45 5* - -
"Terre" 37 1* - -
2002 "L'air du temps"
(with Cécilia Cara)		 20 19 - - 2
2003 "Ma liberté de penser" 1 1 8
  • SNEP : Platinum[19]
  • BEA : Gold[9]
 Ailleurs land
"Je trace" 26 34 65
2004 "Y'a pas un homme qui soit né pour ça"
(with Calogero und Pascal Obispo)		 20 - 45 /
"Io le canto per te" 28 12 - Baryton
2006 "Là où je t'emmènerai" 4 7 39 Abracadabra
"Le mur" - 8* -
2007 "À tout peser à bien choisir" - 6* -
"Un ami"
(with Marc Lavoine)		 - 25 - Marc Lavoine album
Les duos de Marc
2008 "La chanson de Jacky" - 6* - Pagny chante Brel
"De part et d'autre" - 13 - De part et d'autre – Triple Best of
2009 "C'est comme ça" - 11 - C'est comme ça
"Amar y amar" - 12* -
2010 "Que nadie sepa mi sufrir" - 17* -
"Si tu n'aimes pas Florent Pagny" - 46 - Tout et son contraire
"Te jeter des fleurs" - 19 -
2011 "8ème merveille" - 3* -
"Je laisse le temps faire"
(with Pascal Obispo)		 - 18* -
"Tout et son contraire" - 12* -
2012 "A la huella a la huella" - 16* - Baryton. Gracias a la vida
2013 "Les murs porteurs" 23 25 - Vieillir avec toi
"Vieillir avec toi" 68 2* -
"Souviens-toi" 147 - -
2014 "Le soldat" 61 50 -
2015 "Nos vies parallèles"
(with Anggun)		 47 39
[20]		 - Toujours un ailleurs
2017 "Le présent d'abord" 38
[21]		 - -
"La beauté du doute" 66
[21]		 - -

*Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts.

Filmography
Year Title Role Director Notes
1980 Inspector Blunder Michel's friend Claude Zidi
1987 Les keufs Jean-Pierre Josiane Balasko
1987 Francois Villon - le poéte vagabond Francois Villon Sergiu Nicolaescu

Awards

References
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  2. "ultratop.be". ultratop.be. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  3. "ultratop.be". ultratop.be. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  4. hitparade.ch
  5. "French certifications – Florent Pagny" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. 23 October 2023.
  6. "ultratop.be - ULTRATOP BELGIAN CHARTS". ultratop.be.
  7. "Ultratop.be - ULTRATOP BELGIAN CHARTS". Ultratop. Archived from the original on 8 April 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  8. Hung, Steffen. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community". www.swisscharts.com.
  9. "ultratop.be - ULTRATOP BELGIAN CHARTS". ultratop.be.
  10. "ultratop.be - ULTRATOP BELGIAN CHARTS". ultratop.be.
  11. "ultratop.be - ULTRATOP BELGIAN CHARTS". ultratop.be.
  12. "ultratop.be - ULTRATOP BELGIAN CHARTS". ultratop.be.
  13. "Ultratop.be - ULTRATOP BELGIAN CHARTS". Ultratop. Archived from the original on 6 April 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  14. "Ultratop.be - ULTRATOP BELGIAN CHARTS". Ultratop. Archived from the original on 29 January 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  15. "Les Certifications - SNEP". snepmusique.com. 1 November 2013.
  16. "ultratop.be - ULTRATOP BELGIAN CHARTS". ultratop.be.
  17. "ultratop.be - ULTRATOP BELGIAN CHARTS 2017". ultratop.be.
  18. "Gold/Platinum 1996". Ultra Top. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  19. "Les Certifications - SNEP". snepmusique.com. 1 November 2013.
  20. "Anggun & Florent Pagny - Nos vies parallèles". ultratop.be. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  21. "Le Top de la semaine : Top Singles Téléchargés – SNEP (Week 39, 2017)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
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