As the son of famous chanson singer Michèle Arnaud, the fate of Dominique Walter (born Dominique Gruère on 22 May 1942 in Paris) was written in the stars. He rose to national fame in 1966 when he represented France at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Chez Nous" and struck up a fruitful creative relationship with Serge Gainsbourg who wrote seven songs for him between 1966 and 1969, including "Qui lira ces mots," (1966), the controversial 1967 song "Les Petits boudins" ("ugly girls"), 1968's "Plus dur sera le chut," and the pair's final collaboration, 1969's "La Vie est une belle tartine." He also sung texts by Christophe ("Pourquoi ne viens-tu pas"), Danyel Gérard, Jean-Jacques Debout, Michel Polnareff, an adaptation of the Beatles' "Penny Lane" and more. Dominique Walter retreated from the spotlight in 1971 and relocated to the Balearic Islands in Spain, where he died on 26 August 2013 at the age of 71.
