One of the pioneers of French rock, Claude Benzaquen aka Frankie Jordan was born in Oran, Algeria, on July 19, 1938. He was still a student at dental school when he began playing the piano at dances and parties, before achieving success in 1960 with "Tu parles trop", an adaptation of the American rock'n'roll hit "You Talk Too Much", created that same year by Joe Jones. After a performance at the first French rock'n'roll festival at the Palais des Sports in Paris on February 24, 1961, he returned to the charts with a duet with Sylvie Vartan, "Panne d'essence", from "Out of Gas", written by John D. Loudermilk for Floyd Robinson. Surrounded by Sylvie Vartan's brother Eddie Vartan's orchestra, Frankie Jordan sings other adaptations by Ray Charles ("Dieu merci elle m'aime aussi"), Adriano Celentano ("Vingt-quatre mille baisers") or Fats Domino, whom he meets and with whom he records an EP featuring "Oh! La! La! La! La!" (1962). His career with the Decca label came to an end in 1964, after his cover of "Marche tout droit" (in its original version, "Walk Right In"), already adapted by Claude François. As a pioneer of French rock and a yé-yé idol, Frankie Jordan is featured in the "photo of the century" taken in April 1966 by Jean-Marie Périer for Salut les copains magazine. He then devoted himself to his career as a dental surgeon. Appointed Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in 1996, he received the insignia of Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2005. Frankie Jordan died of cancer on June 3, 2025, at the age of 86.
