Jacques Pills

Jacques Pills is a French actor and crooner-style vocalist whose career spanned the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. He was born as "René Jacques Ducos" on January 7, 1906, on Tulle, France. After making his musical debut at Paris' iconic cabaret, the Moulin-Rouge, he formed the vocal duo Pills et Tabet with pianist Georges Tabet. The two toured internationally while also pursuing separate careers as actors, with Pills appearing in films like Take the Road and You, It's Me during the late 1930s. The outbreak of war in 1939 prompted the group to split up, and Pills launched a solo career two years later with 1941's Avec son ukulélé. Solo albums like 1943's Cheveux dans le vent, 1945's Seul dans la nuit, 1945's Bonjour mon village, and 1945's Oh ! la ! la ! followed. He split from his first wife, Lucienne Boyer, in 1951, then married the popular chanteuse Édith Piaf in 1952. In 1959, he represented Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest with "Mon ami Pierrot." Although he lost the competition to Teddy Scholten's "Een beetje," "Mon Ami Pierrot" went gold in France. Pills' daughter, Jacqueline Boyer, represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest one year later and won first place with the song "Tom Pillibi." As yéyé music dominated the mainstream during the 1960s, Pills retired his singer career and moved to a farm in the southwest of France. He passed away on September 12, 1970, at the age of 64 years old.