DASWING  PRODZ Corporation
                          USA

           

 

                Sten

 

In 1974, when he was only four years old, Stéphane heard on the radio "Soudain il ne reste qu'une chanson" by Claude François, French version of "I'll Be Around", and found his vocation. 

During his birthday party at the neighborhood house in Malmousque (Marseille) where he lives with his mother and his maternal grandparents, he goes on stage for the first time and sings and dances what will become his favorite song. 

A few years later, Claude François will perform at the Théâtre de Verdure in Nice. In spite of his young age, Stéphane convinces his mother to find a way to make him take part in the show: he absolutely must sing in the show of his idol. 

And he does it! In July 1977, hardly 7 years old, Stéphane is part of the first part of Claude François' show. 

After his performance, Cloclo himself approaches the little boy and tells him: 

"YOU WILL BE MY HEIR!" 

Upon hearing this, Stephane's mom took the artist to his dressing room and told him the truth: he was the boy's father. In a state of shock but amazed by the talent of his unknown son, Claude decided to take Stephane under his wing and told his mother that he would make his paternity public in the coming weeks. But time does not play in his favor. 

When Claude François died on March 11, 1978, Stéphane's mother preferred to bury the family secret rather than make his death even more tragic. But she allows Stéphane to follow his heart and to continue to play a reprise of Claude's show. 

In 1980, she even creates a non-profit association called "SOS Vive Cloclo" under the auspices of the French Academy of National Devotion. 

Stéphane's group, "Stéphane et ses Stéphanettes", performs wherever she is asked: charity shows, company Christmas parties, Casinos in Nice (Casino Ruhl) and Monaco, Théâtre de Verdures (an unforgettable venue for Stéphane, who performs there several times), and "artistic and cultural festivals" organized in various arenas in the south of France, including the first "Festival de la chanson française" in Juan les Pins, which earned her a front-page headline in the French newspaper, France Soir, under the headline, "Star en herbe. " 

In the summer of 1982, Stéphane began touring in the north of France and in Belgium for the Trebor agency, and was invited the same year to perform with François Valérie in the "3000 Chansons" show on Télé Monte Carlo. The articles on him follow one another, notably in the magazine OK! which devotes a full page to him when he is invited to be part of the jury with Jean Luc Lahaye for the big event of the magazine, Miss OK! 

He joins Prisca, the main "Clodette", when the dancers pay tribute to Claude at the Cirque d'Hiver and the Salle Wagram in Paris, as well as at Voum-Voum, the big discotheque in Juan les Pins. 

Stéphane's mother thinks that Claude is invading Stéphane's life because of all the galas he is doing, and she feels overwhelmed because Stéphane only thinks about being on stage, in the spotlight. Faced with incessant media coverage and overly curious journalists, she leaves France, taking her son with her. 

Exiled to New York, Stéphane gradually separated from his idol and developed his own personality. Leaving the life of a precocious star far behind, he pursued his studies while continuing to take singing, dancing and music lessons with high-level teachers. 

Noticed by Jim Fox, talent scout for Kids and Company, Stephane auditions and is finally hired by "Kids R us" for a commercial. He also did fashion shoots, hung out with musicians and composed his first songs under the influence of American music culture. 

At the age of 17, after learning who his father was, Stéphane returned to the south of France, where he intended to find his brothers. 

Through an agent, he met the young and talented composer Pascal Lafa and took advantage of this first contact to move to Paris. 

During the day, he worked as a barman at Pierre Cardin's Residence Maxim's; at night, he played in various restaurants and piano bars. 

He met other musicians, composed, recorded and tried to make contacts in the record industry. 

Living part-time in Paris and part-time in the South of France, Stéphane participated in several singing contests and played his own music as the opening act for C. Jérome and Hervé Villard at the Théâtre de l'Odéon in Marseille. He became friends with Richard Sanderson and met and worked with many performers: Alex Toesca, Jean Krishma (winner of the Sacem author's prize), Cédric Naimi (Joker Promotion). From 1991 to 1994, Stéphane lives again in the south of France, where he is an extra for the ballet of the Marseille Opera and resumes his studies of classical music. At the same time, he produces his own music on cassette or accompanies himself on the synthesizer. He started a funk band, Out Spiral, then joined the hard-rock band Blastead, playing all over the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. 

In 1993, Elio Parienti of "Help Productions" noticed him at the piano bar "Le Molière" and asked him to record "Rêver de Toi" as a single (45 rpm). Three months later, while he was playing at the Marseille International Festival, a Japanese producer passing through France offered him an 18-month contract to perform in a Parisian revue in Japan. Although he had positive feedback on his demos, Stéphane accepted the offer and gained additional experience and stability, which he appreciated after several years of mobility. 

Upon his return to France, Morgan Productions, co-producer of the Japanese tour, offered him the opportunity to perform in their shows and to participate in the TV singing contest of the show "C'est l'été" on France 3. The casting director, Isabelle Lega, recommended him to Eddy Marouani, who offered him a 3-year artist contract and introduced him to the composer Carlos Leresche who, during their first meeting, without knowing who he was, suggested that Stéphane record an unreleased song that Leresche had written with Claude François. Leresche then suggested that Stéphane join the professional society of composers in France (Sacem). 

Claude junior, who manages the distribution rights of his father, opposes the marketing of this song, but proposes to Stéphane to take again the repertory of their father. On his way home, in the suburbs of Paris, he turns on the radio and hears "I'll Be Around", the original version of the Claude François song that marked Stéphane's childhood "Soudain il ne reste qu'une chanson". 

The lyrics in English and the musical style correspond perfectly to Stéphane's influences at the time. 

At 33 years old, he took up the challenge and decided to make a symbolic return to his favorite song, even if it would have repercussions on his personal life. After obtaining the reproduction rights from Warner/Chappell Music and meeting Saint Bertrand, an American producer, at the Midem in Cannes, he recorded the song in New York with artistic director Dany Brown, who not only co-wrote an entire album built around the song, but also offered to produce an album in a musical style that resembled him. 

"Life's Direction," the title track of the album produced by Dany Brown on the Daswing Productionz Ltd label, will be released on May 19, 2017.