“I’m definitely not going to stop singing. Cancer took me off stage. My desire is to get back there as soon as possible. I will even sing even louder after passing this test. It is with this promise made to his readers, to his public, and undoubtedly to himself that Florent Pagny concludes the last pages of his intense autobiography, Pagny by Florent, published on April 5 (Fayard). It is now held.
Florent Pagny is relaunching his tour with a first date in the masterful arenas of Nîmes, this Friday evening. A guaranteed date alongside friend Zazie, announced sold out at the beginning of the month.
A tour that resumes a little over a year late… and a life flashing before his eyes. January 2022, while he is finishing the proofreading of his autobiography, in the middle of recording the show The Voice, Florent Pagny passes a scanner for what he believes to be severe bronchitis. But his condition is more serious. “When the information drops, I’m knocked out. I take a slap that fucks me in the air before I tackle the ground, throat so tight that I can not breathe. The earth is collapsing. » Cancerous tumor. He is in his dressing room when he hears the news.
“The wave of emotion from the public is then immense. Support is coming from everywhere. Even the closest ones,” recalls Emmanuelle Cosso. With the novelist and lyricist, the artist has just spent more than a year working on her autobiography. The story takes an astonishing turn. “The book was turned upside down,” she says. We took a year to write the first version, a year and a half for the last chapter! It was important for Florent to keep this project, not to find himself only in care. A seventh chapter aptly named “The Switch”. “Cancer interrupted my tour, my life. This book. The order of things. He came to rest in my destiny, he marked a before and an after. Even when he is gone, the scars of this interruption will remain, ”he wrote.
Two months have passed since the release of the book, which has already sold 125,000 copies. Florent Pagny continued to treat himself. He is now in remission and under surveillance. After a third chemotherapy, the former coach of The Voice made an appearance on the set on Saturday May 27 during the semi-finals, tearing tears from Vianney and Zazie. “I see you’re all in good shape,” he told his colleagues. Well, me too! »
As proof: after recording The Song of the Year for TF1, in the arenas of Nîmes, he organized a big TV show which will be broadcast in September for the release of an album of twenty duets. “He did the whole show for two hours. It was a marvel, says Emmanuelle Cosso, still under the influence of emotion. He is vocally on point. I rediscover his abilities in the light of the story of his life. His confidante recalls the artist’s realization: “He exposed himself in this book. He will continue to do so in his songs and on stage. »
Adolescence is out of the ordinary, anti-school. Pagny does not elude any episode, even unfortunate or dramatic, of his friendships and his career, in particular his troubles with the press and then with the tax authorities. “He chose to always tell the truth, and that has sometimes been misinterpreted,” insists Emmanuelle Cosso. “’Rolling Press’ is a scar today that I look on fondly. She left a mark but I survived. I will never deny this awkward song. A low level of language, yes, but a high potential for truth,” he writes.
Twenty albums, four compilations, pop and lyrical hits, successful covers, such as those of Pagny sings Brel and a solo career for a long time, without an agent or manager. Since his 26th birthday and the success of “N’importe quoi”, Florent Pagny has impressed with a powerful baritone voice, even taking up the challenge of a duet with Pavarotti on “Caruso”, title of Lucio Dalla carrying the album Welcome to my home. “But there was a time when not everyone liked Pagny,” recalls his biography. The taxman’s image hurt him, yet there was nothing in the file and he was cleared of all charges of tax evasion. »
