Loulou Gasté

Loulou Gasté at the Cannes Film Festival with wife Line Renaud.

Louis "Loulou" Gasté (18 March 1908 – 8 January 1995) was a French composer of several successful mélodies.

Louis Gasté was born in Paris in 1908. In his fifty year career, he composed approximately 1,200 songs, ten of which have received international success. In 1929, he played in Ray Ventura's orchestra, and composed several pieces for him. He discovered and launched Line Renaud, a famous French singer and actress in 1945, and married her in 1950.

He died at Rueil-Malmaison in 1995.

"Pour Toi" / "Feelings"/ "Dis-Lui" : Story of a single song

In September 1956, Loulou composed "Pour Toi" ("For you") with lyrics by Albert Simonin and his wife Marie-Hélène Bourquin, for the popular singer Dario Moreno. Dario Moreno sang it in the film Le Feu aux Poudres. It was sung later by Line Renaud, and was reinterpreted in France and internationally by various singers.

In 1974, Morris Albert sang it in English and was associated as the original author in "Feelings", launched in São Paulo by Augusta Do Brazil. In 1975, Mike Brant brought it back to France under the title "Dis-Lui" ("Tell her").

In 1976, "Feelings" was a worldwide success and was recorded by Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and others.

In 1977, Loulou discovered the song was one of his own melodies and later sued Morris Albert. On 22 December 1988, a court found in favor of Loulou Gasté, and he is now officially the sole creator of the song, gaining seven-eighths of all royalties (though Albert gets the rest for his lyrics contribution).^[1]

Compositions (incomplete)

• 1941: Avec son Ukulélé (for Jacques Pills)
• 1941: Le Chant du Gardian (for Tino Rossi)
• 1943: Elle Etait Swing (for Jacques Pills)
• 1943: L’âme au Diable (for Léo Marjane)
• 1943: Sainte-Madeleine (for Léo Marjane)
• 1944: Domingo (for Lucienne Delyle)
• 1945: Le Petit Chaperon Rouge ( for Lisette Jambel)
• 1945: Quand un Cow-boy (for Georges Guétary)
• 1945: Le Rythme Américain (for Lily Fayol)
• 1945: Ce n’était pas Original ( for Jacqueline François)
• 1945: Le Porte Bonheur, Chica Chica ( for Jacques Hélian)
• 1945: Un Oiseau Chante ( for Gisèle Pascal)
• 1945: Luna Park ( for Yves Montand)
• 1945: Battling Jo (for Yves Montand)
• 1947: Au Chili (for Jacques Hélian)
• 1958: Mon Coeur au Portugal (recorded by several artists)

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

For Line Renaud, he composed some famous tunes :

• "Nous Deux"
• "Le Complet Gris"
• "Si J’avais la Chance"
• "Autant en Emporte le Vent"
• "Ma cabane au Canada" (won the "Grand Prix du Disque" from Académy Charles Cros in 1949)

Selected filmography

• The Island of Love (1944)
• We Are Not Married (1946)

See also

• Bébés à gogo (film 1956)

Notes

1. Louis Gasté v. Morris Kaiserman, 863 F.2d 1061 (2d Cir. 1988) columbia.edu