Lou Deprijck

Lou Deprijck[1] (French pronunciation: ​[lu dəpʁɛk]) is a Belgian singer and record producer born in 1946 in Lessines, Wallonia. He was a major figure in the Belgian pop scene of the 1970s and 1980s, with more than 20 million copies of his compositions sold worldwide. He is best known for having co-written with Yves Lacomblez, and for having de facto sung, the Plastic Bertrand 1977 song "Ça plane pour moi".

Music career

Early work and Two Man Sound

His first group "Liberty 6" had a complete flop in 1969 with Je suis pop.[2] However he later found success with Two Man Sound,[3] a Latin-pop outfit formed with Sylvain Vanholme of the Wallace Collection and Yvan Lacomblez. Two Man Sound sold over a million copies of their 1975 single Charlie Brown while the album Disco Samba, with the eponymous song, had sales of around 1.4 million copies in Latin America.[4]

Deprijck also had a major 1978 solo success in France and Belgium with Ska/reggae song Kingston, Kingston, under the moniker Lou & The Hollywood Bananas.[2]

Plastic Bertrand and Viktor Lazlo

In the English speaking world, Deprijck's best known hit was "Ça plane pour moi", which he recorded and sang for Plastic Bertrand,[5] who remains generally credited for the song (and was upheld legally in 2006 as being entitled to be called its artist).[6] In fact, Deprijck was also the "voice" of Plastic Bertrand's first four albums.[7] In 2006, a Belgian appeal court ruled that Bertrand was the "legal performer" of the classic track.[8] But the ruling was overturned in 2010.[9]

In the 1980s Deprijck was also the creative force behind the success of Viktor Lazlo,[4] born Sonia Dronier, whom he met at Le Mirano nightclub in Brussels.[10] She initially did backing vocals for "Lou & the Hollywood Bananas" before taking the name "Viktor Lazlo" from a character in 1942 film Casablanca at Deprijck's suggestion. He produced the self-titled album Viktor Lazlo in 1987 for her, as well as the album Hot & Soul in 1989.

In 1984, calling himself "Lou Van Houten", Deprijck released the album Collures with Boris Bergman under the pseudonym "Les Epatants".[11]

Present life in Thailand

Deprijck currently resides largely near Pattaya (Thailand).[12] The story of his life in Thailand was shown in the VTM TV channel documentary Vlamingen in Pattaya (Flemings in Pattaya)[13] as part of the Belgian news program Telefacts. Life in Pattaya inspired him to rewrite the text of his most famous song Kingston, Kingston into Pattaya, Pattaya, which soon became the unofficial hymn of Pattaya.

See also

References
  1. The surname is sometimes spelled Depryck or de Pryck, as ⟨y⟩ is a common substitution for the Dutch letter ⟨ij⟩
  2. "Lou Depryck - The Belgian Pop & Rock Archives". houbi.com.
  3. "Two Man Sound - The Belgian Pop & Rock Archives". houbi.com.
  4. Le Vif/L'Express, 13th Aug 2010 edition Archived 11 July 2012 at Archive.today
  5. Huey, Steve. "Biography: Plastic Bertrand". Allmusic. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  6. Court Case re Ca Plane Pour Moi reported in Vif L'Express Archived 12 July 2012 at Archive.today
  7. Major article on Deprijck in Le Vif/L'Express, 13th Aug 2010 edition Archived 11 July 2012 at Archive.today
  8. "France 24 Report". Archived from the original on 1 September 2010.
  9. "Plastic Bertrand Admits Miming 1970s Pop Classic". Billboard.
  10. "Viktor Lazlo - The Belgian Pop & Rock Archives". houbi.com.
  11. "Album cover of Collures".
  12. Le Vif article Archived 11 July 2012 at Archive.today
  13. "Program Notes for Vlamingen in Pattaya".
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