Murray Head is one of those artists who made music history in one song. Released in 1975, the crystalline and bewitching notes of Say It Ain't So are still in everyone's head. A protest song, a real anthem against corruption that has turned into a languorous ballad in our country, a slow song that many have danced glued together, thinking they were listening to a hit about Love and without fully understanding the gravity and scope of the lyrics.
But can a man be reduced to a single track? Certainly not, and Murray Head is much more than that. A passionate performer who touches on folk as well as rock and who did not hesitate to successfully launch himself into the new wave of the 80s, he also has a busy acting career. In English and French, since this pure Londoner fell in love with our country a long time ago.
And if it's been a few years now that he hasn't been in the studio, preferring his simple life at the foot of the Pyrenees to the hustle and bustle, this eternal dreamer continues to perform on stage regularly. For what makes his deepest being vibrate is the unique connection that binds him to his audience. His concerts also take the form of a warm reunion. With a simplicity that is astonishing for this man who has won no less than six gold and platinum records during his career. And who has reached the top of the charts in more than a dozen countries simultaneously.
Murray Head is an eternally generous man.
While his film career is already underway, Murray Head, the singer is taking longer to make a name for himself. And it is in 1969 that he is hired by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber to sing on the album Jesus Christ Superstar. The same one which will be the subject of a successful musical comedy, a few years later on Broadway! He sings Judas alongside Ian Gillan, singer of the Deep Purple. Despite this success, it will take him a few more years to break through as a soloist.
It is at almost 30 years old that the singer makes a haunting cry from the heart with Say It Ain't So, an album, but above all a single that will tour the planet. A protest song that refers both to a rigged baseball game and to the attitude of Americans to the WaterGate scandal. But which, in many countries, will pass for a simple love song, which always makes the main interested party laugh.
It will take 10 years to find Murray Head in a much more new wave register. With One Night in Bangkok, a rather sultry poker story, he is at the top of the charts in 12 countries! The story would even have the king of Thailand, a big fan of the song and delighted with the publicity stunt, had it translated. Before forbidding the singer to stay in front of the lyrics which describe a world of the night by really frequentable.
At the beginning of the 2000s, the singer tried his hand at French-language albums with mixed success. His latest production, My Back Pages, on the other hand, is a little gem of folk and blues-style covers. Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who, Avalon by Roxy Music and of course the title that gives its name to the album of the master Dylan. If he hasn't been back on the studio road since then, he still continues to criss-cross those of France.
He doesn't do Murray Head pretences. The most French of the English singers does not hide his face, has long since stopped playing it like a pop star and now delivers concerts full of generosity and simplicity. On stage, he is close to his audience and he is close to a public that gives him back. And above all, he never forgets to deliver his lifelong hit, Say It Ain't So, to the crowd.
"The audience, wise and captive, is ecstatic. It is a triumph. On their feet, they're asking for more."
What about the concert... Great! A moment of pure happiness. His voice seems to be as smooth as ever and his songs are as punchy as on the first day. Murray and his musicians are in charge from one end of the evening to the other. Bravo!
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