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In the early 1950s he relocated to Paris, writing music and singing in the city cabarets and music-halls, where on stage he delivered his songs with grand physical gestures. After some success his wife and daughters joined him from Belgium. By 1956 he was touring EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Se and he recorded the song Quand on n'a que l'amour that brought him his first major recognition. He appeared in a show with Maurice ChevalierMaurice Chevalier ( September 12, 1888 January 1, 1972) was a French actor and popular entertainer. He was born in Paris, France in 1888 and made his name as a star of musical comedy, appearing in public as a singer and dancer at an early age. It was in 1 and Michel LegrandMichel Legrand (born February 24, 1932) is a French composer, arranger, conductor and pianist. Born in Paris to Raymond Legrand, one of France's most popular composer/conductors of that time. First, he made significant contribution to jazz working with su.

His themes are extremely diverse, exploring love (Je t'aime, Litanies pour un retour, Dulcinéa), society (Les singes, Les bourgeois, Jaurès) and spiritual concerns (Le bon Dieu, Dites, si c'était vrai, Fernand). His work is not limited to one style. He was as proficient in funny compositions (Les bonbons, Le lion, Comment tuer l'amant de sa femme...) as in heart-breaking ones (Voir un ami pleurer, Fils de..., Jojo).

Brel's acute perception made him an innovative and creative painter of daily life with rare poetic ease. He was a master poet. His intelligent use of words was striking and simple, exhibiting a very visual and meaningful vocabulary. Few of his peers are considered to match his skill in fitting as much novelty and meaning in a sentence from a few words of common use.

Brel also had a keen sense of metaphor, as in Je suis un soir d'été where the narrator is a summer's evening telling what he observes as he falls on a city. Although regarded a master with lyrics, his musical themes were of the first standard, and also here he was not limited to one style. He composed both rhythmic, lively and captivating tunes (L'aventure, Rosa, Au printemps) as well as sad and solemn songs. (La quête, J'en appelle, Pourquoi faut-il que les hommes s'ennuient?)

He composed and recorded his songs almost exclusively in FrenchFrench le francais la langue francaise is one of the most important Romance languages, outnumbered only by Spanish and Portuguese. French is the 11th most spoken language in the world, spoken by about 77 million people (called Francophones) as a mother to, and is widely recognized in French-speaking countries as one of the best French-language composers of all time. But he occasionally included parts in FlemishFlemish (in Dutch, Vlaams can either refer to Anything belonging to Flanders (the Flemish nation) or to its inhabitants, the Flemings . The current region Flanders in Belgium. The current cultural community, the Flemish Community. The historical county Fl as in Marieke, and also recorded Flemish versions of a few songs such as Le Plat Pays and Les bourgeois (since his own command of the language was poor, these were translated by Ernst van Altena , renowned translator of French song). His attitude towards the Flemish seemed contradictory: at times he declared himself Flemish and presented himself to the world as a Flemish singer, but he also ruffled the Flemish with the comic song Les Flamandes which depicted a rustic lifestyle, and later with lines such as "Vive les Belgiens, merde pour les flamingants" ("Long live Belgians, shit for Flemings") from La, la, la (1967) and especially the vicious song Les F... on his last album. It appears that his hostility was to certain far-right Flemish nationalists (similar to today's Vlaams Blok) and that he used the word "flamingants" (as opposed to "flamands") as a pejorative term for these nationalists. See this article (in French) from the Belgian paper Le SoirLe Soir (meaning The Evening is a Belgian newspaper in French. See also List of Belgian newspapers External link . for further discussion.

Although France was Brel's "spiritual nation" and he expressed contradictory statements about his native Belgium, many overlook this matter as some of his best compositions pay tribute to Belgium, like Le plat pays or Il neige sur Liège.

As an actor he gained fame playing opposite Claude Jade in the film My uncle Benjamin.

He appeared in the musical l'homme de la Mancha (Man of La Mancha) which he also directed, and appeared in films, though his film performances are not thought to be of quite the same caliber as his musical performances. For twenty years he was a major star gaining recognition beyond French audiences. In 1973 he retreated to French Polynesia, remaining there until 1977 when he returned to Paris and recorded his well-received final album.

Brel died of lung cancer and was buried in the Altuona Cemetery, Altuona, Hiva-Oa, Iles Marquises, French Polynesia only a few yards away from painter Paul Gauguin.

Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris was an American musical revue of the art of Jacques Brel which has played around the world for years. Including definitive rhyming translations of his work into English, it was put together by Brel's friend Mort Shuman and debuted in 1968. The work is performed by two men and two women (originally Elly Stone, Mort Shuman , Shawn Elliott , and Alice Whitfield ). In 1974, a movie of the show was made, featuring the original cast [1].

English translations of his songs have been recorded by David Bowie, Scott Walker, Terry Jacks, Alex Harvey, Jack Lukeman, Marc Almond and the Paper Chase.