Jacques Brel

Jacques Brel, born in Belgium in 1929, left to seek his fortune in France as a songwriter and performer, ultimately writing some 200 songs in French, the language that animates—with Flemish—the unique cultural blend of his native land. From his struggling early days in Paris as a coffeehouse chansonneur, Brel became Europe’s “Troubadour of the Century.” Before his untimely death in 1978, he and his songs were known and beloved all over continental Europe, through his many recordings and concerts.