He was the “heart father” of singer Johnny Hallyday. Tuesday September 5, 2023, Lee Halliday (re-spelled Hallyday in the 60s), born Lee Lemoine Ketcham, died at the age of 95, his family announced to Agence France Presse journalist Jean-François Guyot. Lee Hallyday was “his adoptive father, her first producer and talent agent“, notes the journalist on X (formerly Twitter).
Johnny Hallyday was abandoned a few months after his birth by his biological father Léon Smet. His mother, Huguette Clerc, entrusted him to relatives and this is where Lee and Johnny’s paths will cross. The infant arrives at the paternal sister-in-law of Huguette Clerc whose two daughters Desta and Menen perform in France with Lee Halliday, followed by their mother Hélène and Jean-Philippe Smet, a six-year-old child.
No and Oklahoma in 1927, Lee Hallyday is at the origin of the stage name of Taulier. At his side, he learns the basics of the profession of artist. As a teenager, young Jean-Philippe was nicknamed Johnny by Lee. The dazzling success of Elvis’ rock’n’roll and the magnetism of American culture will do the rest to firmly anchor “Jean-Philippe Smet” in the identity of “Johnny Hallyday”.
In the 1960s, Lee became Johnny Hallyday’s agent and artistic director. He oversaw the fifteenalbums of the singer released between 1961 and 1975. Lee Hallyday spent the end of his life between the United States and London.
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2023-09-06 10:30:06
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