Producer of Mylène Farmer’s shows for more than 30 years, Thierry Suc confided in their unique relationship in a long portrait dedicated to him M Le Mag, supplement of World.
They are the same age, they call each other several times a day, they share small sushi and great secrets during their dinners. This native of the Lyon region is not the companion of the very discreet Mylène Farmer, this is his producer. One of the few to know her in her privacy. In the entertainment industry everyone knows the name of Thierry Suc. David Bowie, France Gall or Jean-Jacques Goldman, among other giants of the song, trusted him. In a long portrait dedicated to him M Le Mag, supplement of World, the director of the TS3 entertainment company looks back on his journey and what has united him to the Farmer icon for more than 30 years.
The nickname which the singer affixes says a lot about their relationship: for Mylène, who has herself learned to overcome her fears, Thierry is “Lao”, a nod to Lao Tseu, a great Chinese sage. Producer and manager of the star, Thierry Suc has also become a very close friend, due to his discretion and his gift to soothe existential anxieties. In 2019, many believed that the libertine redhead was bidding farewell to the stage, with her dantesque show in the Paris La Défense Arena, in Nanterre. The idea may have occurred to Mylène herself. Thierry Suc let her recover her spirits, after 9 athletic dates, in front of more than 235,000 spectators. Abandonment, he knows, is not in the artist’s temperament.
Thierry Suc helped Mylène Farmer to reveal herself on stage in grandiose shows, 30 years ago
It was so one of the first to be made aware of his desire to go back on stage, during the first confinement in 2020. “The request had to come from her desire“, slips the producer, elegant. A daring bet, while the pandemic has ravaged the entertainment world. Corn winning bet: the tour Nevermore 2023 by Mylène Farmer has already sold more than half of its 500,000 tickets on sale. And this, without a new album (the opus, not yet written according to our information, should be released at the end of 2022). When the singer came to celebrate the news in Thierry Suc’s offices, “she cried”, “she is always amazed to be loved so much”, he confides. This new tour will be the singer’s eighth. Her eighth collaboration with Suc, also.
Their first meeting dates back to the spring of 1988, in a Parisian restaurant. Bertrand Le Page, the singer’s first manager, and his accomplice Laurent Boutonnat are there, too. The trio have stage desires. Jean-Claude Camus and Gilbert Coullier, producers of Johnny Hallyday and Michel Sardou, were approached to produce it. Their ambitions for Mylène are modest. The young Thierry Suc offers him to “see bigger”, “a real show” with decor, dancers and costumes. Triumph. On the last evening of her first tour, in 1989, the singer promoted her producer: he would also be her manager in the future. Dare everything, refuse formatting. Thierry Suc had flair.
Their alliance will make people jealous, as it will arouse the admiration of a certain … Johnny Hallyday. Until his death, the Taulier considered that there was no “only two stars in France” : him and Mylène. But Thierry Suc is not only a turner. If he helps Mylène Farmer to build her shows, he also helps her in other more unexpected adventures. Funny anecdote of a meeting between David Bowie and Mylène, fan, behind the scenes of a concert of the singer, in 2002. The singer’s participation in the last Cannes Film Festival as a member of the jury is another success for Thierry Suc. The producer accompanied the shy singer to the Cannes dinners where she was expected. More faithful than a shadow. Thierry Suc is a producer like no other.
Photo credits: JACOVIDES-MOREAU / BESTIMAGE
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