JIMMY WALTER

Born: April 27th, 1930, Paris (France)

Died: September 20th, 2012, La Ferté Macé (France)

Nationality: French

In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview

BIOGRAPHY

Benjamin ‘Jimmy’ Walter composed the most famous song of Boris Vian, ‘Le déserteur’ (1954), a protest against the ongoing French colonial war in Indochina. Other songs he wrote for Vian include ‘Cinématographe’ and ‘Les joyeux bouchers’. He accompanied Vian with his orchestra, which featured, amongst others, Léo Petit, Benny Vasseur, and Roger Bourdin.

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

Together with music business tycoon Eddie Barclay, Walter composed the music to ‘Marlène’ (lyrics: Henri Djian), an homage song to Marlène Dietrich. In 1970, this was the Monegasque entry to the Eurovision Song Contest in Amsterdam, performed by the then 16-years-old Dominique Dussault. Working with an orchestration written by Jean Bouchéty, Walter conducted the Metropole Orchestra for Dussault’s performance. The song finished in 8th place.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1970 Amsterdam

Country – Monaco

Song title – "Marlène"

Rendition – Dominique Dussault 

Lyrics – Henri Djian

Composition – Jimmy Walter / Eddie Barclay

Studio arrangement – Jean Bouchéty

(studio orchestra conducted by Jimmy Walter)

Live orchestration – Jean Bouchéty

Conductor – Jimmy Walter

Score – 8th place (5 votes)