Tribute to Dani, ‘the little moth who died in flight’

“He could be in my book The Ballad of Sex Addiction He has the same power as I photographed there,” confided American underground photographer Nan Goldin, who crossed paths with Dani in Paris in the 2010s. “There’s something terribly fascinating about him. Physical presence. His face conveys very strong emotions. It has no filter and every little wrinkle tells a story. I would like to photograph her…” Nan Goldin’s portrait of Dani will remain an intention. But we can imagine it. a hauntingly intense, raw shot with vivid hues. A call to color, scent, sound, density and taste of life. “Life’s a movie you only see once,” Dani sang on the title track 45 Life at 25In 1974

Daniel Graul, his real name, died at the age of 77 on the night of July 18-19 after an illness. the image and its music remain indelible like a never-ending story. In The night doesn’t lasthis autobiographical book (Flammarion), the title of which is taken from a passage in Daniel Dark; rose redDani wrote: “My life… Did I choose or did I choose? Who knows ! Beautiful stars have often shone for me, good hands have called me, I have followed them…” Jane Birkin, saddened by her departure from Barcelona, ​​tells us some touching words about her wife and the artist she has. famous. “Dani was an adventure. He was generous and amazing. She was happy, the sister of others. Too bad the little moth died in flight.

Benjamin Biolay and Etienne Dahon in the video. a unique meeting between two romantic idealists

“Nothing was more important to him than creating, singing, being surrounded by those he loved,” adds his professional entourage. “If Dani has inspired so many artists, photographers, filmmakers, poets, composers, directors, it is because she was a powerful breath of life, a whole nature filled with love and energy.”

Icon of the 60s, model photographed by Andy Warhol, actress and muse of Roger Vadim RoundBy George Lotner A few gentlemen who are extremely quiet and By François Truffaut American night“I loved being an actress, but I’ve never had this indescribable thrill in a movie that I feel when I sing on stage,” she confided to us before the concert-cabaret at the Bataclan. In 2021, a celebration of his crazy years at Alcazar, where he made his debut. That evening, between songs and jokes about his past, he paid lavish tributes to his iconic women: Marilyn Monroe, George Sand, Anais Nin and Françoise Sagan.

I loved being an actress, but I never had this indescribable thrill in a movie that I feel when I sing on stage.

Daniel

A cult artist in the 1960s and 1970s, Dani returned to the spotlight in 2001 and had phenomenal success singing a duet with Etienne Daho, Like a boomeranga title Serge Gainsbourg wrote for her in 1975. In every song he performed. Tomboy the time H for hippies Passing by Artichokes – Dani always told him in the first person. With a bewitching husky voice, androgynous body grace, an icon of Parisian nightlife and L’Aventure nightclub, the French version of New York’s Studio 54, she had the irrepressible charm of Nico, Marian Faithfull and the queens of rock. “Like them, I sing what I live, nothing more,” he told us in 2021, between two beats of Lucky. “The song should cause excitement from the first listening. It’s an unnerving thrill at times, but I hope what I write resonates with you, that my experience is not in vain. I sometimes dread this time when everything has to be varnished, smooth, cute, blue flower and where we hide what we think. I want artists to shout out what we really feel, to lash out at the circumstances, the expressions of political correctness, so horrible and boring.”

Everything about him contrasted: the black hair and the piercing blue of the eyes, the lilac color and the strength of the jaw, the spleen of the texts and the mischievousness of the smile. His sentimental pop was as sharp as a knife blade. At the age of 75, in 2021, he released a magnificent album, Golden horizons. “This is pop in which I sing about a hopeful tomorrow,” he confided. I can have a dark image and I like it. I’ve survived drugs, broken love stories, but I’m still the young girl who left the States for Paris in the 1960s, dreaming of an extraordinary life. I kept the same taste for surprise.”

In the late 1980s, the singer went through a long desert, which she told about in her entire autobiography. The night doesn’t last. He talks about his extreme addiction to drugs, admits to being “oversensitive, too much” and “living too low.” Like a phoenix rising from its ashes, Dani emerged from those drug-addled years with parents, friends and “my children, the most precious thing I have,” she would say. Benjamin Auger, photographer Hello friends and the father of her two sons will forever be her ally. According to her manager, Dani was finishing up her next album, which was titled Attention Departure “We were warned. He just forgot to tell us it was going to be close,” he added in a press release.

She was an exceptional woman who loved life and celebrated love

Karen Ann

The music world is in mourning. From Rome, where she is filming a documentary, singer Karen Ann, who was close to Dani, confides. “I worked with him. He took my song crazy (Author with Doriand), which I organized for him, and he invited me on stage several times. She was an exceptional woman who loved life and celebrated love. He was gorgeous and rock, sometimes dark but always surrounded by light. Dani loved poetry and found it around every corner. He loved to discover, was extremely elaborate, and I know he had many musical projects. I also remember the importance he attached to his family, his children, about whom he constantly talked. I am sad. We lost Dani, a great artist, whose footsteps we will follow.”