At the end of the 70s, Marc Cerrone was considered – along with the American Nile Rodgers and the German Giorgio Moroder – to be one of the popes of disco, a musical movement born in the clubs that swept the world. More than half a century later, Cerrone is still with us. His hits, Supernature, Love in C Minor, Give me Love and Summer Lovin’ are standards, and have been sampled by Daft Punk, Cypress Hill, Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys and Run-DMC, remixed by every DJ in the world, including Bob Sinclar, and immortalized in film soundtracks, notably Gaspar Noé’s Climax. But Marc Cerrone has had more than one life and has constantly reinvented himself. Owner of a chain of record shops, drummer, composer, producer, film scriptwriter, writer, he is now a painter, DJ… And last October he released a new album, Cerrone by Cerrone, in which he revisits sixteen of his greatest hits.
For VUmètre, Marc Cerrone opened the doors of his huge Parisian studio apartment to us. On the walls of the living room are his colorful paintings, his many gold discs, awards, photos with Nile Rodgers or the Dalai Lama, and of course, in a huge room, his sumptuous drum kit and a mixing console. Interview.
Do you remember the first sound you heard?
The drums! I took up music by accident. I was a rambunctious kid, so you know the story…
To channel your energy and your emotions, your mother gave you a set of drums, even though you were permanently expelled from school.
I was twelve. My mother promised me a drum kit, but even before she gave it to me, I was listening to the radio and concentrating on the drums, not the vocals. I listened to what the drummers were doing and it really got into my head. I kept practicing with my legs, without drums of course, to loosen up my limbs, because you must loosen up your limbs to play this instrument. Then my mother finally took me to the shop. When I sat down at the drum kit, I picked up the sticks. I started to make a rhythm. The shop assistant was flabbergasted: ‘But your son can play!
A long love affair began…
As soon as I got my drums, I spent all my time on them. In the end, my mother didn’t just give me an instrument I hadn’t thought of, she gave me my best friend.
What were your musical tastes when you were a teenager?
My first concert was Jimi Hendrix at L’Olympia. I was 15. I wanted to bang like his drummer (Buddy Miles). Then I saw Carlos Santana, jazz drummer Billy Cobhan, Yes, Deep Purple, Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin guitarist), who I became friends with and who played on my fourth album.
When did you start forming bands?
When I was thirteen. At fourteen, I had a great coastline in the Paris region, I left school, and at sixteen, things started to get serious. I went on to form several bands, and then I became artistic director and producer for Club Med. I set up bands for the holiday villages, I hired 20 bass players, 20 drummers, 20 keyboards, I chose the repertoires… I wasn’t even 18 and I had falsified my papers because I wasn’t of age. I’d left school at 15. I didn’t want to be famous; I just loved this instrument. Even when I wasn’t playing drums, I was tapping my thighs (he starts tapping in rhythm).
How long did you stay at Club Med?
I did three seasons, and it was a big hit. I selected the best musicians and soon I said to myself that I was going to set up my own group. So, I financed my group by selecting the best musicians for Kongas. I finished my season for Club Med in March 72. We rehearsed in April, May and June. I met two talented percussionists and there were six of us. The group was ready by the end of June, we were good, and I told myself that I would find an agent in two months. In the summer, I set off to do the rounds with my drums in the port of Saint-Tropez. I’d play between 7 and 9pm and my girlfriend would come along in a bowler hat. It really worked, and one evening Eddie Barclay came by. He came back the next day and the day after that. He put a note in my girlfriend’s hat: ‘Come and join me at the restaurant when you’ve finished. Barclay was a VERY important person at the time. I took the drums apart and went to find him. He told me I had to put a band together and invited me to lunch the next day at his estate. I told him I already had a band and offered to audition at the Papagayo. A week later, my musicians met me in Saint-Tropez and we had a big hit at the Papagayo. We stayed there until the end of August. There were queues every night and Kongas and I were a big hit. At the end of August, I signed a contract with Eddie Barclay. In November, we released our first single, and boom, first hit. I haven’t stopped since.
What was your style of music with Kongas?
It was afro rock. We all composed together. We released albums, played in the United States and Japan, and did 250 galas a year… It was a heavy burden, and I had a child. Then I got the feeling that we were reaching a plateau, that we weren’t going any further. And I was ambitious…
So you stopped working at Kongas?
In December 1975, I opened a shop at Vitry-sur-Seine station. I lived there and my father was a shoemaker in Vitry. I took over his business and had the windows painted red, with lights behind them. The records were on wooden pallets, and I played the music very loudly, which was really new at the time. Above all, I came up with the idea of offering free credit for six months – it was the first time this had been done. I paid the 2% to Cetelem and the guys bought me huge quantities of records; instead of one LP, they’d buy 20, which they’d pay off in six months. It was an instant success! I bought my records via a wholesaler and set up an Import Music shop in Belle Épine. I had 400 m2 and I was a huge success, and within a few months I had the best return per square meter. I was approached by all the shopping centers and I opened other Import Music shops: Vélizy, Parly 2, Rosny… People would meet up in my shops and listen to music. I wanted people to find things in my shops that they couldn’t find anywhere else: an LP of jazz, funk… If you couldn’t find it at Import Music, you just couldn’t find it anywhere else! In a year and a half, I ended up with a chain of shops.
And yet you’re going to go back to music.
I missed music too much and I decided to make an album, Love in C Minor, thinking that I would sell 12 of them in my shops. But as an import record salesman, I quickly sense that something is happening in the United States, that a movement is coming… I know how to get people moving with a very simple but effective drum beat (he taps in rhythm with his foot, NDR). I find a bass gimmick, On Broadway, by George Benson (he sings, NDR). I get help from Alex Constandinos, who writes all the lyrics for Kongas. He suggested I go to Trident where Peter Gabriel and Elton John were recording. We managed to rent the studio for three weeks. I arrived and had my drums set up very far forward, but it seemed logical because I’m a drummer. There are two Eratons, two square wooden speakers. And I start to get annoyed, and I ask for two sound columns. I had the drums dismantled so that all I had was the bass drum and the stand. I spent all day on it. The next day, I recorded only the snare drum. And so on. I’ve got a good arranger, I want Barry White-style strings, horns that sound like they’re in Chicago… And above all, there are no synths, everything is live! I got the best backing singers to sing just ‘Love me, love me’ for twenty minutes. Between takes, I play ping-pong with Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel or Elton. Then, one evening, I invited everyone to listen to the song, with glasses of champagne. We listened very loudly, and soon the girls were moaning to the music. We recorded them and mixed them into the song, which is 16 minutes 30.
But a single was three or four minutes long at the time.
I wasn’t looking to please anyone but to please myself, I wanted to compose a soundtrack. The record companies all turned me down. I called the director of Trident and he advised me to press vinyl. But I had to press 5,000, and 5,000 was far too many! I needed a label, so I set up my own label, Alligator. And the 5,000 records sold like hotcakes. I didn’t calculate anything, everything just happened naturally.
What were your requirements in terms of sound?
In my head, I didn’t want to become a famous guy. But I really wanted to make a demo record for people who had a good hi-fi system. There were very few quality records to show off to your friends. But if you put Love in C Minor in your living room, on your Hi-Fi, you’d get an earful. That’s why I surrounded myself with top people, like Peter Gabriel’s sound engineer. I tweaked all the sounds. That’s why we’re still listening to it 50 years later. There must have been 40,000 remixes, but when it comes to sound, come on, guys! I never set out to make hits, although I did make about twenty of them…
By chance, a box of your records was sent to the United States, and the track was an instant hit in record stores and on the radio.
With Love in C Minor, American producers were looking everywhere to sign me. I went to Atlantic and signed. And the founder, Ahmet Ertegün (author, talent scout and legendary producer, NDR), who had me at heart, managed me for seven years. He taught me the business because I didn’t know anything about it. He wanted me to live in the USA and put me on a black label, alongside Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, the Jackson 5, Prince, Earth, Wind and Fire and Nile Rodgers, who would become one of my best friends. They were all so strong, I didn’t want to, but Ahmet insisted…
You then became a huge star.
With Love in C Minor, my career took off. I couldn’t look after the shops anymore, so I sold them to the wholesaler I was associated with. He turned it into Nuggets and there were 50 shops, which were taken over by FNAC. If my career hadn’t taken off, I’d probably have set up a Darty record store. I had a head for business! Then I moved to California, my children went to school there and I was completely integrated. Atlantic called my music ‘French Sound’, long before the French Touch… For my second album, Cerrone’s Paradise, I fucked up the sound even more, even though I didn’t have enough equipment in the studio. For my third album, ARP sent me an Odyssey ARP, one of the first synthesizers. I didn’t even know what it was! I discovered electro and wrote Supernature. When I gave him the record, Ahmet Ertegün was dubious because I already had a sound. I suggested releasing the album in France and pressing 2,000 vinyl records to try it out. That’s what I did, without any B-sides, and it was another big hit. I produced La Toya Jackson, I did concerts with Earth, Wind and Fire… In 1979, I spent my evenings at Studio 54, in New York, in the VIP room with Andy Warhol, Jean Paul Gaultier, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jean-Paul Goude… We were the enfants terribles, each in our own artistic field. We inspired everyone with our textures, fashion and colors. I sold millions of records.
Did you play your music at the legendary Studio 54?
Are you kidding? I play at 54 all the time, I’m at home there. As soon as I arrive, they put me in the VIP room with Diana Ross or Grace Jones. We’re not part of the establishment; we’re ultra-hip provocateurs.
You became the ‘Pope of Disco’.
With Giorgio Moroder and Nile Rodgers, we made music for discos. At the time, a record was a success if it was played on the radio. I didn’t want to get on the radio with my 20-minute songs. I wanted to sell records through the disco buzz.
Are you in competition with Giorgio Moroder or Nile Rodgers?
Not at all. We’re record producers, so we’re in the same frame of mind. But Giorgio is more into pop, with his songs sublimely sung by Donna Summer. In fact, we’ve never crossed paths, except five years ago. As for Nile, he’s a mate of mine, and we were talking only three days ago. We’ve done concerts together, and even a jazz festival in Montreux, with Quincy Jones applauding us. They’re like family, I learnt the trade with them.
Let’s talk about equipment.
They kept offering me new equipment. Dual preamps, Kenwood… In the studio, I always had the best. The best engineer, the best gear. Today, in the studio, I use Mackie. It’s a bit flattering in the midrange, but it’s still faithful, and I’ve been working with Mackie for twenty years. For 50 years, I’ve always had a home studio, with a sound engineer, even when I’m not working, because I’m recording all the time. I must. I have Sonos at home. I live in the south of France, in Ramatuelle, and I have a big set-up that sounds very loud. I like the idea that I can listen at any level and hear everything. I don’t like it when I change levels and all of a sudden, the bass goes back, or the guitars go forward or something gets saturated. With Sonos, it’s perfect. In the morning, I listen to American radio, jazz and hip hop, and the sound is always great.
The years have gone by and you’ve never stopped making music.
The drums are still my best friend, and I still play them every day. I released an album, Cerrone by Cerrone, last October. It’s a live album, a one hour and one minute set that goes on and on, 16 tracks on which I have fun. On Give me Love, I used the horns from Je suis musique.
I have the impression that certain drum parts have been redone.
All of them, absolutely all of them! Like the vocals. I don’t play the same way anymore, I ‘dance’…
You’ve also started a career as a DJ.
Eight years ago, Emmanuel de Buretel, who founded Because Music, advised me to take over the turntables and do festivals. But for me, that’s almost an insult. I’ve got nothing against DJs, on the contrary, but I thought they weren’t for me. I try not to be too stupid, and I think about it, I talk to my son who’s a DJ, to some DJ friends. And I told them about my project, to play my tracks exclusively as DJs. Everyone pushed me! So, I started out with a little Ableton console, which I filled with samples. As I own my own label, I have all my masters, over 500 tracks, the guitars of Nile Rodgers, Jim Page, the horns of the group Chicago… It’s an insane library of sounds, a veritable Ali Baba’s cave. I send out a cappella with my Ableton and I produce music live, on my own tracks. I mix them up. And I really enjoy it, and it’s a big hit! I do sets in front of 25, 30 or 40,000 people, young people. They all know my repertoire and they come to listen to music that will thrill them, that they can let loose to. And I like that because it’s a performance. For years, the DJs thanked me because I had opened the doors, because they were considered artists thanks to me… Today, thanks to them, I do about thirty dates a year. But I don’t want to do any more than that: Seoul, Georgia at the end of December, often in London, Spain, Japan, the USA…
You have the word ‘Liberté’ inked on your skin. Why is that?
I have quite a few tattoos. In my life, I’ve done everything outside the system. I’m a real influencer, but above all, I’ve always been free.
Marc Cerrone, the Life
24 May 1952: Marc Cerrone is born, the son of Italian immigrants who fled fascism.
1966: he left school and formed his first group.
1972: He forms Kongas, an Afro-rock group, and releases his first single, Anikana-O.
1976: He produced his first album in London, Love in C Minor, which won a Grammy Award. He was signed to the Atlantic label in the United States.
1977: He released two albums in a row, Cerrone’s Paradise and Supernature, which sold eight million copies. The song Supernature quickly became one of the great disco anthems.
1982: He published his first crime novel, Le Rat, followed by Névrose. He also wrote Dancing Machine, which was made into a film starring Alain Delon.
1989: Concert for the bicentenary of the French Revolution at the Concorde in front of 600,000 spectators.
2001: Release of the album Cerrone by Bob Sinclar.
2005: He signs the soundtrack for the Cirque d’hiver adaptation of Orange mécanique.
2014: He begins a career as a DJ.
2022: Release of the album Cerrone by Cerrone
