PatrickHernandez

Patrick
Hernandez

    Born in 1949 to a Spanish father and an Australian/Italian mother, Patrick grew up in the small southwestern France town of Guadeloupe.
     Growing up in the mid-1960's Patrick was drawn to music and like most teens started his own band. Over the next decade Patrick would struggle with different bands, touring the dancehalls and ballrooms of southern France. During this period he met his partner Herve Tholance, a talented arranger, guitarist and vocalist. The two formed an unlikely duo and with their combined talents they started achieving local success backing current stars Frances Cabrel, Laurent Voulzy and the popular group Gold amongst others.
     In 1978 producer Jean Vanloo was introduced to Hernandez. With disco music in vogue and seeing the success of Jean Marc Cerrone, Patrick was convinced it was time to step into the disco arena from his rock base. Vanloo agreed and signed Patrick to a contract. He was immediately shipped off to Waterloo, Belgium for almost a year of experimenting writing and recording.
     After nearly a year's labor the resulting six tunes would change Patrick's life forever and mark him as an international star. The tunes were released on the Aariana sub-label Aquarius Records in November of 1978. The first single released was the rock-heavy dance tune entitled "Born To Be Alive." The success was immediate and by January 1979 Patrick was receiving his first Gold Record award from nearby Italy. The song spread throughout Europe where it hit number one in France in April and remained there till July. By then America had caught on and thanks to some clever remixing, Columbia Records released it on a commerical 12" single. It shot up the disco charts to number one and crossed over to the Top 40 peaking at number 16. By year's end Patrick had racked up an impressive 52 Gold and Platinum Record awards from over 50 different countries.
     During his summer tour of America, to promote the remixed album, he made an impromptu stop at "Dugan's Bistro" here in Chicago and performed "Born To Be Alive" for a surprised and enthusiastic Saturday night crowd. Working at The Bistro at the time I was fortunate to meet him and to see a historic performance of a now classic disco hit.
     While Patrick was touring America he was accompanied by his producer Jean Vanloo and his partner Jean Claude Pellerin. Vanloo and Pellerin held open auditions in New York that spring for dancers to accompany Hernandez on his worldwide tour. A scruffy, oddly dressed dancer appeared at the auditions. After watching her dance and belt out a generic disco tune, Pellerin and Vanloo were so impressed with her passionate delivery that they offered to bring her to Paris and mold her into a star.
     "We saw right away that she had more punch than the others," said Hernandez. "Instead of selecting her to dance like an idiot behind me, we separated her from the other performers. We wanted to bring her to France so she could record." Tired of sifting through garbage cans for her next meal she accepted.
     Madonna arrived in Paris in May of 1979 and immediately took to her new accomodations complete with round-the-clock chauffeur, maid, secretary, vocal coach and an unlimited wardrobe budget. Madonna was finally given a taste of the good life but the career guidance that was promised never materialized. She suspects that she was brought to Paris as a trophy, not an aspiring star.
     Hernandez believes Madonna's career as a French disco star was doomed from the start. "The minute she set foot in France," he said , things didn't go well between Madonna and her producers. "She didn't want to do what we had in mind for her. She didn't want to sing; she had to do it. She just wanted to dance. It came as a big surprise for her that we wanted to turn her into a singer." Even when it came to dancing, Madonna and her French sponsors could not agree on what direction to take. "She was interested in the avant-garde and the times demanded disco," Patrick recalled. "We wanted her to move like Donna Summer and she wanted to move otherwise." Stymied by this impasse, she grew more and more dissatisfied.
     When Vanloo and Pellerin commisioned a song for her entitled "She's A Real Disco Queen," Madonna refused to sing it. "At the time she was interested in the emerging punk and new wave sound," Hernandez recalled. "Funny, when she became a success years later, it was by singing the kinds of pop dance tunes we were trying to get her to record in the first place. In the end, her music was not at all avant-garde."
     After only three months Madonna fled Paris to return to New York. Patrick credited Madonna's Parisian sojourn with "putting the bug in her ear that she could sing. Maybe if she had never come to Paris , Madonna would have continued taking dance lessons, going to auditions, and never even tried to make it as a singer!." Patrick was impressed by her single-mindedness. She once told him that success was his today, but would be her's tomorrow. And true to her word, 8 years later she was a star when she returned to Paris for her first concert in France.
     Meanwhile Patrick's follow-up to "Born To Be Alive" did not fare as well. "Disco Queen" backed with "Show Me The Way You Kiss" had all the spark and energy of his previous 12" single yet for some odd reason could not garner the radio support. The album still sold well and earned him a Billboard Award in February of 1980.
     His next chart success was in 1981 with the import 12" single of "Goodbye," first released on Aariana and then a remixed version on the parent-label Aquarius Records. By then disco had 'died' in America and no label was found to license it domestically. An album followed the 12" release but without an American distribution deal it goes by virtually unnoticed in the U.S.
     Touring and enjoying the occasional appearance on fellow artists albums takes Patrick throught the 1980's and 1990's. A remix of "Born To Be Alive" shakes up the club scene again in 1987. And a compilation of his two albums finds an American release in 1995 as "The Best Of Patrick Hernandez" on Hot Records.
     Since it's 1978 release "Born To Be Alive" sells more than 800,000 units annually under various forms and compilations globally. And at one point it was said to have brought in 25 million dollars worldwide.
     To celebrate the 20th anniversary of this legendary track a real "Best Of Patrick Hernandez" was released which included, as well as the original track of "Born To Be Alive," the American remix, a 1999 techno-dance remix and an unbelievable variety of rock and pop tracks with a dance flavor which illustrates the eclectism of this unique artist. The "Best Of" included five previously unreleased tracks, like "Get Ready," "Children Of Circumstance" and "Ballerina," where once again Patrick Hernandez transcends his rock roots to create musical legends, but this time with a modern dance flavor. Look for it on-line or in stores.