Henri Salvador

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Henri Salvador (born July 18, 1917, Cayenne, French Guiana) is a French singer. His father, Clovis, and his mother, Antonine Paterne, daughter of a native Indian from the Caribbean, were both from Guadeloupe.

Salvador recorded several songs written with Boris Vian with Quincy Jones as arranger. He is known to have recorded the first French Rock'n Roll in 1956 written by Boris Vian and Michel Legrand.

In the sixties Salvador was the television host of several popular TV variety shows on French TV.

In (1964) he scored a hit with "Zorro est arrivé" (which was inspired by the English song "Along Came Jones"). His song "Mais non, mais non" (1969) inspired Jim Henson voor the Muppets' song Mahna Mahna. These kind of comedic songs made him well known in France. He is also famous for his rich, catchy laugh, which is a subject in many of his humoristic songs.

Henri Salvador and his song "Dans mon île" (1957) is one of the inspiration source of Tom Jobim for the famous brasilian Bossa Nova.

Caetano Veloso, a famous Brazilian composer and singer, made Henri Salvador famous to Brazilian audiences with the song "Reconvexo", in which he says "quem não sentiu o swing de Henri Salvador ?" (who hasn't felt the swing of Henri Salvador ?)

He has a brother, André, and a sister, Alice. He became a musician and comedian. Later he discovered singers Keren Ann and Art Mengo.