French music executive and talent agent
Nessim Jacques Canetti
(30 May 1909,
Ruse
,
Bulgaria
? 7 June 1997,
Suresnes
) was a French
music executive
and a
talent agent
.
[1]
Born into a Sephardic Jewish family, his parents were Jacques Elias (Elieser) and Mathilde (Mazal) (nee Arditti) Canetti. He was the brother of the Nobel Prize-winning author
Elias Canetti
(1905?1994) and of Georges Canetti (1911?1971), a researcher and professor at the Pasteur Institute. Canetti studied at the
Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales
.
[2]
Jacques Canetti
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![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/J.Canetti_1960_Photo_X.DR.jpg/220px-J.Canetti_1960_Photo_X.DR.jpg) Canetti in 1960
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Born
| Nessim Jacques Canetti
(
1909-05-30
)
30 May 1909
|
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Died
| 7 June 1997
(1997-06-07)
(aged 88)
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Nationality
| French
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Alma mater
| HEC Paris
|
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Occupation(s)
| Music executive, talent agent
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Spouse
| Lucienne Vernay (m. 1947)
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Children
| 3
|
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Family
| Elias Canetti
(brother)
|
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Canetti joined the
Polydor record
company in 1931. There, he persuaded
Marlene Dietrich
to record her first album of French songs, and also worked on recordings of classical music by the Galimir Quartet. He had developed a strong interest in jazz, and organised "Jazz Hot" tours of jazz artists to university towns, during the course of which he brought
Louis Armstrong
,
Cab Calloway
, and
Duke Ellington
to France. In 1936, he became artistic director of the programme "Le Music-hall des jeunes" at
Radio-Cite
, which began his long-term artistic involvement with French
chanson
.
[3]
During World War II, Canetti worked in
Algiers
for Radio-France Alger, and established a theatre with
Francoise Rosay
and Pierre Dac. After World War II, he became artistic director at Polydor, and in 1947, he opened the
Theatre des Trois Baudets
in the
Pigalle
district in Paris. This venue hosted a great number of famous French performers, including
Georges Brassens
,
Jacques Brel
,
Guy Beart
,
Serge Gainsbourg
, Francis Lemarque,
Felix Leclerc
, and
Juliette Greco
, and served as an artistic testing ground for potential recording artists of interest to Canetti. He built up in parallel a catalogue of
chanson
recordings for the Philips label, in addition to work for Polydor, and also the Fontana label.
In 1963, Canetti left Philips and founded his own production company,
Les productions Jacques Canetti
,
[4]
and record label, Disques Canetti, which featured such artists as
Jeanne Moreau
,
Jacques Higelin
,
Simone Signoret
,
Serge Reggiani
, and
Boris Vian
.
[3]
The
Theatre des Trois Baudets
closed in 1967. In 1978, Canetti published his memoir,
On cherche jeune homme aimant la musique
, whose title derived from a job advertisement from Polydor which read "Cherche jeune homme aimant la musique et parlant couramment allemand" ("Seeking young man who loves music and speaks fluent German").
Canetti married Lucienne Vernay in 1947. The couple had three children, Colette, Francoise and Bernard.
References
[
edit
]
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International
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National
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Artists
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Other
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