David Hallyday

Early life

Hallyday was born in Boulogne-Billancourt and is the son of the French singers Johnny Hallyday and Sylvie Vartan. David Hallyday is a first cousin of actor Michael Vartan. He is the older half-brother of actress Laura Smet.

Career

Hallyday is most known for writing music for others, including a collaboration with his father on the 1999 album Sang pour sang.

Hallyday appeared in the teenage comedy He's My Girl (1987), also performing its title theme song. "He's My Girl" reached #79 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and #72 on Cash Box. His 1991 album Rock 'n' Heart spawned a bigger hit, "Ooh La La", which reached #51 on the Hot 100.

In the late 1980s, Hallyday had some success with his first solo records, but was unhappy. He decided to quit music, planning to do something different. He had an idea to reform his high-school garage band, Blind Fish but instead he formed Novacaine with his friend Erik Godal, a surf-grunge band. They toured and started to get some Top 40 radio play. But at the same time, Hallyday began writing for the European market because his label, Mercury Records asked him to write some songs in French. He made some demos and resumed his solo career in France while Novacaine went on hiatus with Hallyday saying that a new album was in the works for 2000. Meanwhile, Erik Godal joined up with the LA surf-noir band The Blue Hawaiians that scored music for TV show SpongeBob SquarePants. Besides The Blue Hawaiians, Godal continued to score for film and TV and was nominated for the 2006 Annie award for his work on Squirrelboy. Other films he scored include the Sundance film Subject Two and What Love Is. Godal also continued to work with Hallyday contributing to his solo album Revelation, appearing on touring dates and producing some songs for Johnny Hallyday, Tina Arena and Cylia.

Personal life

Hallyday married Estelle Lefébure on 15 September 1989; they divorced in 2001. They have two children. In 2004, he had a son with Alexandra Pastor.

Discography