Christian Decamps

The founder and lead singer of French rock band Ange, Christian Décamps has been in the forefront of French progressive rock for more than three decades. His albums with Ange — which include the Gran Prix du Academy Charles Cros-winning Par les Fils de Mandrin in 1976 and a tribute to French composers Michel Polnareff, Jacques Brel, Claude Nougaro, Charles Aznavour, and Jacques Dutronc, A Propos De, in 1982 — sold more than three million copies. Their debut single, "Tout Feu Tout Flamme (Any Fire Any Flame)," released in 1970, remains a French rock classic.

Formed in late 1969, Décamps and Ange explored increasingly adventurous music. Making their concert debut with a satirical rock opera, La Fantastique Epopee du General Machin, on January 3, 1970, they performed in Décamps' symphonic rock ballet Seve Qui Peut, inspired by French novelist Louis Preguad, in 1989. In a 1997 concert with the Symphony Orchestra of Massey-in-Essone and the Opera Theater of Massey, Décamps introduced a reorganized version of Ange a year after a farewell tour by the original band.

Although most of his focus has been on Ange, Décamps has periodically stepped into the spotlight on his own. In addition to recording five impressive solo albums — Le Mal d'Adam in 1979, Vu d'un Chien in 1980, Just une Ligne Bleue in 1990, Naked in 1993, and V'soul Vesoul V'soul in 2001 — he's penned two books. His memoir, Mes Mots D'Ange et Autres Vers Solitaires, was published, along with all the lyrics that he had written for Ange, in 1992. A novel, Baba sur les Fosses du Bon Dieu, followed four years later.