Renaud Pierre Manuel Séchan, known as Renaud ([ʁəno]; born 11 May 1952), is a popular French singer, songwriter and actor. His characteristically 'broken' voice makes for a very distinctive vocal style. Several of his songs are popular classics in France, including the sea tale "Dès que le vent soufflera", the irreverent "Laisse béton", the ballad "Morgane de toi" and the nostalgic "Mistral gagnant". However, with the exception of a recording of "Miss Maggie" in English and a franglais recording of "It is not because you are", his work is almost unknown outside the French-speaking world.

Biography

Renaud's father Olivier Séchan was a prize-winning novelist and popular children's writer, born to a Protestant Languedoc family from the Cévennes and Montpellier. He taught German language in a secondary school of Paris.
The director Edmond Séchan is his uncle.
His grandfather was the famous scholar and Hellenist Louis Séchan, who taught in the Sorbonne. His ancestors were pastors. His mother is the daughter of a coal miner from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. Renaud dedicated part of his work to his familial roots, singing traditional songs in the regional picard language and acting in Germinal, a film based on the famous Émile Zola novel, in the part of Étienne Lantier.

In August 2005 Renaud married Romane Serda, the mother of his son Malone. In 2007, he announced to the press his intention to move his family to London, citing a love for British society and expressing disillusionment at the current state of France. In 2009 Renaud's daughter, writer Lolita Séchan, married French acoustic singer-songwriter Renan Luce.

In September 2011, Romane divorced Renaud on the account of his alcoholism problems.

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