Caravelli

He was a composer, known for Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), The Law (1959) and Stop Train 349 (1963). He was married to Yvonne.

In November 2001 he was touring Japan with an orchestra composed of 32 musicians (tour N° 7 ), invited by the Sony Foundation (the previous tour was in 1996). At this time, Sony Music Japan assembled a 2-CD set Caravelli plays Michel Polnareff and ABBA, being the first (Polnareff) a selection from '60 & '70 albums (including his cover of "Love me, please love me") and the second (ABBA) a selection from 70' recordings. In December 2003 he toured Japan again; the 6 concerts were sold out.

In 1981 he toured the Soviet Union with his orchestra performing in Riga and Moscow with great success (all concerts were sold out). The summer of following year, he returned to the country, this time to make a record for the Melodiya label with Russians musicians and female singers (in his style without lyrics). This record Caravelli in Moscow includes 12 songs, the majority written by young pop Russian composers, with a couple of traditional tunes. Two of the pieces were recorded in Paris with his own orchestra.

In the middle 1980s in order to update his sound he used rhythm arrangements by his son Patrick Vasori (born c.1950) using musicians like Gilles Gambus and Serge Planchon, who also played keyboards with the orchestra.

In 1978 he composed and recorded the title song of "Goldorak et les 2 Mazingers", for the Japan anime/cartoon.

In 1973 one of his own compositions was included in the Frank Sinatra album Old Blue Eyes is back: "Laisse moi le temps" / "Let me try again", original French lyrics by Michel Jourdan, English lyrics by Paul Anka. This song was previously presented in competition at the "Festival Internacional de la Canción de Viña del Mar", Chile, by singer Romuald representing France and obtaining the 2nd prize (a Chile song was the winner), although it was considered the best song by critics and people. Making a delayed justice, a few years ago, it was proclaimed the Best Song in the history of this Festival, in its 41st Anniversary, something unusual for a non 1st prize in any song contest.

His first Japan Live Concert is recorded in 1972 by CBS.

In 1970 he composed the music for the film L'Homme Qui Vient De La Nuit, starred by Ivan Rebroff, and in the same period recorded an album in USA.

The Versailles label was acquired by Columbia Records in 1964. The wider distribution of their product led to gold records for Caravelli in France, Japan, Israel and South America.

In 1963 he composed Accroche-toi Caroline! which was used by the BBC as the theme to the Vision On television series.

In 1962 he composed Et Satan conduit le bal original soundtrack under his real name, French film starred by young Catherine Deneuve.

In 1959 with the help of the French jazz musician Ray Ventura, he obtained a contract to form his own orchestra oriented to popular music. He signed a contract with the French record label Versailles. His first album Dance Party was recorded. Under licenses these early recordings were released internationally (20th Century Records in USA, Ariel in Argentina, Fermata in Brasil and Discophon in Spain).

Caravelli was born on September 12, 1930 in Paris, France as Claude Vasori.