若说起法国摇滚的先锋，就不得不提当年殿堂级的乐队： Téléphone（直译’电话’）和它的主唱 Jeans-Louis Aubert (让.路易.欧贝)。去年就是欧贝近三十年摇滚生涯的又一个颠峰，新专辑《Idea Standard》和单曲《Parle moi》出现在所有的电台和排行榜上，备受好评，欧贝本人也提名年度Victoire最佳歌手，电视里又常看到他年轻顽皮的笑容。
Jean-Louis Aubert 1955年生于Ain一个严格的政客家庭，从小由保姆抚养，随后全家搬到巴黎居住。在父母的眼里，他从小就是个充满叛逆性格的男孩，以至于17岁那年，让路易不顾父亲的反对，孤身前往美国，开始了身背一把吉他，追逐他的偶像'Rolling Stones'(滚石) 的音乐生涯。
几年后，欧贝回到巴黎，和Richard Kolinka，Daniel共同组建了第一只乐队 Semolina，推出第一张专辑《Et j'y vais déjà》，以及全法四十五场循环演出，大受欢迎，两首单曲“Et j'y vais déjà"和 "Plastic rocker" 也成了如今的金曲。
1976年，乐队的成功，又加入了两名新成员Louis Bertignac 和 Corinne Marienneau，更名为‘Telephone’，法国流行音乐史上最伟大的摇滚乐队诞生了。整个七十年代末到八十年代，Telephone成为法国年轻人最崇拜的组合，他们把美式摇滚，与法国Chanson传统，以及雷滚，电子的风格，美妙的结合起来，抓住了那个时代的激情。Métro, c'est trop， La bombe humaine， Un autre monde，Cendrillon， Le jour s'est levé等单曲成了排行榜上的常客，那十年里，法国年轻人的音乐不再是叔叔级的Johnny Halliday，而是更加叛逆的‘电话’，就连此时的法国电影，都常把他们的音乐用作配乐背景，看作68年传统的延续和新时代的精神（例如苏菲.玛索著名的处女作《La Boum/初吻》）。
在成功推出五张专辑和无数暴棚的现场演出后，1985年，这只伟大的乐队由于各种原因，终于还是解散了。第二年，让路易以一首单曲细碟‘Juste une illusion’和第一张个人专辑《Platre & Ciment》开始自己的单飞生涯，但他并没有完全离开那些伙伴，这首单曲依然是成员Richard Kolinka的谱曲。
从1987年至今，让路易.欧贝一共推出11张CD和现场Live，风格也发生改变，越来越感性，不再用过度的喧闹来冲淡旋律，这固然是由于全世界流行音乐环境的变化，同样也是他年龄的增长和对音乐理解的升华。1992年的专辑《H》就是他力图变化的一种尝试，以及2003年的《Sur la route》，作为前辈的让路易慧眼识人，在专辑中与新人Raphael合作，而Raphel则在这两年之后，迅速成为了法国乐坛最有前途的歌手。
让路易.欧贝算来已经年过半百，因为摇滚而永远年轻，他的偶像‘滚石’如今也还在乐坛驰骋，而他同样用一首《Parle-moi》告诉世人，他将用手中的吉他，和苍碎的嗓音，继续探索自己的摇滚道路。
by Jason Ankeny
Telephone fused the swagger and energy of hard rock with the urban aggression of punk to emerge as the most admired and influential French band of the post-student revolt era. Their roots lie in Sémolina, an unheralded trio formed in late 1975 by singer/guitarist Jean-Louis Aubert, bassist Daniel Roux, and drummer Richard Kolinka. When their lone WEA single, "Et J'y Vais Déjà," vanished upon its mid-1976 release, Sémolina quickly split; Aubert and Kolinka remained roommates, however, frequently jamming in the cellar of their Paris home.
In late autumn of 1976, Kolinka secured a gig at Paris' American Centre, but when his regular band was unable to commit to the date, he and Aubert recruited Louis Bertignac, a gifted guitarist previously known for supporting singer Jacques Higelin, and bassist Corine Marienneau to assemble a set list comprised of classic rock hits and Aubert's first original compositions. On November 12, Telephone made their debut performance, playing a largely improvised set to a few hundred patrons; loud, snotty, and defiantly primitive, the band effectively reinvigorated French rock in one fell swoop. Though by no means the classic frontman, Aubert nevertheless transcended his limits as a vocalist and guitarist with sheer aggressive energy, becoming the poster boy for a new generation of French rock icons, while Bertignac's raw, electrifying guitar solos evoked antecedents from Keith Richards to Jimmy Page.
After a famously raucous March 1977 appearance at the Paris Metro, Telephone toured in support of British act Eddie & the Hot Rods, followed by a date opening for the seminal American band Television. A June 8th performance at Paris' Bus Palladium yielded Telephone's debut single, "Hygiaphone." Six weeks later, the quartet signed to Pathé-Marconi, teaming with producer Mike Thorne for its self-titled debut LP, issued in November. Telephone supported the album's release with their first headlining tour, culminating in a free show at Paris' Pantin racecourse. With their 1979 sophomore effort, Crache Ton Venin, Telephone rocketed to superstardom -- the single "La Bombe Humaine" emerged as a generational anthem, and the album sold in excess of 600,000 copies, capped off by a performance at the annual Fête de l'Humanité in front of an audience of more than 100,000 people. Tours of Italy, Spain, and North America followed, and while in New York, Telephone began work on their third album, 1981's Au Coeur de la Nuit, which generated the smash single "Argent Trop Cher." The quartet returned home in time for the premiere of Telephone Public, a documentary feature directed by Jean-Marie Périer, previously known as the longtime photographer for the pop magazine Salut les Copaines.
With their contractual obligations to Pathé complete, Telephone leveraged their enormous popularity to negotiate a lucrative new deal with Virgin. Highlighted by the single "Ce Soir Est Ce Soir," their fourth album, Dure Limite, hit stores in conjunction with their June 14, 1982, Paris concert in support of the Rolling Stones. During the headlining tour that followed, Bertignac broke his collarbone in a fall, but Telephone still played the majority of dates, culminating in a sold-out three-night stand at the Paris Hippodrome. But creative dissension began to grow, and breakup rumors reached a fever pitch in the wake of 1984's Un Autre Monde, as all four members of Telephone began to pursue solo projects; while Aubert contributed to an Ethiopian benefit LP recorded by the all-star Chanteurs sans Frontiéres, Marienneau wrote music for the Luc Besson film Subway, and Kolinka founded his own label, Kod.
Finally, in April 1986 Aubert announced the band's demise -- a subsequent live LP proved a bestseller around the same time he and Kolinka reunited with Sémolina bassist Daniel Roux under the name Aubert 'n' Ko, releasing the funk-inspired album Platre et Ciment in 1987, while Bertignac and Marienneau formed Les Visiteurs. With Kolinka still in tow, Aubert began his solo career in earnest with 1989's Bleu Blanc Vert, while Bertignac launched his post-Visiteurs career with 1993's Tony Visconti-produced Elle et Louis. Only Marienneau left the music business, focusing instead on theater.
