The interpreter of “Weekend in Rome” has collaborated with the greatest during his career. Between his bisexuality, his role as a father, his origins and his place of residence, there are plenty of things to discover about Etienne Daho who turns 67 on January 20, 2023.
His songs marked a whole generation. His very soft and melodious interpretation of My carousel almost made people forget the nasal version of the famous Edith Piaf. Her slender, somewhat androgynous silhouette does not go unnoticed either. She is the image of her discreet voice and her not very expansive personality. However, Etienne Daho willingly answers questions without spreading out either. It distills information drop by drop. A committed man, he talked about AIDS at a time when it was very taboo in Weekend in Rome and Motionless trips. Some thought that this fight was his and that he himself was a carrier of the disease, which was false. This nuanced character is not afraid of being misunderstood, on the contrary it seems to amuse him. This January 20, 2023, Etienne Daho celebrates his 67th birthday, the opportunity to reflect on his private life and his career.
Etienne Daho and his love life: he is bisexual
His androgynous physique could disturb the tracks and precisely, he is not necessarily where we expect him. Boy or girl, it doesn’t matter, Etienne Daho lives each story to the full. “I only live crazy, absolute passions, I don’t know how to love in a reasonable way” he said in his autobiographical book A Secret Book. He never hid his bisexualityeven if he never spoke about it.
In his documentary Daho by Dahoit evokes the passionate relationship he had with singer Ellie Medeiros. A lover of words and innuendo, he sends messages in his songs and plays with ambivalence. In his song Disaster Attractionshe sings : “Was it a skittle, an ice cube, who knows. In the dark, in the tone,
Regardless of abandonment. Provided it is good…”
Etienne Daho dad: his relationship with his son
Etienne Daho only belatedly revealed the existence of this child in the media. It was in 2017 in Release. “I am the father of a boy. He was born when I was 17 in Rennes” he had indicated. He added that he had no relationship with him. He doesn’t even know him. However, he regrets having reproduced the family pattern. He was abandoned by his father when he was 4 years old. And this boy may not be the only one in Daho. “Maybe then there were others, given the life I’ve led” he had assumed in the same interview in Release.
Etienne Daho: his origins
The singer has the same first name as his father and is born in Oran, Algeria. The man was a rich Kabyle heir, a career soldier and a party musician, he broke all ties with his family in 1960. His father tried to see him again 25 years later, when he was performing at the Olympia. And it was not well received. Etienne Daho refused to let him come to see him in his dressing room after the concert. “I knew my mother [Lucie Douma, qui avait des origines espagnoles, ndlr] was there, I had no desire to put them back together, I was afraid of this confrontation, it was too late. I tried to spare him. My reaction was extremely brutal, I regretted it. But I acted like I could act at that moment, with the maturity of that moment” he apologizes on Europe 1 in 2019.
Where does Etienne Daho live?
Etienne Daho reside “at the top of Paris“. He lives in a house located in the Montmarte district. His mansion is carefully hidden behind the gate of an almost invisible passage. Nothing can disturb his peace. “Etienne Daho’s house is a gigantic cabinet of curiosities“, specified Release in 2014.
The building is “a wooden loft” according to Release which could very well be in the mountains. The man collects music magazines, gold records, LPs of these favorite rock singers and photographs of stars.
