Very sad but not suprising news, Bashung died yesterday from cancer, he was 61, the english news item found on the web don't really do him justice, so, i won't post them. He was the first name that came up to me in the favourite non-jazz singer thread. He was not an easy guy to categorize, a bit chameleon like, he was a pop singer and had a few hits early in his career but he got away from that pretty quickly and turn into 80's new wavish rock, singing even a few songs in German. In the early 90s he made a classical american rock, singing even a few covers with Sonny Landreth shining as a main guitarist. From that point he went into a Leo Ferré kind of mode where he was half singing half recitating songs carried on with voluptuous arrangements. His last album was more of a back to his roots with guitars having a more central role. Definitively a huge loss.
You can put him in the pantheon of greats with Ferré, Brel, Gainsbourg ...
Here's what i think is his definitive song
Here's the main song of the more classical american rock i mentionned.