MARC MORGAN

Chansonnier with characteristic beret and glasses.

The musical career of van Marc Wathieu (as his real name goes) started in his college years by playing covers of Cream, Dylan & Neil Young covers in a band with his brother. In the early eitheis, they switched to singing in French and founded the band Objectif Lune. A few years later he graduates as an graphic artist from art school and switches to the band Les Réverends du Prince Albert, a more-or-less funny twist-band. A next step is Les Tricheurs, a band that comes to the verge of making a breakthrough with their first album, but get dumped by Virgin just before a second LP. In the nineties, Marc Wathieu teaches at Saint-Luke art school in Brussels, and becomes part of La Variété, an exercise in french chanson with Rudy Léonet (Radio21) and Alain Debaisieux.

After seing a spectaluar photo of acress Michèle Morgan he finds an artist name for a solo career, and goes to Paris where he persuaded Yves Bigot of Fnac-Music to record an album "Un Cygne sur l'Orénoque". Musicians that worked on the album included Marc Radelet, Alain Léonard, Ad Cominotto en BJ Scott. The song "Notre mystère, nos retrouvailles" becomes a modest hit in France, an excellent way for any artist from Wallonia to gain quite a bit of fame in the home-country. "Rahter funny", Marc thought: "because it were the same songs that a complete row of record-companies had been rejecting before. But you can't make hits yourself, it's the industry that does that. You are a crafstman yourself, what happens with your work is above your head".

From the debut-cd, about 15,000 copies were sold (not helped by the fact that the record company ceased to exist). This singer about these sales-figures in Le Soir : "Not quite enough to . If I had been only the singer, I would've been a bit dissapointed. But my songwriting abilities were recognized by the profession. That justifies the fact I spend my days composing songs. And I can be proud about the fact that Yves (Bigot) trusts me enough to order songs for the next cd of Sylvie Vartan, aside giants such as Jean-Louis Murat and Yves Simon. For me, those are giant steps. And it certainly beats staying put here in Huy. Huy is absolutely a city that you've gotta try to escape from. Just like Belgium, where all the record firms turned my first record down."

After the demise of Fnac-Music, Marc Morgan follows Yves Bigot to Mercury France. There he gets the opportunityu to record a new album, again a production of Phil Délire (Belgian producer who has worked with Bashung, Noir Désir…) and professional french guest-musicians. Singles of "Les Grands Espaces" become "Au train où vont les choses" en "Capables de tout". Le Soir about it : "We re-meet the charming universe of Marc Morgan here. The production is richer, but the chansons still have that old-fashioned feel. With songs that still dare to sing "woh-oh oh-oh" as pon the single "Au train où vont les choses". Marc shares with les Innocents a great care for the authentic and modern french chanson. The chanson of the rock generation, as they're starting to call it. Romantic melodies on powerful rhythms..."

After his second solo-album and the tour that follows (including an appearance on Taratata), Morgan wrote the songs for a new cd of La Variété (which was never released because no record firm), and then slowly also to writing new work for solo use. But as his "patron" at Mercury has gone in the meantime, he is now also without a contract, and has invested in a home-studio to record new work.

In 1999 a song of Marc Morgan was released as a single from "Si ça nous chante" (a project from the singing South of Belgium as a charity for children with mucoviscidose, that inculded Marka, Jean-Louis Daulne, Lou & Hollywood Bananas, Salvatore Adamo, Jeff Bodart & Jo Lemaire). In 2000 he recorded a song along with Vincent Venet for the "Glittering 2000"-compilation, on which Belgian artists covered songs from the Glamrock-era.

Buy CD's of this band at

Albums :
- Notre Mystère, nos retrouvailles (CDS, 1994)
- Un Cygne sur l'Orénoque (CD, 1994, Fnac-Music
- Un ami qui vous veut du bien (CDS, 1995)
- Les Grands Espaces (CD, 1996, Mercury/Polygram)
- Au train où vont les choses (CDS, 1996)
- Capables de tout (CDS, 1996)
- Le Héros, C'est Moi (CDS, 1999)

Websites :
- The official site is www.marcmorgan.com
- chronological bio at popsurf
- Si ça nous chante with 1 track of MM
- interview with Marc Morgan at Planet Internet