PRODUCEROBIT

The death has been announced of Eddie Barclay, and with it, all of showbusiness:

"After the death of Eddie Barclay, there's no more showbusiness, there's only business left," the French singer Carlos, a close friend, told RTL radio.

Born Edouard Ruault in 1921 in Paris, and orginally intending to carve out a career as a jazz pianist, Barclay moved into production during the 1950s. His original plan was to market the Mercury label's artists in France; shifting one and a half million copies of a Platters record gave him a solid base to start working with local acts as well.

In 1962, Barclay started a long working relationship with Jacques Brel, a collaboration which was to produce Le Plat Pays and Les Bigotes, amongst others. He would also go on to work with Quincy Jones and Charles Aznavour; with Aznavour he gave the artist a sense of freedom.

Eddie Barclay died overnight Thursday in Paris' Ambroise Pare hospital, where he had been receiving treatment for urinary and pulimonary infections.

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