French chansonniers

Auguste-Ignace Tuaillon, called Boffy, (18 March 1873 – 12 November 1907) was a French dwarf chansonnier.

Louis-François-Marie Nicolaïe (28 January 1811 – 8 February 1879), better known as Clairville, was a 19th-century French comedian, poet, chansonnier, goguettier and playwright.

Léon Alfred Fourneau (9 December 1867, in Paris – 17 May 1953, in Paris) was a French humourist, music-hall artist, playwright and songwriter. Originally trained as a lawyer he invented the stage- and pen name Xanrof by inversion of the Latin fornax of his French surname fourneau ("furnace"), before finally legally changing his name to Léon Xanrof. Yvette Guilbert experienced early success singing Xanrof's songs at Rodolphe Salis' cabaret Le Chat Noir.
Born in an bourgeois upper middle class environment, with his father a wealthy physician,young Leon Fourneau was inclined to a literary and poetry career, but his family insisted on him graduating (Baccalauréat) and taking up further éducation (he obediently undertook successful law studies and registered at the paris bar, aged 23), but he still felt inclined to song and opérette writing.
The Xanrof alias was a measure of appeasement towards his family and the bar auhorities as léon Fourneau kept writing and publishing songs for cabaret singers.
A bizarre incident then occurred: As he was crossing the bustling rue Lepic (Lower Montmartre)he was almost run down by a closed winter Fiacre (French Hansom cab with a closed body). The reason for the cab driver being neglectful was both salacious and funny: As Leon Fourneau was dusting himself he saw one of the cab's blinds briefly lifted and got a glimpse of a half-naked couple gazing at him . The cab-ride was what was termed a "course d'alcôve" (lovebed-ride),a not unfrequent instance in "Belle époque"Paris where illegitimate couples enjoyed "comprehensive flirtation" in the intimacy of a cab (At least two short humoristic tales by Alphonse Allais harp on this particular theme).
Leon Fourneau quickly wrote a witty and somewhat racy song called ''Le Fiacre, he was paid 50 gold francs for it and the song was inserted in a comic intermede in an operette called "Les Mohicans de Paris"adapted from a novel By Alexandre Dumas about Paris underworld.
In this song a cuckolded old man walking in a Parisian street hears kisses, moans, and his wife's voice coming from inside a suspiciously rolling and pitching cab. He rushes forward, trips on the slippery wooden paved road ad is squashed to death by the cab. The lady then opens the door and rejoices, telling her lover that they do not need hiding any more. She then urges her lover to pay the princely tip of cent sous (Five gold francs) to the cab driver.
The song then rocketed to French and international success when it was sung by the then-beginner Yvette Guilbert.
Yvette Guilbert's career as a singer was definitely launched and most of her best-remembered songs where written by Léon Fourneau who undertook official action to have his pen name duly registered as his official surname. In time he would resign from the bar, taking up full time operette and song writing work and being elected at the SACEM board (SACEM stands for Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs de Musique and is the mutual organisation in charge of music author's rights).

Henri Fursy or Furcy (real name Henri Dreyfus, 26 February 1866 - 14 April 1929) was a French cabaret singer, director and lyricist.

Eugène Bizeau (29 May 1883 in Véretz – 16 April 1989 in Tours) was a French anarchist poet and chansonnier. He contributed to many periodicals and libertarian newspapers of his time, including le Libertaire. He belonged to the "Muse Rouge" (Red Muse) group with Gaston Couté and Aristide Bruant.
Gérard Pierron in particular put to music and interpreted Bizeau's writing Ferraille à vendre and Il neige sur les mers. Alain Meilland set to music and interpreted Bizeau's Pacifiste text .
Bizeau came from a family of winegrowers and cultivated his vineyard until he was ninety years old. The party hall of Véretz is named after him. Bizeau died in 1989, at the age of 105.