André Popp & François Périer

Composer/arranger André Popp was born in Fontenay-le-Comte, France in 1924; the son of a church organist, he studied music at the St. Josephe Institute of Music, and at 15 assumed his father's church duties after the elder Popp enlisted in the French Army. After the war, the aspiring young composer befriended poet and lyricist Jean Broussole, and together they relocated to Paris, collaborating on the hit songs "Papa Loubourer" and "Il Dansait"; Popp also scored an international instrumental smash in 1954 with "Les Lavandieres du Portugal." He and Broussole reunited in 1957 for...