Michel Sardou, Céline Dion, Patrick Fiori, Mireille Mathieu. All these names may ring a bell, but if I mention Manu Guerrero, ah! That might make you raise your eyebrows. Yet, without people like Manu Guerrero, these well-known stars would only shine with their voices, unaccompanied. As we don’t talk enough about the musicians who play in the shadows of a voice, musicians without whom the show would be lifeless, Nice-Première has decided to spotlight Manu Guerrero, a young and talented pianist. At just 24 years old, his discography includes names of artists that cannot leave you indifferent.
Between two notes from his string instrument, he allowed a pause to play us some “interview” music.
Nice-Première: Manu Guerrero, hello. Your preferred instrument is the piano. Why did you choose to make music on this keyboard with black and white keys?
Manu Guerrero: My parents enrolled me in piano lessons when I was 6 years old. Initially, it was an extracurricular activity, like others including sports. At first, I did it to please them. I wasn’t very enthusiastic! It wasn’t until I was 14 that I caught the piano and music bug, seeing shows like Taratata and video concerts by Michel Jonas, Véronique Sanson, and many others. I feel in harmony with the piano. Being naturally shy, this large instrument gave me more confidence. I feel invincible when I sit in front of the piano. Moreover, I enjoy a vast array of different musics. The piano allows me to play almost all of these music styles compared to any other instrument.
N-P: Your goal to be ‘a musician on stage’ has been achieved. What draws you to this profession?
M.G.: Simply the music. I am absolutely “drawn” to it. It’s true that in recent years I have accompanied many artists, so most of my time I am an accompanist, serving the music of a singer. But I don’t just do that. I also arrange, I compose, I work on piano jazz and improvisation. What attracts me to this profession is to move from variety to rock, from jazz to Cuban music, etc. In short, to taste all the world’s musics, THE MUSIC.
N-P: You had your first performances in clubs on the French Riviera. What memories do you have of it?
M.G.: Those are the best memories of my life! I really realize it now. It was an atmosphere of “mates” and laughter. There was no pressure since the audience didn’t come to listen to musicians but rather to have a drink. So, I could try things with my instrument, with the pieces I played. It was an experimental period where I acquired the foundations of my piano playing as well as my professional know-how.
N-P: What made it one day possible to go from being a club pianist to a pianist for a recognized star?
M.G.: Luck! The chance to meet someone like Pierre Jean Scavino. He’s a guy you can trust. He helped me make a name for myself as he was already a pianist for Florent Pagny, Carole Fredericks, Tina Arena, and many others. I replaced him with Carole Fredericks and that’s when I moved to Paris. Everything happened very quickly from there. I met a lot of people and I always ended up with good people. That helped me!
N-P: At just 19, you accompanied Carole Fredericks in 1999. How did that meeting happen?
M.G.: As I told you, Pierre Jean Scavino asked me to replace him with Carole. Since it was mid-tour, there was neither the time nor the budget for a rehearsal with me. I had to arrive on the day of the concert knowing the show by heart! As if we had been playing together for a long time. Carole knew that I was young but she had full confidence in Pierre Jean. He trained me like a boss for this replacement. He taught me everything about the machines, the “midi” and the synths. And I found myself on stage without a “rehearsal” with Carole and the rest of the team and everything went very well. I must say that Pierre Jean really followed me up until the day of the concert to make sure everything was perfect. This type of replacement is rare. In general, the guys call you to replace them and they give you a CD with the titles and that’s it, and yet… Shortly after, I again replaced Pierre Jean with Carole, but this time for about a year and a half. Over time, Carole looked out for me like a godmother, giving me advice on the profession, etc. She was an important person in my life even though I didn’t know her for long. I always feel like she is here, watching over me.
N-P: Today, your talent as a musician is appreciated by many artists in the French and international scene since you worked on the latest album of Céline Dion among others. Can you now say that you have realized your dream?
M.G.: Far from it! In fact, when I was a teenager, I wanted to make music on stage and live from it. That has been achieved. I’m fulfilled. But over time, I’ve discovered other aspects of music that interest me enormously, such as jazz, arranging of all kinds, especially for symphony orchestras, composing, and so much more. Everything interests me, and I continue to learn every day. I would like to delve into the musics I love, participate in original projects. I want to do lots of things! My dream? To play on stage with Sting! That would be realizing a big dream. I greatly admire him. I totally find myself in his music. More generally, I would say that I will have realized my dream towards the end of my life when I consider that I have done everything I wanted to do.
N-P: Who is the singer you had the privilege of accompanying on stage, on TV, or in the studio, who has the most complicity with their musicians?
M.G: From the list of singers I’ve accompanied, there are many I barely knew, not enough to talk about them in any case. Obviously, Carole Fredericks will remain a very special experience, particularly because we were on tour in Dakar when she passed away. We leave as 10 and come back as 9! That marks you. She was very generous and a real musician. She also had accompanied many great singers as a backing vocalist before forming the trio FredericksGoldmanJones. So she was close to her guys.
Patrick Fiori is also very close to his musicians. He has formed a real band. It’s a pleasure to work with him. It’s been about 2 years for me. He travels with us, shares his dressing room, we play pranks on each other. Like a group! And what a voice!
And then there’s Lio whom I’ve known since 2002. This woman and this Prévert show have been therapy for me. I got out of adolescence with this show. I’ve never been as nervous as before going on stage for a Prévert show. There are 3 of us on stage: piano, accordion, and Lio. This show only works if the three are in tune. It requires a lot of complicity and love. It wasn’t easy at the beginning because we didn’t know each other and now, it’s always a great moment. No Prévert show is like another. You really have to give your all for it to work. You can’t pretend to be there with this show. There is real complicity between Lio, Patrick Brugaliere (the accordionist), and me and above all a lot of love.
N-P: And you, do you prefer stage, TV, or studio?
M.G: The stage, first and foremost! TV isn’t really my thing. Everything is smoke and mirrors. The technical means aren’t obvious for playing live. But it has to be done and I always do it with pleasure. It’s funny to find myself on a set, it’s entertainment. And at the moment it’s recording, I try to give my best to serve the artist’s image and the record they come to sell. I think that if people buy the record, it will be easier to go on tour on stage afterward. But not much extraordinary usually happens on a TV set.
The studio is something quite new for me. I’ve done a lot<|vq_5884|>
