It was two and a half years ago, in the middle of the covid pandemic. On April 1, 2021 in Barcelona, the cleaning lady cannot open the door to Patrick Juvet’s apartment. The key remained in the lock, inside. In Bordeaux, his manager Yann Ydoux is worried: the singer and composer of numerous hits, including Where are the women, I love America! or La Musica, does not answer his phone. For some time now, the singer had been bored. He no longer went out because he refused to be vaccinated against covid. But he usually answered the phone.
“We spoke every day, sometimes three or four times. His silence worried me. I sent a friend with a locksmith. They discovered Patrick dead in his bed,” remembers Yann Ydoux, manager and friend of Patrick Juvet for two decades. An eminent melodist, the international star from 1972 to 1980 had long had health problems linked to alcohol. This great friend of Nicoletta died at only 70 years old.
Also read: Patrick Juvet, disco star and composer for Claude François, died at the age of 70
His executor, Yann Ydoux, has spent recent months settling the estate from France where he resides. Between the death in Spain and the Swiss nationality of Patrick Juvet, nothing was simple. As required by Swiss law, a notary from the canton of Neuchâtel, where Patrick Juvet’s father was born, managed the succession. Documents had to be translated from Spanish to French. It also required treasures of diplomacy with Nancy Chollet, sister of the singer, who had him cremated without ever revealing where the ashes are. Even if she was close to her brother and spoke of his memories very well in the documentary Patrick Juvet, the price of glory, Nancy Chollet did not appear in the will of her famous brother.
On October 14, the Swiss notary ruled. His former manager Yann Ydoux is the singer’s sole heir. In a three-page authentic deed that Le Figaro was able to consult, the notary explains that Patrick Juvet left his wishes in a will. He designated two heirs, a former class friend, now in her seventies, and her manager. Ultimately, only Yann Ydoux accepted the legacy which includes his copyright but also debts ranging between 200,000 and 400,000 euros. Like many stars of the 1970s, Patrick Juvet had difficulty reducing his lifestyle. In recent years, he spent a lot of time on online gaming sites. “I am very honored by the trust he placed in me, I did not expect to be his sole heir,” says Yann Ydoux.
At 64, this shadowy man who lives between Bordeaux and Menton is now the only one “to have the right to dispose of the deceased’s property.” In the assets column, Patrick Juvet’s assets consist mainly of copyrights. Just before the pandemic, his performing and composing rights averaged 150,000 euros per year. He has 185 titles at Sacem including Le Lundi au soleil, which he composed for Claude François, and international titles like I Love America!
In good years, such as when a song was chosen for the soundtrack of a film like Pédale Douce by Gabriel Aghion (1996) or Disco by Fabien Onteniente (2008), its royalties skyrocketed. Same thing for the three seasons, during which Patrick Juvet participated in the Age Tendre tour. Juvet was one of the highest paid artists along with Sheila. In addition to his royalties, Patrick Juvet received between 8,000 and 10,000 euros per date, or nearly 600,000 euros per tour. The revival of disco in the 2000s also ensured that it was shown on television, rebroadcast on the radio and listened to on streaming platforms.
During his millionaire years, in the 70’s when he sold 35 million 45s and albums, he invested in real estate. There is almost nothing left of this treasure. In Barcelona, he was a tenant. His chalet in Switzerland, where he so loved to receive his loved ones and compose, had been seized by the tax authorities and today belongs to a bank. There remains a possible property in Brazil near Rio de Janeiro. “A study is underway to see who the owner is,” confides Yann Ydoux. As for movable property, an investigation is still underway to verify whether the singer owned valuable objects such as paintings. According to Yann Ydoux, this is unlikely.
As the beneficiaries of Claude François and Mike Brant did in the past, Yann Ydoux intends to entrust the management of the posthumous career of Patrick Juvet to Fabien Lecoeuvre. Like Nino Ferrer, Patrick Juvet was known for his singles which buried his highly worked albums. “I was the press officer for Juvet on the Age Tendre tours and I also knew him because of the management of the title Le Lundi au Soleil by Cloclo,” confides the latter. Every time I put this title in compilations, it brought royalties to Patrick Juvet. » Meetings will be organized with the Panthéon label (Universal Music) which owns the majority of the catalog but also the Rideaux Rouge editions of the rights holders of Gilbert Bécaud which manages the rights to A Monday in the Sun.
Among the projects envisaged, the purchase of the Swiss chalet to make it an exhibition space or at least a place of pilgrimage. For two and a half years, due to the lack of a tomb and a cenotaph, Patrick Juvet’s many fans have found themselves in Chaplin’s World, Charlie Chaplin’s property transformed into a museum above Vevey in the canton of Vaud. There, to the right of the mansion, they embrace a majestic Himalayan pine tree and slip under the branches to take a photo of themselves with the secret plaque on it. This majestic tree was given by the singer to his dear friend Eugène Chaplin in 1973.