Michel Mallory was one of Johnny Hallyday’s closest friends. The French singer-songwriter, to whom the public owes the title “La musique que j’aime”, published in 1973, took time to mourn. It took him almost ten years before writing a book of the same name to tell the story of his friendship with the Taulier.
A few weeks after the release of his book, for which David Hallyday, Johnny’s son, wrote the preface, Michel Mallory gave an interview to the newspaper “Corse-Matin”. In it, he wanted to pay tribute to his friend, but also to defend him and reestablish the truth about some of his behavior.
Statements about the singer’s possible drug use have made him lose his temper. “They are just odious people who wanted to create a buzz by saying bad things about him and who said that he was a drug addict,” he gets annoyed. I can tell you, it’s not true. Johnny was a drunk, but not a drug addict.”
In his book, Michel Mallory describes Johnny Hallyday as someone modest, sentimental, taciturn, seductive, full of charm and talent and extremely generous, but also imbued with humility and doubt. Not stingy with anecdotes, he delivers one to illustrate his points.
“Before a concert in 2016 in Brussels, the last time I saw him perform on stage, bikers had made a guard of honor for him on the road leading to the concert venue. Johnny told me that he didn’t know what people thought of him.”
