Jean-Jacques Perrey

Jean Marcel Leroy (; 20 January 1929 – 4 November 2016) artistically known as Jean-Jacques Perrey was a French electronic music producer and was an early pioneer in the genre. He is known for being member of the electronic music duo Perrey and Kingsley with the German-American composer Gershon Kingsley. 
Biography.
Early life, education and musical begginings (1929 - 1960).
Perrey born on 20 January 1929, in Amiens, a small town in the north of France. His first instrument, the Accordion, was received at age 4 on Christmas Eve, "at seven he had become an important source of entertainment in his town", Perrey also learned to play the piano. And tried to study music at the Conservatory of Amiens, in which he with some friends formed a group of jazz, however the director issued a final warning: "continue playing jazz or continue your studies," Perrey later he was expelled for violating the laws of the school and perform in public. After graduating from the Lycée d'Amiens, he would dedicate himself to studying medicine in Paris School of Medicine for four years, and Perrey aspired to pursue scientific research, and occasionally worked as an accordionist. 
In 1952, when hearing Georges Jenny demonstrating the then new instrument Ondioline at a French radio station («A vacuum tube-powered keyboard instrument that was a forerunner of today's synthesizers and was capable of creating an amazing variety of sounds.» «Suspended on space springs that allowed a natural vibrato to be introduced if the player moved the keyboard from side to side with the playing hand. The result was a beautiful, almost human vibrato.»). Perrey he called the radio station and asked for the phone number of Georges Jenny to contact him. Perrey then called Jenny, saying he liked the sound of the ondioline, but he couldn't afford to buy one. Perrey offered to promote the instrument in exchange for obtaining one from Jenny for free. After a visit to the inventor's workshop, Perrey was loaned an ondioline. For six months, Perrey practiced playing the ondioline with his right hand while simultaneously playing the piano with his left. Jenny was so impressed with Perrey that he offered him a job as a salesperson and product demonstrator. After earning significant commissions from sales made during a trip to Sweden (during which he performed on television), Perrey dropped out of medical school and devoted his entire career to electronic music. Perrey acquired so many orders for ondiolines during the 1950s that Jenny eventually had to open a factory for the massive production of Ondiolines. Perrey estimated that fewer than 700 were sold, mostly in Europe. By some estimates, fewer than two dozen Jenny-made Ondiolines exist today.
In 1951 Charles Trenet he was looking for a special sound to complement a song he had written entitled "L'ame des poetes" (The Soul of the Poets in english). After hearing about Perrey and the Ondioline, Trenet told Perrey that he was looking for the "sound of a soul", Trenet was so fascinated with the instrument that he nicknamed his ensemble in various ways as "Son Quartette Ondioline" or "Son Trio Vigouroux Ondioline". Perrey was the musician in charge of interpreting, who became a virtuoso of the Ondioline, the song became an international success, Perrey later met other composers such as Yves Montand and Jacques Brel. Perrey did a cabaret act where he played the piano and the ondioline, sometimes playing them simultaneously. This act was named "Around the World in 80 Ways". The show gained quite a lot of popularity, and it toured Western Europe. Working at the nightclub circuit.
In 1958, recorded an "auditory recipe" for insomniacs entitled "Prelude au Sommeil" to induce sleep. The fruit of several years of research, it was the first record of its kind and it helped many insomniacs to regain their natural rest, and it had a great success in Europe, also was used privately in the Institut Dormiphone (Procédés Dormiphone) to induce sleep for people in psychiatric hospitals. In a 2008 documentary, he explained that: "During my medical studies, I met a psychologist and psychiatrist who explained to me that sound had a positive and negative influence on the human being." This album was relaunched a few times by different labels including: Creel Pone on March 9, 2012 in the United States, Trunk on May 1, 2016, (with a different artwork) in United Kingdom, and OME1003 on February 15, 2018 by Europe. In 1959 was published "Cadmus, Le Robot de l'Espace", a albuum on Vinyl format by the Phillips label in collaboration with the French composer and filmmaker Henri Gruel, for the recording of the album they used voice actors. 
Perrey also performed at the Olympia Theater in Paris in 1959 with singer French Edith Piaf, who was a great supporter of Perrey's work, and she arrangement for him to have the use of a recording studio and tape machines. After meeting with French Pierre Schaeffer, inventor behind the "musique concrete", Perrey had become interested in the manipulation of tapes. Piaf after sending one of the tapes to the music contractor resident in the New York city, Caroll Bratman, the music contractor responded immediately by sending Perrey plane tickets with the word "Come!". And consequently at age 30, Perrey relocated to New York, sponsored by music contractor Carroll Bratman, who built him an experimental laboratory and recording studio. Here he invented "a new process for generating rhythms with sequences and loops", utilising the environmental sounds of "musique concrète" created by Pierre Schaeffer. With scissors, splicing tape, and tape recorders, he spent weeks piecing together a uniquely comic take on the future, Perrey began appearing on television shows like "The Jack Paar Show" and composed jingles for radio and television. 
Musical career (1960 - 1970).
In the 1960s, Perrey continued to promote the ondioline, traveling, performing and recording under the nickname "Mr. Ondioline", in 1960 was released a EP in Vinyl format, from 7 inch with the "Pacific" label, entitled "Mr.Ondioline" due to its nickname, (only in France). All the songs from the EP, are covers recorded by Perrey of songs originating from Germany (2) and America (2) like: "Parade des Soldats de Bois" composed by the German composer Leon Jessel, "The Whistler and His Dog" composed by the American virtuoso of trombone, Arthur Pryor, (retitled by Perrey in French as "Le Siffleur et son Chien") The Glow-Worm composed by the German composer Paul Lincke, (retitled by Perrey like "La Gavotte des Vers Luisants") and "Nola" composed by the American pianist Felix Arndt. The album cover photographed by Andre Sas, shows a masked subject playing a Ondioline, who was presumably Jean-Jacques Perrey. The EP was relaunched in 2013 by the "Cacophonic" label in United Kingdom, years later became one of the most sought after EPs by Electronic music collectors.
In 1962 Perrey released the album entitled "Musique Electronique du Cosmos (Electronic Music From Outer Space)", recorded in France and released by the "MusiCues" label in United States. Only 500 copies of this album were produced, in 2017 the album was relaunched in Spain by the Wah-Wah Records label, being remastered by Roger Prades, some songs of B side from this reissue They are from the July 1968 album "Electronic Music". One of the remaining copies on eBay was purchased by music collector DJ Zero. the themes "The Alien Planet" and "Cybernuts", were previously released on a promotional single entitled "The Alien Planet / Cybernuts", with the Brain Discos label on 31 December 1959.
Befriending Robert Moog, and he became one of the first Moog synthesiser musicians, creating "far out electronic entertainment", in 1965 Perrey met Gershon Kingsley, (a former colleague of John Cage, and a personal arranger for Vanguard), at the residence of Perrey's sponsor, Carroll Bratman, Perrey and Kingsley using the Ondioline, the Moog synthesizer, and tape loops, created two albums for the company Vanguard — "The In Sound From Way Out!" (1966) and "Kaleidoscopic Vibrations: Electronic Pop Music From Way Out" (1967) respectively. "Kaleidoscopic Vibrations: Electronic Pop Music From Way Out" re-released on 1971 under the title "Kaleidoscopic Vibrations: Spotlight On The Moog". Perrey and Kingsley collaborated on sound design for radio and television advertising. Since November 2, 1968 the album "The Amazing New Electronic Pop Sound of Jean Jacques Perrey" was recorded, and later was published that same year by Vanguard. The album was reissued several times, in 1972 by the Vanguard label in the United Kingdom, in 1993 by King Records in Japan, and in 1996 by Vanguard and Ace.
Harry Breuer, one of the first musicians what Perrey met in New York City, (Who was also one of the composers of some songs prior to this album) Breuer together with Perrey they recorded the album "The Happy Moog" at the Caroll Instrument Rental Company studios in the city of New York, while Perrey played the Moog synthesizer and other keyboards, Breuer played mainly percussion, xylophone 
and sometimes used keyboards. Pickwick, the record company from the album, in the late 1960s and early 1970s was famous for releasing recordsthat got the most out of the artists of the time, sometimes sacrificing demo discs. The album was manufactured by "Keel Mfg. Corp" and published by "Ondotronics, Inc" and "Mourbar Muisc Corporation" in 1969 with the Pickwick label in the countries U.S.A., UK and Canada. Perrey credited Harry Breuer, for the musical inspiration and help it gave him in the business of working in a studio. Later he collaborated on an album for the label Pickwick, titled "Switched-On Santa" with Sy Mann, the album contains a version of the popular Christmas song "Jingle Bells".
Return to France (1970 - 1999).
Perrey for family reasons, he returned definitively to France in 1970, and became the musical director of a ballet company, and continued investigated therapeutic sounds to heal people with insomnia, this included a project that involved recording with dolphins in the waters of Vancouver, Canada. On 1970 was released the album "Moog Indigo", by the Vanguard Records label.
He also recorded music for commercials and animated television series French, and released some albums of this music on the label "Montparnasse 2000", also released albums with the label "Canopo". In 2018 released the album "Kartoonery" with Daniel Longuein (in the first ten songs) and Guy Boyer (in the last two songs), David Chazam encouraged Perrey to continue performing, and Perrey continued to do live performances at various venues in the United States. In 1997 Perrey with David Chazam recorded in Bordeaux, France the album Eclektronics, released in 1998 only in France in the Vinyl format by the "Basetonic" label. A 2002 reissue of the album Eclektronics in CD format was distributed in The Netherlands by the label "BASTA", the reissue with a different cover and adding the "Loops", which are short songs that function as a transition to other longer songs. In 1998 he collaborated with the band Air on the album Moon Safari to composed the song "Remember".
Last years and death (2000 - 2016).
In 2000 his collaborative CD with Gilbert Sigrist and O.C. Banks, "Circus of Life" by the "Koka Media" label, was first released as a "library" recording for TV and radio (France only). In 2001 a compilation album titled "The Out Sound From Way Out!" was released, from Perrey's albums with the label Vanguard included "The In Sound from Way Out!", "Kaleidoscopic Vibrations: Electronic Pop Music From Way Out", "The Amazing New Electronic Pop Sound Of Jean Jacques Perrey" and "Moog Indigo". This album added remixes of the song "E.V.A." by Fatboy Slim, and other songs like "The Unidentified Flying Object" and "Electronic Can-Can" from the album "The In Sound From Way Out!", also included remixes of themes covers composed by Jean-Jacques Perrey, Gershon Kingsley or other composers like: "Winchester Cathedral", "Flight of the Bumblebee" and "A Lover's Concerto".
In 2006 saw the release of the album "The Happy Electropop Music Machine" on Oglio label, of Los Angeles, California. The album was a collaboration with musician/arranger Dana Countryman. The album added a version from the song "Chicken On The Rocks" from "Musique Electronique du Cosmos (Electronic Music From Outer Space)". The two toured the West Coast of America to promote the album. Also in 2006, Perrey began collaborating with producer Luke Vibert for a CD on England's Lo Records, 'Moog Acid. The duo performed concerts in New York City and Montreal in October 2008 to promote its release. The album is notable for Perrey being almost 80 years old when it was released. The result is a blend of retro and modern analogue house synth-pop, encapsulating many genres and the two respective styles of the artists. The CD was released in 2007. Perrey's release "Destination Space" is also a collaboration with Dana Countryman. In 2009, the composers sued Mexican multimedia conglomerate Televisa for copyright infringement like other American and Mexican companies like Univison or Galavision. The case was settled in 2010. A previous lawsuit by Vanguard was settled, with the plaintiff Vanguard receiving a sum of one million dollars in damages for unauthorized use of Perrey's recordings on the Mexican network, without permission or payment. 
In 2014 he released his latest album entitled "ELA", which includes covers of the songs Cat in the Night, (composed by Pat Prilly, Gary Carol and Harry Breuer) and Perpetual Gossip of the album Moog Indigo in collaboration with David Chazam. The first was renamed Cats in the Night, while the second kept the same name. In 2015–16, Perrey became friends with Belgian-born Australian multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Wouter de Backer (known professionally as Gotye). De Backer worked with Perrey to preserve his recorded legacy. After purchasing two vintage Ondiolines, de Backer formed the Ondioline Orchestra in New York. The sextet made their debut performing two shows in tribute to Perrey at National Sawdust in Brooklyn on 22 November 2016. Perrey, who lived in Switzerland, had planned to attend the tribute, but died at the age of 87 on November 4, 2016 by complications of Lung Cancer before it took place. Perrey's daughter Pat Prilly announced that the cause of death was lung cancer. In May 2017, de Backer launched a new record label, Forgotten Futures, of which the first release was "Jean-Jacques Perrey et son Ondioline", a compilation of rare and previously unreleased Perrey recordings. On 13 February 2018, de Backer and his Ondioline Orchestra performed Circuit Breakers: Gotye Presents a Tribute to Jean-Jacques Perrey at Roulette's Mixology Festival 2018 in New York. That same year Gotye's Ondioline Orchestra performed "Gotye Presents a Tribute to Jean-Jacques Perrey" in Australia. The concert won a Helpmann Award in the Contemporary Music category.
Personal life.
Family.
His only daughter named Patricia Leroy better known as Pat Prilly. Prilly said in an interview that she did not compose and only gave ideas. She only played on his organ, yet it was credited on several Perrey's albums and songs, mostly by Editions Montparnasse 2000.
According to Leroy, "Perrey was always interested in the future, and since his youth, he had read hundreds of science fiction books and seen I don't know how many movies".
In popular culture.
"Chespirito".
Two pieces by Perrey were used as themes principal for television comedy shows created by and starring Mexican writer, comedian "Chespirito" (Roberto Gómez Bolaños): "The Elephant Never Forgets", as the opening and closing theme for "El Chavo"; and "Baroque Hoedown", as the closing theme for "El Chapulín Colorado" since 1975. Also were used other songs from the albums "Moog Indigo" (1970) and "The In Sound from Way Out!" in some episodes and Sketchs from the Chespirito shows.
"Ultraman Taro".
Some of Perrey's compositions were used in the Japanese program started in 1973 called " Ultraman Taro: