Boule Noire ~ Barbados Girl 1979 Version Soul Purrfection

The fall always reminds me of these songs I heard and fell in love with french radio. The shows seemed so spontaneous but it looked like the DJ's were allowed some flexibility as to what they played.

This was the first Boule Noire song I heard, although he had several francophone hits before that, a duet with labelmates Toulouse "Loin D'Ici" (far from here) 1976 and "Aimer D'Amour" the french version of Leo Sayer's "Easy To Love" 1977 that had Nanette Workman adding a very soulful background vocal. My fellow college students wrote him off as a joke especially after his funky french radio tune "I'l Me Faut Une Femme" (I Need A Woman) hit the radio but all before I moved to Quebec.

"Barbados Girl" was my tune for the summer of 1979, it is so light and breezy! This is audio sunshine, I am reminded of blue skies every time. I can only liken this one as being influenced by Stevie Wonder with its simple piano run that puts in "Golden Lady" and "Don't You Worry About A Thing" territory. The production is clean and crisp and Boule Noire is remarkedly reserved. The music track evokes a sunny beach thing like Gilberto's "Girl From Ipanema" did. Being in French limited its success in Canada and it's too bad he did not release an english version.

Boule Noire (Black Ball) was born Georges Thurston on December 29, 1951 in Bedford, Québec. A move to Saint Jerome, just north of Montréal brought him some fame as a member of Zinconnus in 1965 and as a producer. 1976 saw him release his debut and got his first hit with "Aimes Tu Ta Vie" (like your life?). He represented Canada at the Marseille Music Festival that same year. Boule kept his dancing crowd happy by releasing and producing a number of popular french hits throughout the seventies and eighties with local talent Robert Charlebois, Michel Pagliaro, Claude Dubois and Nanette Workman.

His 1978 album "Aimer D'Amour" was certified triple platinum in Québec (which is 80,000 times three) totalling 240,000 units. In a poignant footnote, Boule wrote his autobiography that revealed that he was often been mistreated and was disliked unfairly. He kept his wits about him by turning to music again like he had done as a troubled teenager when he found his passion in music. Shortly after the release of his book, Boule passed away from cancer on June 18, 2007 at the age of 55.