Advertisement

Paris renames Metro station after French rock legend Johnny Hallyday

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Paris renames Metro station after French rock legend Johnny Hallyday
Photo: AFP

Paris transport bosses have renamed a Metro station after the legendary French rock star Johnny Hallyday, whose death has plunged France into mourning.

Advertisement

As speculation mounted that the singer will be given a state funeral, the RATP transport authority paid its own homage by temporarily changing the name of the Duroc station near Invalides where Napoleon is buried to "DuRock Johnny".
   
Known as the "French Elvis", Hallyday, 74, lost his long battle with lung cancer on Wednesday.
   
Adored by young and old, hard-living Hallyday was almost a national monument, selling more than 110 million records despite being almost unknown outside the French-speaking world.
 
READ ALSO: 
France in mourning as king of rock Johnny Hallyday dies aged 74
Photo: AFP   
 
Television channels cleared their schedules to broadcast tribute shows to the star who first came to fame in late 1950s yet managed to cleverly adapt to changing musical styles.
   
President Emmanuel Macron led the mourning by declaring that "there is something of Johnny in all of us", and his officials said he and his wife Brigitte would attend the funeral.
   
Speculation is rife that Hallyday, who survived a tough childhood after being abandoned by his alcoholic father, will be given a full state funeral, complete with a procession down the Champs Elysees, the grand ceremonial avenue of the French capital -- an honour usually reserved for France's greatest heroes.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also