Alain Kan

Born Alain Michel Zisa in Paris, France, on 14 September 1947. Kan was raised by his mother and stepfather, and grew up with his stepsister Véronique, seven years older than him. "Kan" is the surname of his stepfather, Kan never knew his biological father.

In the spring of 1963, at the age of 18, Kan released his first 45 rpm at Pathé-Marconi, "Si l'amore" (written by Bob du Pac and Jean-Louis Chauby) on the A-side, and "Quand tu reviendras" (written by Michel Jourdan and Danyel Gérard) on the B-side. The following year, in 1964, he released three 4-track EPs from Decca, mostly consisting of covers of American and Canadian singers, including Paul Anka.

In the 1970s, Kan travelled to London, England, where he developed an interest in the music of Lou Reed, T. Rex, and David Bowie, who would go on to be an enormous influence on him, and he met Marie France. Inspired by the glam rock music of these musicians, Kan made a foray into glam rock with the album "Et Gary Cooper s'éloigna dans le désert..." (1975), followed by "Heureusement en France on ne se drogue pas" (1976). While recording the latter at the Château d'Hérouville, in Hérouville-en-Vexin, Val-d'Oise, he met David Bowie. Kan said of this meeting: "In Hérouville, I met Bowie, who took me away for ten days in his black Mercedes. Since then I have not missed my discoloration ... There have been lots of photos in the press and since then there has been a kind of respect for me".

Alain Kan disappeared on 14 April 1990. He was last seen at the Rue de la Pompe Parisian metro station.

In 1971, Alain Kan became the brother-in-law of singer Christophe, when Christophe married Kan's sister, Véronique.

Source: Article "Alain Kan" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.