Joe Dassin was born in Brooklyn in 1938 to Jules Dassin, a Ukrainian-Jewish film director, and Béatrice Launer, a Hungarian violinist. Joe's childhood was spent in New York and Los Angeles, but his father's blacklisting from Hollywood in 1950 led to the family moving between European cities.
Joe Dassin studied at the International School of Geneva, the Le Rosey Institute in Switzerland, graduated from Grenoble, returned to the USA in 1957 and studied at the University of Michigan, where he graduated in 1961. In December 1964, Joe Dassin signed a contract with the US publishing company Columbia Records, becoming the first French singer to do so in the US.
In the 1970s, his songs became hugely popular in France, and were featured on many music charts. Dassin sang in French, English, German, Italian, Spanish and Greek.
His most popular recorded songs include "Les Champs-Élysées" (1969), "Salut les amoureux" (1973), "L'Été indien" (1975), "Et si tu n'existais pas" (1975).
On 20 August 1980, while on holiday in Tahiti, Joe Dassin suffered a heart attack and died. He is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood.
