Singer and dancer Lee Halliday, cousin and “father of the heart” of Johnny Hallyday, for whom he was also the first producer and artistic agent, died Tuesday at the age of 95. announced on X (ex-Twitter) AFP journalist Jean-François Guyot, citing a source close to the family.
Born in Oklahoma in 1927, Lee Halliday, whose real name is Lemoine Gardner Ketcham, is the first husband of Desta Mar, Johnny Hallyday’s paternal cousin. With her and her sister Menen she formed a successful acrobatic dance trio, the Hallidays.
“He Served Like My Father”
Lee Halliday takes young Jean-Philippe Smet under control when his father abandons him when he is six years old. He nicknamed him Johnny. He introduces her to the world of music and becomes her “father at heart”.
In 1960, a misspelling in his pseudonym on Johnny’s first 45 rpm led him to adopt “Hallyday” as his last name instead of “Halliday”. Lee, who has meanwhile become his agent and producer, will do the same.
“There are a lot of people I owe a lot to, but Lee Halliday is surely the person in my life who was my father, who raised me, who taught me a little bit of dance,” Johnny said in the documentary. Johnny for Johnny.
Lee Halliday worked on all of Johnny’s albums up to 1979. She made one last appearance with him in 1981 at a concert before moving to the United States and London.
Source: BFM TV
