Early life and bands Jouret was born in
Brussels to a
French father and
Ukrainian mother. At the age of nine, he became a singer and drummer in the Buffalo Scouts Band, a group he formed with the
Boy Scouts, which performed covers of
Rolling Stones songs. He then formed a band called The Pelicans, which performed at parties. They changed their name to Passing the Time, presenting their act in bars, in clubs and at festivals along the Dutch and Belgian coasts. Later he was hired by
pirate radio station
Radio Veronica. Meanwhile, he continued his education at the Music Academy studying
music theory and
percussion, passing his degree at the Athénée Adolphe Max. Whilst awaiting admission to the
Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, he spent a year at the
Saint-Luc Institute studying design. In 1973, he entered the Conservatory to study music theory, percussion and music history. Influenced by the
punk movement, he formed the band
Hubble Bubble in 1974, sharing his time between study at the Conservatory, rehearsals and concerts with the band, and work as
stage manager at the Theatre des Galeries. In 1975, Hubble Bubble released their first of two albums, also titled
Hubble Bubble. Jouret is credited as the songwriter, singer and drummer under the name Roger Junior. The group's bass player was killed in an accident returning from a rehearsal, and the group disbanded.
As Plastic Bertrand In 1977, the manager of Hubble Bubble, Bernard Schol, introduced Roger Jouret to
Lou Deprijck, who had just written the music for what would become two songs, "
Jet Boy, Jet Girl" with English lyrics, and "
Ça plane pour moi" with mostly French lyrics. The French version became an international hit for Jouret, launching him as a solo artist under the new stage name of Plastic Bertrand. In addition to being the song's co-writer and producer, Deprijck always maintained that he provided the vocals for the original recording, and the question remains controversial. In 2006 the Brussels court of appeal, upholding the decision of a lower court, found that Bertrand was the sole interpreter of the song. In 2010 an expert opinion produced for another case suggested the 1977 vocalist had a
picard accent, like Deprijck's. were ill-founded. but in a follow-up interview the next day he denied this, saying he was being ironic and had been trapped, and threatening legal action. This echoed a similar incident in the 1990s when Bertrand seemed to tell journalist
Gilles Verlant that he was not the singer before quickly retracting. Since 2010, Bertrand has consistently said that he is the performer on the original recording, and this remains the position in law. The song was recorded with the engineer Phil Delire for RKM/Vogue at Studio Morgan in Brussels. The English version, "
Jet Boy, Jet Girl", with totally unrelated lyrics by Alan Ward — soon to become
Elton Motello — appeared around the same time. Both recordings featured the same core group of session musicians. Plastic Bertrand toured Europe,
Japan,
Australia and
North America with Lou Deprijck, becoming one of the few French-speaking artists to appear in the
Billboard chart. He also appeared on a number of major television shows, presenting
Jackpot on
TF1,
Destination Noël on
France 2,
Due per tutti on
Rai 2 and
Supercool on
RTBF, which he also produced. Between 1982 and 1985, he lived in
Milan, and millions of Italians followed his adventures in a
photo-story of which he was the star. With
Daniel Balavoine and
ABBA's
Anni-Frid Lyngstad, he recorded
Abbacadabra, a musical tale for children. In the early 1980s, he appeared in movies such as
Légitime violence and the short film
Baoum. Working with
Vladimir Cosma, he wrote several film scores, including
Astérix et la surprise de César (
Asterix Versus Caesar). In 1987, he represented
Luxembourg in the
Eurovision Song Contest with the song "
Amour, Amour". This failed to impress the juries, however, scoring only four points and placing 21st out of twenty-two entries. During the 1990s, Bertrand explored other facets of music, including songwriting and producing, and also recorded the album
Suite Diagonal for Sony in 1994 with
Jacques Lanzmann. Forming the company MMD with Pierrette Broodthaers, he produced two albums for David Janssen, an album of classical music with a
Turkish contemporary influence for
harpsichord and
organ with Leila Pinar, an album of traditional
Balkan music with the
Kazansky choir, and a single for
Noël Godin, "Chantilly c'est parti". Bertrand's track "Stop ou encore" featured prominently in the 1999 film
Three Kings. "" is featured in the 1985 picture ''National Lampoon's European Vacation'', in Danny Boyle's 2010 film
127 Hours, in 2011 as the opening title theme for
Jackass 3.5 (2011), in the 2012 film
Ruby Sparks, in the 2013 film
The Wolf of Wall Street, and in the trailer for the 2018 film
Super Troopers 2. The song is also used as the soundtrack for a commercial spot for Time Warner Cable in the United States (April 2011). A cover version was used in the 2018 video game,
Just Dance 2019. In 2023, Bertrand was a guest celebrity in the episode
Snatch Game — Belgique Season 1 of the Belgian French-language reality television series
Drag Race Belgique broadcast on the
Tipik.
Comeback Twenty years after "Ça plane pour moi", Bertrand returned to the public eye as
MTV declared him the "most wanted comeback artist". He made a guest appearance on the album
Get Ready!, and rerecorded the 1982 song "Stop ou encore", which went originally
platinum in
Belgium. A "best of" album was released in 1998 on the Universal-AMC label, Bertrand himself handling the remastering process. Aside from a resurgence in his musical career, Plastic Bertrand made numerous guest appearances on European television, and presented the fortnightly show
Duel for two seasons at
RTBF. He also worked with Pierrette Broodthaers to open the "Broodthaers & Bertrand" art gallery, and worked with the Museum of Contemporary Art in
Valenciennes and Belgian artist
Jacques Charlier to produce 120
Andy Warhol-style portraits. In 2001, Bertrand toured Belgium, France, Switzerland and Germany with a series of concerts, and composed a number of new songs. He also made appearances on
Channel 4's
Eurotrash show and
BBC Two's chat show
Clarkson. In 2002, he signed a new contract and recorded his eighth album
Ultra terrestre, released in Belgium in 2002. In September and November the same year, he managed the TV talent contest
Star Academy on RTL-TVI. In March 2003, to celebrate 25 years since the beginning of his successful solo career, Bertrand performed a concert at the Cirque Royal in Brussels, performing new songs and past hits with a
philharmonic orchestra, and singing in duet with guest singers. From July to September 2003, he presented the TV show
Hit Story on
France 3. During his comeback, he appeared on a special 1980s edition of Le Maillon Faible, the French equivalent of
The Weakest Link. He won €1,150 for charity. He appeared at the
Countdown Spectacular 2 Tour from 18 August to 5 September 2007 in all major capital cities of
Australia. == Discography ==