Lou Deprijck, voice of Ça Plane Pour Moi, dies at 77

Belgian musician Lou Deprijck has died at the age of 77, French-language media report. Deprijck is best known as the producer of Plastic Bertrand's hit single Ça Plane Pour Moi.

Deprijck was born on 11 January 1946 in the Walloon town of Lessines, but moved to Brussels while he was young. He was a member of various groups, including Two Man Sound and Lou and the Hollywood Bananas.

In 1978 he produced Ça Plane Pour Moi for Belgian musician Plastic Bertrand. The song became an international hit, reaching the top 10 in several European countries. It would also become the third French-language song in history to enter the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.

Since its release, there have been numerous rumours that Deprijck, and not Plastic Bertrand, provided the vocals for the recording. In 2006, the Brussels Court of Appeal ruled that Plastic Bertrand was the only legal performer of the song.

In 2010, a judicial report based on a re-recording of the song concluded that the real performer was Deprijck. This decision did not affect Plastic Bertrand's status as legal performer of the original. Plastic Bertrand admitted to the newspaper Le Soir that he was not the real performer, but later retracted his statement.

^{© BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK}