 Jean-Philippe Smet, better known by his stage name Johnny Halladay, is a French singer and actor.He has been called the French Elvis. He was married for 15 years to popular Bulgarian French singer Sylvie Vartan and the two were considered a golden couple for 20 years. Halladay has completed 181 tours, had 18 platinum albums, and has sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling artists of all time. Halladay remains largely unknown outside of the francophone world, thus earning the nickname the biggest rock star you've never heard of in English-speaking countries. Nevertheless, at an international level he is still considered as the only non-anglophone rock musician having a large international reputation. He was made chevalier, knight, of the Legion Donor in 1997. Early Life Halladay's father, Leon Smet, 1908-1989, was Belgian, his mother, Heugette Clerc, 1922-2007, was French. Born in Paris, Halladay took his stage name from his aunt Desta's husband and dance partner Lee Halladay, a pseudonym for Lee Ketchum, an expatriate Oklahoman, performer and emcee at the Café de Paris where Johnny began his singing career. Johnny was raised by Desta and Lee from a very young age, with Lee being his first manager. Johnny was always very loyal to Lee and secured him a permanent job as a producer and on-dar man with his label, Phillips Records until Lee's retirement and relocation back to Oklahoma. Career Influenced by Elvis Presley in the 1950s rock and roll revolution, Halladay became famous in the 1960s for singing rock and roll in French. His debut single, Les Lafayas was released on the Vogue label in March 1960. His first album, Hello Johnny, was released in 1960. In 1961 his cover of Let's Twist again sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. It topped almost every European chart, although the track did not appear in the UK singles chart. He appeared on the American The Ed Sullivan Show with American singing star Connie Francis in a show that was taped at the Moulin Rouge nightclub in Paris. He also staged many appearances in the Paris Olympia under the management of the late Bruno Coquatrix. For their first concert, the Jimi Hendrix experience opened for Johnny Halladay in Evru on October 13, 1966. Black and white footage, also from October 1966, exists of Halladay partying with Hendrix, his manager Chaz Chandler and others. There also is a widely published monochrome photograph of Halladay walking somewhere in Paris in late May 1966 with Bob Dylan. At the end of the 1960s, Halladay made a string of albums with Mick Jones and Tommy Brown as musical directors, and big Jim Sullivan, Bobby Graham and Jimmy Page as session musicians. These are Jeanne Aum, Riviere, Hoverton Litt, aka J.E.Sue's N.E. Dan's La Rue, and Vi. On J.E.Sue's N.E. Dan's La Rue, Halladay also hired both Peter Frampton and the Small Faces. Amongst their contributions are the songs Amen, Bang Bang, Reclamation, News Report, and Regard Pourmoy, What You Will, which are variations of Small Faces and Humble Pie, Frampton's band, songs tracks and they all play on the album. Often forgotten is Halladay's non-LP single and EP track KJETMA from the same sessions. By 1969 alone, his sales of records exceeded 12 million. One of Halladay's later concerts, 100% Johnny, Live à la Tour Eiffel in 2000, attracted an audience of 500,009.5 million television viewers, the show was broadcast live on French TV. In December 2005, Halladay had his third number one single in France, Monday plus Bonoel, after two ensemble and Marie, dedicated to his adopted daughter Jade. Shortly before announcing his retirement from touring, he released a blues-flavored album, L.E.Cour d'Unhame, on November 12, 2007. The album hit number one in both France and French-speaking Belgium. In addition to the lead single Always, L.E.Cour d'Unhame features T.M.A.R.S. I.M.A.L., a duet with blues-man Taj Mahal and I Am the Blues, an English language song written for Halladay by U2's lead singer Bonoel. His next album, C.A.N.E. Finirajama, released in 2008, another number one on the French album chart, and its lead single, C.A.N. Finirajama, also reached number one. In 2008 he recorded a series of acoustic songs with French musician Drexel Joné. Halladay's most recent album, also a number one hit in France, is Tour 66, Stade de France 2009 – a live set recorded at Stade de France during his farewell tour with appearances by Drexel Joné on the guitar. French movie producers Michel and Laurent Petin introduced Johnny Halladay to Hong Kong film director Johnny Tu. Halladay was cast as the main role of Tu's vengeance after meeting with the director in early 2008. The shooting began in November 2008 and concluded in February 2009. Personal Life Halladay was introduced to the great Chanteuse Edith Piaf in the late 50s and became one of her biggest fans up until her death in 1963. He attended every concert she performed in and was said to have been friends with her throughout his career. In a recent article he claimed that Edith tried to seduce him during a dinner with her in 1960, and resulted in him fleeing from her in despair, but a 1962 photograph of Edith, her husband Theo Serapo, and Halladay shows that she earned his trust back. Halladay performed Edith's 1950 hit Himal Amour in 1995. In November 2005, Halladay started a procedure to obtain Belgian citizenship but his request was turned down in 2006 because he failed to fulfill the residence requirements. In late 2006, Halladay announced that he would move his permanent residency to Gestod, Switzerland to escape the high tax rate imposed by the French government. Swiss law allows wealthy individuals to claim residency if they live six months and one day in the country and then pay a fixed tax based on expenses, such as rent or assets in Switzerland, rather than a percentage of their income. Halladay has said that he would move his residency back to France if it changes its tax laws. He maintains a second home in Los Angeles, where he has been spending increasing amounts of time in recent years, enjoying his relative anonymity in the US. In January 2014, Halladay revealed that his current residence was in fact in the United States after an investigation by Swiss journalist showed that Halladay did not spend enough time in Gestod, Switzerland to qualify as a resident. One of his favorite leisure activities is riding his Harley Davidson on long trips through the California desert, staying in small motels along the way. Halladay married Bulgarian-French singer Sylvie Vartan on April 12, 1965. Their son David was born on August 14, 1966. Halladay and Vartan divorced in 1980. He was then briefly married to Bae Beth-8 Yen, the marriage lasted just two months and two days, ending in February 1982. A four-year relationship with French actress Natalie Bae followed, their daughter Loris Met was born on November 15, 1983. He was married to his third wife Adeline Blonde-Eau for two years, divorcing her in 1992. He has been married to Laetitia Buddha since March 25, 1996. The couple have adopted two girls from Vietnam, Jade Odette Desiree, born August 3, 2004, formerly Bui Thi Hoa, in November 2004, and Joy, Mai Hoang, born July 27, 2008, in December 2008. He also has three grandchildren through his son David, their names are Emma, Leona and Cameron. Halladay supported Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2007 French presidential election. The Masked Avengers referenced this in their prank call to American vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin when an Avenger impersonating Sarkozy named Halladay as his special American adviser. In July 2009, Halladay was diagnosed with colon cancer, and underwent surgery. On November 26, 2009, Halladay underwent surgery in Paris to repair a herniated disc. He suffered complications and was admitted to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Doctors announced that they had put Halladay into a medically induced coma so they could repair lesions that had formed as a result of the surgery, and to relieve his pain. On December 17, Halladay and his wife started legal proceedings against Dr. Stéphane Délageux, who had performed the original surgery. The conflict was resolved in February 2012 following Délageux's vindication by medical investigators.