Last night, popular singer Serge Lama, the 1971 French Eurovision representative, celebrated his 70th birthday and the 50th anniversary of his music career on the stage of the very prestigious Olympia music hall in Paris.

Serge Lama has embarked  on a very impressive tour of France, Belgium and Switzerland to celebrate 50 years of music after having released the double best-of album La balade du poète (see previous article here). His tour includes 10 evenings in a row at the Olympia, all sold out. The singer had to add more concert dates to his very successful tour (see our events section).

Last night, many celebrities, including the Greek diva and 1963 Eurovision representative from Luxembourg Nana Mouskouri, gathered at the Olympia music hall to pay a tribute to the very popular singer who treated the audience with all his past hits and some new material. Fans and music critics acclaimed his performance and the media are reporting very positively about his tour.

Nevertheless, Serge Lama caused quite a controversy a few days earlier after having refused the Victoire d’Honneur, a special award of honour, the French Music Academy was supposed to give him last Friday on the occasion of Les Victoires de la Musique, the French Music Awards. Serge Lama stated he did not appreciate the way the Music Academy was treating him and other singers from the same generation, and that he considered his public as his only award.

Serge Lama represented France in Dublin in 1971. The singer keeps good memories of his Eurovision participation and often refers to it as being the only prestigious music contest he has never won. His entry Un jardin sur la Terre classified 10th only on the big night.