Sad news. We have just learned that Belgian singer Jean Vallée, the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest runner-up with L’amour ça fait chanter la vie, died of cancer earlier today.

The singer, based in Paris, had been suffering from cancer for a while but kept performing and was full of projects. Jean Vallée event stepped on stage as a special guest during a concert of good friend and 1973 Eurovision winner Anne-Marie David a few months ago.

His health suddenly started deteriorating about 10 days ago. The Belgian singer decided to move back to his hometown of Clermont-sur-Berwinne, in Belgium, where he died early this morning at 72 years old.

Back in 1966, known as Paul Goeders, his real name, the singer won the prestigious French Chanson Award at the Spa Festival in Belgium. This would launch the career of Jean Vallée. He recorded his very first album in 1969. In 1970, he was selected to represented Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest held in Amsterdam with the song Viens l’oublier, ranking 8th overall. He later on penned one of most famous songs of the Greek diva Nana Mouskouri, the 1963 Eurovision entrant for Luxembourg, entitled La vague.

In 1978, Jean Vallée was once more selected to represent Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest. In Paris, he ranked 2nd with L’amour ça fait chanter la vie right behind the Israeli entry. When Israel became the clear winners during the voting, most of the Arabic stations ended their transmission of the contest. Jordanian TV finished the show with a photo of a bunch of daffodils on screen, later announcing that the Belgian entry was the actual winner.

In 1980, Jean Vallée performed the role of Javert in Les Misérables, by famous French director Robert Hossein. The musical gathered more than 500,000 spectators. In 1999, the singer was made a Knight of the Belgian Order of the Crown by King Albert II of the Belgians.

Sharing his time between France and Belgium, Jean Vallée kept performing until the very end.

The esctoday.com team offers their deepest sympathy and condolences to the family and friends of Jean Vallée.