Richard Clayderman

Born Philippe Pagès in Paris on 28 December 1953, he became Richard Clayderman and built a recording career on a specific formula: instrumental renditions of popular music, rearrangements of movie soundtracks, ethnic music, and easy-listening takes on classical works. He released numerous albums featuring compositions by Paul de Senneville, Olivier Toussaint, and Marc Minier. The approach made him one of the most commercially successful pianists in history, a catalog musician whose arrangements became synonymous with a particular kind of accessible, frictionless sound.