Noir Désir -French Rock Group

Noir Désir is a French rock band

The band was formed in Bordeaux in 1983 by singer Bertrand Cantat, drummer Denis Barthe, guitarist Serge Teyssot-Gay and bassist Frédéric Vidalenc (replaced in 1996 by Jean-Paul Roy). Their first album Veuillez rendre l'âme (à qui elle appartient) (1989) was recognised as one of the best French rock albums ever made, and it produced a hit single: "Aux sombres héros de l'amer", a sea-shantyesque harmonica-driven ballad that uses the metaphor of sailors "lost in the sea" to speak of the 19th century "poètes maudits" and other fellow navigators of existential emptiness. Noir Désir became one of the most prominent rock bands in France, releasing albums every few years.

In 2003, following an argument related to infidelity, Bertrand Cantat, drunk at the time, hit his girlfriend Marie Trintignant, also drunk, in a hotel room in Vilnius, Lithuania. She fell and hit her head on the radiator, becoming unconscious. Bertrand Cantat put her to bed and called her brother who was in the area. Seeing his sister in bed, he thought she was asleep and advised Cantat to wait until the morning. The following morning, Marie Trintignant was found in comas in her bed and died a few days later. A Lithuanian judge sentenced Cantat to eight years in prison after he was found guilty of manslaughter. He served four years of his sentence in a prison near Toulouse, France, and was freed on parole on October 16, 2007.

Noir Desir - Marlène