 Married at the age of 17, he joined the University of Clermont-Ferrand for a short period of time; he had a son and divorced when he was 19 and left in order to travel and lived by doing odd jobs in France and Europe all by himself, in the style of Jack Kerouac.He held a couple of positions between Paris and several French tourist spots; he was ski instructor in Avoriaz or a beach attendant in Saint-Tropez, and he finally went back to his village in 1977 at the age of 23 and devoted himself to music, that has never left so far.With some Clermontois' friends from Clermont-Ferrand, he created a rock band called "Clara" with him as lead singer and songwriter.