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David Bret
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About David Bret
David Bret's Biographies
published by Robson Books, London
The Piaf Legend (1988)
The Mistinguett Legend (1990)
Maurice Chevalier: Up On Top Of A Rainbow (1992)
Marlene: My Friend (1993)
Morrissey: Landscapes of the Mind (1994)
Gracie Fields: The Authorised Biography (1995)
Tallulah Bankhead: A Scandalous Life (1996)
Freddie Mercury: Living On The Edge (1996)
Maria Callas: The Tigress & The Lamb (1997)
Valentino: A Dream of Desire (1998)
Piaf: A Passionate Life (1998)
George Formby: Troubled Genius (1999)
Barbra Streisand (2000, Anonymous Press)
Errol Flynn: Satan's Angel (2000)
Elvis: The Hollywood Years (2002)
Rock Hudson (2004)
Morrissey: Scandal & Passion (2004)
published by JR Books, London
Piaf: A Passionate Life (2007)
Joan Crawford (2007)
Clark Gable: Tormented Star (2007)
Doris Day: Reluctant Star (2008)
Jean Harlow: Tarnished Angel (2009)
Trailblazers: Gram Parsons, Nick Drake & Jeff Buckley (2009)
Errol Flynn: Gentleman Hellraiser (2009)
Mario Lanza: Sublime Serenade (2009)
The Real Gracie Fields (2010)Diana Dors: Hurricane In Mink (2010)
published by David Bret, England & USA
Brit Girls Of The Sixties: Dusty Springfield
Influences & Confidences
Dorothy Squires
 "What an amazing lady! There we were, Jeanne and I, two stage-door Johnnies who had been let in backstage at the Sheffield Fiesta after Dot's show. Collared by this huge bouncer, who had just grabbed me by the shoulders when this voice rang out, "Get your fucking hands off him!" We had a drink with her, went to the next show, and the next. Pretty soon we were part of her inner circle. She asked me to write her a song--"I Wear My Life Upon My Sleeve"--and said to me one evening, "You're driving me nuts with all this talk of Edith Piaf. Why don't you write the whole bloody lot down in a book and get it published!" I wrote the book, found an agent, and the book was a success--a success I owed entirely to Dot. And for sixteen years we trailed around after her, like Amy Jolly did Gary Cooper in "Dishonoured". I started off as a Dot Squires fan, and it ended up with Dot becoming a David Bret fan! Without any doubt she is the FINEST singer Britain has ever had!" archetypal stage-door Johnny, David and Jeanne Bret met Squires backstage in Sheffield in 1972. What started off with a bawled "Get your fucking hands off him!" when a security man grabbed Bret by the collar resulted in a friendship which lasted until Squires' death in 1998. Bret wrote I Sing My Life for her, she was instrumental in his publishing his first book, The Piaf Legend, in 1988.
Barbara
 Bret and Barbara (Monique Serf, 1930-97), France's greatest singer after Piaf, met in Paris in 1974. It is he who appears in her Récital Pantin film as, "Un homme, une rose á la main". Barbara asked him to adapt four of her most famous songs into English: Ma plus belle histoire d'amour, La solitude, Les amours incestueuses, and Précy jardin, which they taped. She also commissioned him to write an original composition, Les hommes bafoués, which she sadly did not live to perform extant of rehearsals for her final concerts at Chatelet, in 1993. The Brets were personally involved with every Barbara premiere between 1974 and 1993. The role of the killer, David, in her musical play, Lily Passion, was based on Bret--of whom she said, "His is the face of a lovable villain--the perfect killer that any woman would wish to fall in love with and expire in his arms!" On stage, the role of David was played by Gérard Depardieu. Barbara chose the title for Bret's biography of Freddie Mercury, Living On The Edge, and died on 24 November, the exact anniversary of Mercury's death. Two other Bret favourites, Nick Drake and Joey Stefano, died on this day. It was chez Barbara that the Brets met Greta Garbo in 1986, four years before her death.
Marlene
In The Piaf Legend, Bret quoted from Dietrich's autobiography, and as a matter or course wrote to her asking for permission to use this. Several months after its publication, she contacted him--they had already met briefly in 1973 when her car had run over his foot! There was an instant rapport.
 The Brets were invited to Dietrich's apartment in Paris, and within months she was dictating her story to him--and co-producing with him what would be the last album compilation during her lifetime: The Essential Marlene Dietrich. She also wrote the foreword to Maurice Chevalier: Up On Top Of A Rainbow. The Dietrich book was published in 1993, a year after her death. Her daughter, Maria Riva--lovingly referred to by Bret as Maria Rivachefolle, tried to stop publication by demanding that he hand over his and Dietrich's taped interviews. She failed. These make for
fascinating listening, if only to hear the 90-year-old Dietrich duetting
on Moi je m'ennuie with her much younger confidant!
Joey Stefano
A mysterious meeting. After publishing The Mistinguett Legend, Bret was awarded the Freedom of Enghien, her home town outside Paris. From here he headed to Dietrich's place, then to a very rare show business party (Bret usually steers clear of such events) where he was guest of honour with the legendary gay porn star. "Did anything happen between you? Is Joey one of the amis de foutre referred to you in your books?" Bret was asked by a French journalist--bringing the response, "That's for me to know and you to find out!" Several of Bret's books, including Morrissey:Scandal & Passion, have been dedicated to Stefano.
Fado Amália
 In 1990, Bret interviewed the great Portuguese singer, Amália Rodrigues, for a book (Les Grandes Dames de la Chanson) which was never published. Later, he adapted two of her fados into English: Tudo este e fado and Algemas.
One of the leading authorities on the genre in Britain, Bret is also a friend of Maria da Fé, arguably the greatest singer in Portugal today. His other fadista friends include Argentina Santos, Celeste Rodrigues (Amalia's sister), Antonio Zambujo, Aldina Duarte, Carlos Macedes, and Vanessa Alves. In 2008 he performed the Amália songs in Lisbon at her club, Senhor Vinho.
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