At 76, Alain Chamfort asserts that "everything is settled" regarding his bone cancer in remission, now lives in Normandy, facing the sea, and opens the autumn with ‘Temps forts’ (BMG Records compilation) released on October 24, 2025. Between cautious remission and intact elegance, the singer prepares for Les Enfoirés 2026 at the Accor Arena (Paris), from January 13 to 19, 2026. A story of a measured return, between memory and present.
A health announcement that soothes without fanfare
At 76, Alain Chamfort chooses simple words. In an interview relayed by television press on October 27, 2025, the singer talks about his illness. Indeed, he confides about the bone cancer in remission that disrupted his life: "Everything is settled." The phrase strikes, without triumph and without fuss. It sums up a long detour through the ordeal, then the return to a sustainable rhythm. Then, this rhythm becomes almost domestic, where one relearns to climb the steps. Finally, one learns to hold the stage without seeking the feat. Chamfort does not invent himself as a miracle. He asserts that he is better, and this calmness already makes the essential.
The forehead clears, but the truth remains whole. In January 2025, in a widely covered interview, he acknowledged keeping aftereffects: the back, the vertebrae, the fingers that protest, a "slightly more fragile" sensation. Nothing heroic, again: only the discipline of a man who measures the effort and reorganizes his daily life. Doing a bit of sport, maintaining projects, not letting oneself be dominated by the pain. Recovery does not have the perfection of posters. It rather has the constancy of gestures.
The retreat facing the sea, and the light of the open sea
He says he left Paris after the announcement of the illness. The works that poisoned the neighborhood finished convincing him. Heading to Normandy, facing the sea. A motif reappears immediately, like a counterpoint to his discography: the impermanence, the time that wrinkles the lines and polishes the angles, the taste for silence returned. One imagines the window open on a strip of horizon. The sea spray calms the feverishness. Moreover, the echo of a portable studio still captures some melodies. The sea has "saved" nothing. It has only given a cadence to the present.
Life is now written on this scale. Some public commitments, a tight but reasonable schedule, chosen appointments. Chamfort weighs his appearances, stays away from the noise, works when necessary, sits when needed. The elegance has remained, the timbre too, but the body imposes its tempo. We are grateful to him for saying it. Modesty here allies with a frankness that serves as a pact with the public.
‘L’Impermanence’ or the art of closing a form
He had announced the end of the "album format". In March 2024, the release of ‘L’Impermanence’ (March 2024) took on the value of a final point for the studio album. The record, acclaimed by critics, closed a cycle that began fifty years earlier. Moreover, it represented a gesture of formal farewell. Not that the writing dries up. It was rather a decluttering of the framework, with the desire to favor isolated pieces and selections. Furthermore, rearranged covers were favored, allowing chapters to be linked without following the grammar of the long format. Age does not explain everything. Chamfort has often sought the exactness of the line, the clear line, the oblique light that captures the moment and lets it breathe.
In this mirror, the compilation released today is like a sensitive inventory. It takes the word "best of" in reverse, too dry, too accounting, and prefers the idea of moments that aggregate.
‘Temps forts’ at BMG Records: a retrospective that tells more than it arranges
‘Temps forts’ is released by BMG Records and aligns a selection that embraces the arc of a career made of metamorphoses. The first successes, the shadow of Serge Gainsbourg as advisor and accomplice, the icon, the hit ‘Manureva’ that still cuts through the sea of the public, the synthetic elegance of the 1980s, the restrained gravity of the following periods, all this returns, reorganized into chapters rather than chronological slices. The online release dated October 24, 2025 sets the appointment and delivers a tracklist thought of as a narrative. We find Chamfort’s melodic signature, this taste for delicacy that refuses noise, and we hear, beneath the surface, a musical biography that refuses anecdote.
The compilation is accompanied by a book published by GM Éditions. The title remains the same, with the same desire to illuminate without didacticism. Moreover, texts replace each period. Additionally, images and documents restore the shadow areas and the lines of force. This book is read like following a long conversation: the artist comments on his own past, not to engrave it in marble, but to give it back its flexibility.
Les Enfoirés 2026 at the Accor Arena (Paris): a stage always held
The agenda is written without emphasis but with precision. Chamfort has confirmed his presence at Les Enfoirés 2026 at the Accor Arena (Paris), from January 13 to 19, 2026, seven dates in total, with a general rehearsal announced on the first day. The solidarity mechanism of the Restos du Cœur demands its share of generosity and work each year. Chamfort will take his place in the middle of the collective, far from selfish solos, in this chorus of artists where one comes to lend their voice for a cause. The stage, thus shared, serves as a reconnection with a loyal audience. It also speaks of the right cadence of a return: no marathon tour, no risky promise, but a clear, framed, solidary participation.
On the scale of a career that has known imposing venues and more discreet tours, this appointment serves as a signal. It attests to the ability to hold a stage and to chain sustained appearances. Moreover, it allows testing the breath day after day, without rushing a still convalescent body. The public needs no other proof.
"Everything is settled": the phrase and what it says
We are grateful to Chamfort for choosing these three words.
They do not erase neither the anxiety, nor the treatments, nor the effects that remain. But they offer a framework for the conversation. The illness leaves the central field. It becomes a fact among others, as well as a line on the score of a year’s end. We mainly talk about music, reissued archives, and a companion book. Moreover, a solidary stage is mentioned. At this point, the singer is neither an exemplary patient nor a hero. He becomes an artist again.
The public narrative of the illness has been held with modesty. For a long time, Chamfort preferred to keep silent about the ordeal, out of refusal of pathos as well as intimate reserve. When he spoke about it, he made sure to formulate things soberly, without giving in to the ease of spectacular confessions. Even today, he avoids the trap of definitive conclusions. He says what he can, what he wants, and what he owes to those who listen to him. The rest belongs to him.
Normandy, workshop of the moment
Normandy, facing the sea is not a postcard here. It is a workshop. The artist retains some simple protocols: adhering to a regular activity, organizing his days around modest goals, allowing for periods of silence. The seaside serves as a clock and a tuning fork. It cuts the noise. It allows recomposing the day. Between two clearings, one glimpses a musician who still experiences ideas. Moreover, he lets himself be surprised by old phrases, rewritten at the corner of a table. One also senses the freedom of a man who has paid his debt to the Parisian tumult.
This withdrawal is neither an exile nor a retreat. It resembles the luxury of a present that finally agrees with itself. The stage is never far. Collaborations remain possible. Les Enfoirés 2026 come to testify. The book and the compilation trace bridges between the front stages and the home. Ultimately, Chamfort says he is open to other forms, to singles, to shorter pieces, to cross-disciplinary projects where music meets image.
Manureva and others: memory, but without museification
He is often asked about the hit ‘Manureva’, which accompanies him like a fixed star. Chamfort has never denied this popular beacon. He has rather applied himself to illuminate it differently, by recontextualizing it, by tearing it away from nostalgic conveniences. Memory does not serve to museify the artist, but to show the path. In ‘Temps forts’, the piece finds its place, not as a talisman. But it becomes a knot from which other titles are ordered. Thus, we go back to sometimes less noticed albums, periods where experimentation was more discreet, collaborations that speak of a work ethic: seeking the right shade, the right distance, the restraint that allows the text to breathe.
This rereading does not erase the audacity. It redistributes it. The listening gains in precision. The arrangements appear clearer, more determined. The voice settles without forcing. It embraces the French language with this mix of irony and tenderness that makes its uniqueness.
An art of inhabiting duration
In the autumn of 2025, Chamfort claims no totem. He inhabits the duration. His body reminds him of the limit. His music offers him the tool to think about it. The announcement "Everything is settled" does not mark a heroic break. It marks a crossing. We hear the voice of an artist who organizes, gathers his pieces, establishes his priorities. He protects his life, shares what can be shared, and entrusts the rest to listening.
In the general movement of a career, this season draws a just rhythm. A compilation that rereads without fixing. A book that explains without imposing. A charitable stage that gathers in the heart of winter. We already know what to do: listen again and read. Then, go to the Accor Arena (Paris) to measure what the elegance of a musician can still reveal. This happens when it chooses accuracy over demonstration.
A trajectory in chiaroscuro, from the studio to TV sets
The trajectory of Chamfort has often oscillated between light and withdrawal. In his early days, he followed the path of the yé-yé years. Then, thanks to Serge Gainsbourg, he found a sharper way to inhabit French chanson. The result is a unique balance between pop elegance, literate writing, and the art of restraint. He is seen leaving the screens when the noise becomes too loud. Then, he returns with polished records. The concern for form surpasses the intimidation of the hit. This constant explains, even today, the accuracy of his tempo.
Television has often welcomed him, but Chamfort has never succumbed to the tics of promotion. His interviews maintain a measured tone, his appearances, a calm that stands out. When he talks about his health, he does so in the same vein. We remember a phrase dropped on a set, a smile that de-dramatizes without minimizing. This modesty sets an example and contrasts with an era fond of confessions and intimate spectacles.
The ethics of a repertoire
Chamfort’s work is not limited to a few standards. It cultivates an ethics of composition. Clarity of melodies, precision of words, attention to arrangements: everything contributes to an art of nuance. There is sometimes a light irony, never cruel, and this way of establishing distance. Thus, it allows the text to exist fully. In ‘Temps forts’, this coherence becomes readable. We move from one track to another as we traverse a room with multiple mirrors. The variety of eras does not detract from the unity of the perspective.
It is important to highlight the place given to collaborators. The producers and musicians who have accompanied the artist contribute to this recognizable grain. The compilation, and even more so the companion book, restore this collective cartography. At a time when the industry counts, Chamfort prefers to tell. The inventory becomes living memory.
From one generation to another, a listening that is passed on
Chamfort’s audience has aged with him, but it has also renewed. Platforms have allowed younger listeners to slide from ‘Manureva’ to less expected tracks, then to return to them. The compilation here acts as a bridge. It facilitates this circular movement between discovery and recognition. It is not surprising, therefore, that the dates of the Enfoirés 2026 bring together, in the middle of January, generations that do not all share the same memories but recognize, in this timbre, a style.
At the Accor Arena (Paris), the collective stage erases the ego and restores the musical gesture to its most simple purpose: singing together. The partnership with the Restos du Cœur recalls the modesty of the means and the ambition of the goal: supporting fragile lives in a long winter. Chamfort fits into this framework naturally. His presence within the group speaks volumes about the loyalty of an artist to a cause where music becomes nourishment.
After the album, flexible forms
If the album was closed with ‘L’Impermanence’ (March 2024), the future is not empty. One can imagine occasional editions, duets, soundtracks, short sessions released over time. The flexibility of digital formats corresponds to the energy economy he advocates. In Normandy, facing the sea, the studio could be makeshift, the writing faster, the desire less tied to industrial rhythms. It is not certain that Chamfort seeks to multiply signs. He will likely favor useful gestures, accurate proposals, at the right moment.
An elegance that remains
What remains is the image of an artist who, in the autumn of 2025, responds without emphasis to the challenge and restores music to its primary place. A body has recovered, as much as possible. A phrase has said it, without empty words. A compilation and a book reweave the link with memory. A solidarity stage awaits, in the heart of winter. There is nothing more to romanticize. There is to listen, to read, to see. Chamfort will have held his course. The audience will know, in return, to hold their own.