L'avventura - Mennään salaa

Here's one more of those songs that have been forgotten, but should be remembered. Markus (real name Markku Tranberg) recorded "Mennään salaa" (Let's go secretly) in 1972, with lyrics done by Juha Vainio. Markus was one of the most popular male pop artists in Finland in the beginning of the 1970's, after breaking through big time with the cover of "El Condor Pasa" in 1970 (perhaps we are destined to hear also that song in Finnpicks). The original song was performed in 1971 by French vocal duo Stone & Eric Charden, and it was called "L'Avventura" (Adventure). The song was written by Eric Charden (b. Jacques Puissant), who, BTW, was born in in Haiphong, Vietnam. The "Stone" was the female part of the duo and her real name was Annie Gautrat. She took the stage name "Stone" in 1966 when she was elected as Miss Beatnick. She got this nickname from her friends, who called her 'small stone' because her resemblance to Brian Jones of Rolling Stones (you can see the reason here). Annie and Eric met in 1966 and got married and at first made separate careers as solo artists. But in 1971 they decided to try as a duo. Their second single was this "L'avventura", and it became a massive hit in France and in Europe, making the couple the most popular artists of the 1970s in France. You can see them perform this song live, here.

Here's the pair: