Elli et Jacno was a French 1980s electropop group comprised of Denis Quilliard (alias Jacno) and Elli Medeiros. They were quite successful in France and to some extent in Britain, having been featured once on the front page of Melody Maker magazine.
Playing at the Chalet du Lac on the eastern outskirts of the French capital in 1976, the Sex Pistols were a catalyst to the watching jeunesse dorée, including the impossibly glamorous Denis Quillard and his girlfriend Elli Medeiros, the driving force behind France’s first punk band, a newly formed five-piece named the Stinky Toys. Quillard, known by the sobriquet Jacno – after the designer of the package of his favourite Gauloises cigarettes – left a big impression on Andy Warhol, who used someone’s makeup kit to draw an impromptu portrait of the musician on a napkin at a Paris brasserie. It’s also been claimed he was the inspiration behind Blondie’s cover of the doo-wop hit Denise by Randy and the Rainbows, retitled and resexed as Denis.
Elli also made an impression – on McLaren, who approached the singer in a clothes shop in Les Halles to compliment her on the safety pins that were holding her clothes together. (McLaren was clearly taking notes.) After establishing she was in a band, the Pistols’ manager invited Medeiros’s group to play at a festival at the 100 Club in London with other punk luminaries. Arriving in England with just the clothes on their back, the Stinky Toys asked the Pistols if they could borrow their equipment, only to be turned down. Fortunately, the Clash were more accommodating. Stinky Toys’ appearance led to a Melody Maker cover. They were picked up by Polydor, which released the single Boozy Creed in 1977, though the group’s success was short-lived in the UK, and the same could be said for their native France.
Jacno went on to have a successful career with Medeiros, as Elli et Jacno, with a slew of European hits between 1980 and 1984, including the massive Je T’aime Tant; the duo broke up when their relationship ended. They released three albums together before splitting up and beginning solo careers. Virgin released the compilation Symphonies de Poche 10 years later, such was their legacy, and Jacno also inspired a tribute album – Jacno Future – featuring French superstars Dominique A, Brigitte Fontaine and Étienne Daho. He also produced the younger Daho, and had a solo hit with Tant de Baisers Perdus, the lyrics courtesy of Françoise Hardy. He enjoyed a solo career with ups and downs until his premature death from cancer in 2009 at the age of 52, but his first solo chef d’oeuvre immortalises him at home.
