Eric Levi

Born: 1955
Died:
Education: self-taught
Career: composer

In 1975 Eric Levi founded the hard rock band Shakin' Street with Fabienne Shine, which would release the two albums Vampire Rock and Solid as a Rock. Shakin' Street briefly toured with AC/DC and the Blue Oyster Cult before disbanding in 1981. He then moved to New York, and back to Paris in 1992. Later on in his career, Eric Levi wrote the musical score to several movies, including L'Operation Corned-beef and the comedy Les Visiteurs which was an international success and one of the highest grossing movies of all time in France. Levi is best known for being the mastermind behind the musical project ERA, and for inventing the Latin sounding words of these songs. Era's self-titled debut album in 1997 proved to be a hit, becoming the most exported French album with over 6 million copies sold. A sequel, Era 2 was released in 2000, followed by Era: The Mass in 2003. The trilogy is characterized by a mixture of rock, synth, and pseudo-Latin Gregorian chant.