“Love is Blue” is the first instrumental song to hit number one since “Telstar” by the Tornadoes, back in 1962. The song was originally written by Andre Popp, a French composer in 1967. In French, the song is called “L’amour est Bleu,” which, of course, translates to “Love is Blue.” That same year, Pierre Cour put words (French) to the song and then Brian Blackburn translated those words to England. The song was first performed by Greek singer Vicky Leandros for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1967. It did not win the contest, coming in in fourth place.

Paul Mauriat was born in 1925 and grew up and lived in Marseille, France. He inherited his musical tastes from his father who played the classical piano and the violin. Paul started his own dance band during World War II and was one of the big bands that was so prevalent during that time. In the Fifties he became musical director for two of the leading French performers of the day, Charles Aznavour and Maurice Chevalier.

In 1958, he wrote a prize winning song called “Chariot,” using the pseudonym of Del Roma. Words were written for the melody and it became, believe it or not, the song “I Will Follow Him” by Peggy March. Look back to 1963 to find this song. It was number one here in America.

“Love is Blue” entered the Billboard Hot 100 way down at number 99. It was not a song that you would expect to be a big hit, but somehow, it caught the attention of the record buying public and soon the song was number one. It was covered by four other artists which were on the charts at the same time. Al Martino hit number 57 with the song, Claudine Longet got to 97 and Manny Kellem just squeaked in at number 100. The R&B group, The Dells, recorded a medley which included “Love is Blue,” called “I Can Sing a Rainbow/Love is Blue” which did better than the other three, getting as high as number twenty two.

So “Love in Blue” was very much in fashion in 1968 and 1969. It was, however, Paul Mauriats only charting song, making him a true one-hit wonder. After a lifetime of music, Paul Mauriat died in 2006 in Perpignan, France. He was 81 years old.

“Love is Blue” entered the Top 40 on January 27, 1968 and stayed at number one for five weeks, making it one of the biggest hits of the year.