Berlingske Tidende (Danish Newspaper) - Famous Pop Singer Got Help From Bodil Koch Being On A Razor-Edge - By Sven Wezelenburg In the beginning one could listen to the Frenchman Robert singing folk music at the Copenhagen pubs, then he came up to the surface as a part of trio “Cy, Maia and Robert” and he said “no” to the contract with Beatles company “Apple”, and finally he established his own beat group “Pan”.   He has not been to France since 1962.   “How much I wish I can see my motherland again”, sigh Robert. “I miss France, especially at this time of the year. Please, do not understand me that I do not like Denmark. It is just a thought – to walk on the streets in the place where people speak the same language with you”.   But Robert Lelievre, 28, is not going now to his motherland. If he returns, he can go to prison for 4 years. He has stolen neither more nor less than from state. He has stolen his soldier’s uniform.   Without A Stitch On…   What else should I do?  Should I desert without a stitch on me?   In January 1962 after 3 months of his 2 years military service he was promoted to sergeant. In his greeting speech, his officer told, ”they should get used to the thought that they would never escape”. A day after that speech Robert ran away. It was a culmination of the nervous breakdown.    “I was lucky because I was picked up by the very first car outside the camp”, says Robert. “The driver saw that I was in the uniform and started entertaining me with macabre jokes about (newspaper text unreadable) … as a soldier. If he knew that I was a deserter…”   “In Paris I got 50 kroner and took an all thumbs trip to Belgium. My mother was sad that I deserted from the army. French people consider a military service as an honor. My father did not care”.   “In Belgium for the first time I met Cy. He was singing at a folk club in Brussels. One day he asked me if I wanted to join him on his trip to Copenhagen where he had some friends. He assured me that it was a wonderful town. We were driving in his worn out Citroën. We were turned away six times on the German border because his car was in bad condition”.   Bodil Koch’s Help   Already on the first night after his arrival to Copenhagen, Robert was singing and playing in the “Pilegården”. He was here for a couple of months, then travelled to Sweden and later he thumbed the whole way to Rome. He was beaten by some troublemakers who wanted to take his passport. Further to Greece, Belgium and again Copenhagen. His next stop was trio “Cy, Maia and Robert”.   In the meantime his passport expired. Maia Aarskov brought him to Bodil Koch. Nothing was said. They were just looking at each other, after which Robert was asked to go further to the Minister of Justice. He received his foreign passport 2 weeks later.   In the middle of success trio “Cy, Maia and Robert” fell to pieces.    “We did what we were feeling was right. Writing songs, playing, becoming slightly popular and maybe a little bit self-obsessed.  We started thinking what we were doing and it went wrong.”   A lot of times people promised worldwide fame to Cy, Maia and Robert. “Of course, one becomes disappointed, but on the hand disappointments make man better. I have learnt a lot about playing the guitar since that time. And I also started writing better songs.”   He is now playing electrical intensive music (with Henning Verner, Arne Würgler and brothers Thomas and Michael Puggaard-Müller) in the group “Pan”. LP is coming soon. An authorised edition is also planned for the US and Canada.   Today these five Danes are on Kullen in Sweden, starring in the movie “Deadline” by Swedish director Stellan Olsson who got last year the highest award from the Swedish film institute for the movie “Os mellem” with Per Oscarsson. They are acting in “Deadline” together with (among others) Elsebeth Reingaard, Eva Britt Strandberg and possibly Max von Sydow.   “It was very inspiring for me to become engaged with beat music”, says Robert. For a folk singer and musician it is too easy to become closed for a lot of good things.   Robert is hiding himself in a modest apartment on the 4th floor on Bådsmandsstræde in the Christianshavn distict. A year and a half ago downstairs in this building Povl Dissing lived.   “Denmark is a small social paradise”, says Robert. “People can look like they want, wear clothes they want, have long hair. That is why it irritates me when once in a while I can hear somebody screaming “spaghetti” or something similar at me in the café. Imagine, if I really looked like a Hispanic or Italian. No, these teenagers are lucky here. I wish I were 15 now here, in Denmark”. The only thing Robert is complaining about in Denmark is food. He claims that it can not be even compared with the French one.   - Photo: Robert together with his wife Michelle and their newborn son Renaud in their apartment 'Bådsmandsstræde' in the Christianshavn. Thank you to Claus Rasmussen for the original Danish article, and Raj at GAF for translating it into English.