Biography

Didier Lockwood was born on February 11, 1956 in Calais, Pas-de-Calais, France. He was a composer and actor, known for Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar (1999), Max & Jeremie (1992) and Into the Cold: A Journey of the Soul (2010). He was married to Patricia Petibon and Caroline Casadesus. He died on February 18, 2018 in Paris, France.

He was playing at a jazz festival when he met Stephane Grappelli, another French jazz great who had co-founded a group called the Hot Club of France with guitar legend Django Reinhardt. Grappelli invited the 20-year-old Lockwood to join him on a European tour, launching an international career in which he gave around 4,500 concerts and released more than 35 records.

His father was a music teacher, and his older brother Francis was a jazz pianist. When he was 17, Lockwood joined a popular French prog-rock band called Magma.

He was a violinist and composer who crossed musical genres, from jazz-rock to classical; he experimented with the electric violin. He wrote two operas, violin and piano concertos, and music for films and cartoons.