Brel's 'Amsterdam' sells for €108k
Song notes snapped up at auction to mark 30 years since singer's death from lung cancer.
Jacques Brel's notes for the song Amsterdam have been sold for €108,750 at an auction to mark 30 years since the singer's death.
In total the sale of personal items, which took place at Sotheby's in Paris, raised more than one million euros - twice the original estimate put forward by auctioneers .
His pilots licence sold for €34,350.
According to Le Figaro the sale was "odious" by the singer's daughter France. Many of the items came from a private collection sold by an anonymous seller and were originally found in Brel's home in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin on the French Riviera.
Brel's widow and three daughters, who hold full rights to his work, opposed the sale and had offered to buy the entire collection for 175,000 euros.
Brel died of cancer in Paris on October 9, 1978 aged 49.
In his later years Brel lived in the Marquesas Islands of French Polenisia pursuing his hobby of aviation. He wanted to establish a club whereby young people on the islands could learn to fly.
The public can see the Belgian-born singer's second plane, a Wassmer Super 421 on display in the middle of the Champs Elysées as part of the Centenaire de l'Industrie aérospatiale française display currently taking place there.
Brel's wife Miche will take part today in the official opening of the L'aéroclub des Marquises - Jacques Brel on the island of d'Hiva-Oa in French Polynesia where the singer is buried.
She will visit his grave, next to that of the painter Paul Gauguin, for the first time.
Photo:afp
