Fortune Jean Giordano was born in Nice, France in the late fall of 1924. Growing up the youngest of three, he came of age under German and Italian occupation of the South of France during World War II. In the spring of 1944 Charles de Gaulle’s Free French Forces arrived in Nice as part of the liberation. Having grown tired of the dwindling availability of work, the threat of Nazi work camps and life under the Occupation, he kissed his family goodbye and joined them, taking up the fight for liberation. After enlisting, he was stationed in the small town of St. Paul de Vence – the band’s namesake – shortly thereafter crossing the mountains into Italy. Following the war Fortune returned to a nation in ruin and with no prospect for work, he set sail for America and a new life. The story of his journey – the pain and the triumph, the love and the loss – remained largely untold until Benjamin, his grandson, started asking questions and recording answers. Following the band’s EP’s, this debut full-length album continues its telling with the rich harmonies and dynamic arrangements that audiences have come to enjoy as the sound of St. Paul de Vence.
