Henri Salvador, the velvet-voiced French musician credited with inspiring the bossa nova, bringing American rock 'n' roll to France and helping to create the music video, has died, his record label said.

He was 90.

Salvador died at his Paris home of a ruptured aneurysm, said Carine Herve, of the Polydor label.

Salvador was known for his claps of booming laughter, raucous sense of humour, silky singing and incredible staying power. He worked past his 90th birthday last year and Polydor said he had planned to record a new album in 2008.

He ended his stage career with a farewell concert in December. "I am the only one who can bow out while still alive," he said then.

Innovation was a constant force in Salvador's long and varied life, which took him from France's South American enclave of Guiana to Paris' most prestigious stages - and won the hearts of generations of French fans.

President Nicolas Sarkozy said Salvador existed "at the crossroads of jazz, song and bossa nova, of Europe and the Americas," and that his death was a cause of "infinite sadness". "For more than a half-century, with humour and elegance, Henri Salvador was the incarnation of the art of song 'a la francaise'," Sarkozy said in a statement.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon said in a statement that Salvador's "hallmark laugh and his sunny personality will be missed by generations of French people".

Salvador's honeyed voice appeared to defy the passage of time, remaining smooth and supple until the end. Salvador chalked it up to his technique. "I don't sing, I whisper," he said in a 2006 interview. "When you whisper into the mike, you are able to transmit real feeling."

Whether he was singing jazz, blues, rock 'n' roll or chanson francaise - traditional French pop - feeling was the key ingredient in Salvador's prolific and varied music.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Salvador