FRENCH SINGERS

Georgette Lemaire

2012-01-10T15:10:00.000-08:00

Georgette Lemaire (born in 1943) is one of the most famous French voices of the 1960/70s. Discovered in 1965, she made numerous records and had duets with a lot of French singers (such as Charles Aznavour). Her voice is reminiscent of Edith Piaf's voice. Although she was eclipsed by Mireille Mathieu, she has never been forgotten all around the world, especially in France. Spielberg chose one of her songs for the soundtrack of his movie "Munich".

Here is a rare song by the dynamic Georgette Lemaire, enjoy!

Gribouille

2012-01-09T16:16:00.000-08:00

Here are 5 songs by the little known but fantastic singer Gribouille.
Born Marie-France Gaîté (1941 - 1968), she was better known as Gribouille, for her passion of drawing on the streets of Paris, when she came first as a teenager in the French capital.
There, she met Jean Cocteau who got her work singing in a cabaret.

Several famous composers wrote songs for her, often compared to Barbara, she recorded 9 45 rpm records and 4 albums.
She died in Paris, at the age of only 26, for unknow reasons (suicide, alcohol, medications...). She was buried in the Cimetière de Bagneux in Montrouge, near Paris.
Rediscoverd recently (there are 2 CDs of her work on sale), she has many followers on the net.
Enjoy Gribouille's great style!

Le marin et la rose

Les militaires

Mathias

Les rondes

Si tu savais Paris

Régine

2011-11-12T15:11:00.000-08:00

Here are several songs by the wonderful Régine, France's most famous "realist" singer of the modern era.

Born Régine Zylberberg in 1929 in Belgium, to Polish-Jewish parents, she moved to France when she was young, started life hiding from the Nazis in occupied wartime France and later, gifted with a rich voice, became a singer in the great tradition of the realist singers of the early XXth century, such as Fréhel or Damia, but with her own touch, and very well served by great composers and writers, such as Barbara, Charles Aznavour or Serge Gainsbourg. Also at ease with disco music, she even had a hit single with the French version of Gloria Gaynor's "I will survive".
A very good actress, she also played in a few movies, such as "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution" (1976) by Herbert Ross, with Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Duvall, and Laurence Olivier.
She is also known for her famous night-clubs all around the world (she created in 1953 the concept of the discotheque and imported the twist in France). The American press dubbed her the "Queen of the Night".
Enjoy Régine's style in its many dimensions!

Les petits papiers (1967)

Mon amour ne fait jamais rien (1967)

Il s'appelle reviens (Top à Régine, 1972)

J'ai toujours porté bonheur aux hommes

L'emmerdeuse

Un jour, je quitterai tout

Jamais tra la la

Gueule de nuit

Retiens la vie (1982)

Super super Dupont (1982)

La grande Zoa / La vie by night

Reine de la nuit

Marie Laforêt

2009-07-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

Here are two beautiful songs ("El condor pasa" and "The Beach") performed by one of France's most beautiful actresses and singers, Marie Laforêt.
Marie Laforêt was born Maïténa Doumenach to Armenian parents in 1939 in Soulac-sur-Mer.
Her career began accidentally in 1959 when she replaced her sister at the last minute in a French radio talent contest "Naissance d'une étoile" ("Birth of a star") and won. Director Louis Malle then cast the young starlet in the film he was shooting at the time, "Liberté", a project he finally abandoned, making Laforêt's first appearance on screen opposite actor Alain Delon in René Clément's 1960 drama "Plein Soleil". After this film she became very popular and interpreted many roles in the 1960s. She married director Jean-Gabriel Albicocco, who cast her in some of his own works, including "La Fille aux Yeux d'Or" ("The Girl with the Golden Eyes"), based on the Balzac story, which would become her nickname. In her second film, "Saint Tropez Blues" she sang the title song and immediately started releasing singles, her first hit being 1963's "Les Vendanges de l'Amour". Her songs offered a more mature, poetic, tender alternative to the light, teenage yé-yé tunes charting in France at the time. Her melodies borrowed more from exotic folk music, especially South American and Eastern European, than from contemporary American and British pop acts. Laforêt worked with many important French composers, musicians and lyricists, such as André Popp and Pierre Cour, who provided her with a panoply of colorful, sophisticated orchestral arrangements, featuring dozens of musical instruments and creating a variety of sounds, sometimes almost Medieval, Renaissance or Baroque, other times quite modern and innovative.
At the end of the 1960s, Marie had become a rather distinctive figure in the French pop scene. Her music stood out, perhaps too much for her new label CBS Records, which expected of her more upbeat, simpler songs. She was interested in making more personal records, but finally gave in. Although her most financially successful singles ("Viens, Viens", a cover of a British hit, and "Il a neigé sur Yesterday", a ballad about the break-up of the Beatles) were released in the 1970s, Marie progressively lost interest in her singing career, moving to Geneva, Switzerland in 1978, where she opened an art gallery and abandoned music more or less altogether.
In the 1980s, Marie concentrated on her acting career, appearing in a few French and Italian films. Some music singles were eventually released, but were not popular. She made a comeback, however, in 1993 with an album (her last) for which she wrote the lyrics. In the 1990s, she again continued to work as an actress, both on screen and on stage. She has performed in a number of plays in Paris over the years, acclaimed by audiences and critics alike. In September 2005 she sang once again, going on tour in France for the first time since 1972. Every concert was sold out. Laforêt still currently resides in Geneva and has obtained Swiss citizenship.
Marie Laforêt has been in show business for nearly 50 years and has played with the greatest stars (Alain Delon, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Charles Aznavour, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Michel Piccoli, Robert Mitchum, Marcello Mastroianni...).
Enjoy Marie Laforêt's charming voice and great beauty!

Here is another beautiful song by Marie Laforêt!

Annie Cordy

2009-06-21T10:00:00.000-07:00

Here are two great standards ("If He Walked Into My Life" and "They Say It's Wonderful") performed in French by the beautiful Annie Cordy.
Léonia Cooreman known under the stage name Annie Cordy (born in Brussels, Belgium, in 1928) is a Belgian film actress and singer. Since 1954, she has recorded more than 600 songs, starred in about ten musical comedies (with Georges Guétary, Luis Mariano), thirty films (costarring with Sacha Guitry, Bourvil, Jean Gabin, Alain Delon, Charles Bronson, Charles Aznavour...) and participated in more than 6000 galas. A favourite of Maurice Chevalier, she began her career in 1950 as a meneuse de revue in the greatest Parisian cabarets. In 1956, she sang at the wedding of Grace Kelly in Monaco. She performed at the Plazza in New York, at the Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro, and in Cuba, Mexico, Porto Rico... She was offered a great contract in the USA but her manager and husband, who disliked America, refused, and, for love of him, she declined the offer! She could indeed have been a great star in the United States! Nevertheless she has toured in Berlin, Madrid, Moscow. In 1972, she starred in the French version of "Hello Dolly!" and received the award for the best European show-woman. As a singer, she received the Maurice Chevalier award in 1952 and the Grand Prix de l'Académie Charles-Cros in 1955. In 1976, she received the award for the best actress. Annie Cordy has been singing and playing for nearly 60 years and is not retired yet! She was made Baroness in 2004 by the King of Belgium.
Enjoy the typical voice (reminiscent of Alma Cogan) and beauty of Annie Cordy!

4 other great performances, typical of Annie Cordy's style!
Je t'ai donné mon coeur

Petite fleur

Rire (Make 'em laugh)

Nini la chance

Colette Magny

2008-07-10T13:59:00.000-07:00

Here is a song by the great French singer Colette Magny.
Colette Magny (1926 - 1997) was a French song writer, composer and singer. Overlooked by the media because of her political engagement, she had success in the 1960's with her blues-oriented repertoire and a big hit with her song "Melocoton (and gum balls)" (1963).
Gifted with a strong and melodious voice, she was one of the few French singers at ease with blues and jazz. She sang the poems of great French poets (Rimbaud, Artaud, Aragon, Villon) as well as the repertoire of great blues and jazz singers (Bessie Smith, Billie Holliday) or her own, very creative, songs.
Discover or rediscover the rich voice and soul of the great Colette Magny!

Another classic blues song by the great Colette Magny!

France Gall

2008-02-22T13:13:00.000-08:00

Here is a little-known but fantastic song from 1964 performed by the popular French singer France Gall. France Gall (born Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall in 1947, Paris) is the daughter of lyricist Robert Gall and Cécile Berthier, herself the daughter of Paul Berthier, co-founder of Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois. Gall was married to, and had a very successful singing career in partnership with, the well-known French singer-songwriter Michel Berger. She won the Grand Prize at the Eurovision Contest of 1965, with a song by Serge Gainsbourg and has since then accumulated hits. France Gall has been a successful singer for more than 45 years!
Enjoy her sound!

Édith Piaf

2007-09-13T14:37:00.000-07:00

Édith Piaf needs not be introduced. France's greatest singer, and Judy Garland's French cousin, she was a sublime performer gifted with a unique voice. Here she performs in English one of her most famous songs, "Lovers for a day", at the Carnegie Hall of New York, in 1957. Enjoy!

Another great standard by Édith Piaf!

John William

2007-05-04T14:59:00.000-07:00

Here is a French version of the famous song "Summertime", by the great and unjustly forgotten singer John William.
Born Ernest Armand Huss in 1922 in Grand Bassam, Ivory Coast, of a native mother and an Alsacian colonist, he was taken from his mother when he was only 18 months old, then uprooted at eight years of age. But his great tragedy was to be sent during WWII to a Nazi concentration camp along with other Black men. Finally fate will smile on him when he wins in 1952 the great prize of Deauville with the song "Je suis un Nègre" ("I am a Negro"), that seems specially written for him. Many hits and rewards will follow and the great singer will record many songs, mostly French versions of songs taken from famous American movies ("Gunfight at the O.K. Corral", "The Great Escape", "High Noon", "The Alamo", "Lawrence of Arabia", "Dr. Zhivago" [he has a best-seller in 1966 with "Lara's song"], "The Longest Day"...). From 1969 on he is the first French singer to introduce gospel and Negro spirituals in the churches of France. In 1973, he performs in Belgium, in "Show Boat", giving a great version of the famous song "Old Man River". He has recorded more than 350 hits. He was recently awarded the Légion d'Honneur.
Listen to John's deep voice and enjoy!

Patachou

2007-05-04T14:55:00.000-07:00

Here is a famous French song performed in French and English by the great singer and actress Patachou.
Patachou, born Henriette Ragon in 1918 in Paris, had several jobs before managing, in 1948, a cabaret-restaurant in Montmartre, where she began singing, at first for her own pleasure. She was nicknamed "(Lady) Patachou" (from "pâte à choux", "cream puff pastry", the restaurant having been at first a cake shop). Her raucous and original voice seduced Maurice Chevalier, who encouraged her. The singer Georges Brassens made his debut in her cabaret. She was herself the first to sing Brassens' songs. Jacques Brel and Charles Aznavour sang there too and Edith Piaf made her last appearance in Patachou's cabaret. Celebrity quickly followed and she appeared at the ABC, at Bobino, then toured in France and in the whole world: in 1953, at the London Palladium, at the Waldorf Astoria and Carnegie Hall in New York. The Americans nicknamed her "Sunshine girl". She spent more than twenty years in the USA (being more than twenty times the guest of the Ed Sullivan Show, a record for a French artist), not forgetting the Middle East, Hong Kong... In the early 170's, she toured in Japan, Sweden. In the early 1950's, she was already a famous actress, playing namely with Jean Renoir (in "French Cancan", 1955) and Sacha Guitry. Since then, she has constantly been appearing on screen and on TV too. Patachou is one of the few real icons of the great post-war French song, with a repertoire ranging from the realistic songs to the great international standards.
Enjoy Patachou's vibrant voice, with her typically Parisian accent!

And here are another examples of Patachou's great style!

Nicoletta

2007-05-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

Here is a famous song (known in English as "If We Only Have Love") performed by the great French singer Nicoletta.
Nicoletta (real name Nicole Grisoni) was born in 1944. She is one of the greatest French singers, with a special interest for jazz, blues and gospel. She made her first record in 1966, with a famous song of Édith Piaf. She soon became a big star in Canada and Ray Charles, calling her "a soul sister", considered her version of "Il est mort le soleil" ("The Sun Died") as a must and took it up, as well as Tom Jones. She has made numerous hits in France and all over Europe. This big-voiced singer is a stunner and has been in show business for more than 40 years.
Listen to her powerful rendition of this classic song and enjoy!

And here is another example of Nicoletta's great style, with a French version ("My Life is a Merry-Go-Round") of this great standard ("Does Anybody Miss Me"), sung, among others, by Shirley Bassey.

Mireille Mathieu

2007-05-04T14:44:00.000-07:00

Here is a beautiful song ("The Tightrope Walker") by one of France's most successful singers, the lovely Mireille Mathieu.
Mireille Mathieu (born in 1946) is a French singer who, besides being very successful in her own country, became a star of international stature, recording in several languages. She was born in Avignon, in Southern France, the oldest daughter of a poor family of fourteen children. She began singing as a small child, appearing in public at the age of four, singing in her church. As a young girl she worked in a factory, where she saved her money to pay for singing lessons. Discovered by Johnny Stark, France's greatest manager at the time, she made her debut at the Paris Olympia in 1965 and was immediately hailed as the next Édith Piaf. She became soon a huge star in France and all over Europe as well as in North America and Mexico. Her French cover of Engelbert Humperdinck's "The Last Waltz" generated much publicity in Great Britain and with hit after hit, she soon toured Canada and the United States where she appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and the Danny Kaye Show. In Las Vegas, she sang with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra to great applause. Still much in demand, she continues to perform regularly. She travels frequently, appearing at such venues as New York City's Carnegie Hall, Sport Palace in Montreal, Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles and Ice Palace of St. Petersburg. She has sold about 150 million copies of her albums in her 40 year career, recorded about 1200 songs in 9 languages, and was the first western singer in history who gave concerts in China. Over the years she sang duets with such luminaries as Charles Aznavour, Paul Anka, Tom Jones and many others. In 1993, she released an album devoted to her all-time idol, Édith Piaf. In 1996, she performed in Los Angeles, where she triumphed with her vibrant tribute to another of her idols, Judy Garland. Mathieu celebrated the 40th anniversary of her career at the Paris Olympia, in November 2005, after releasing her 38th French album.
Enjoy Mireille's great and vibrant voice!

A great standard by the lovely Mireille!

Françoise Hardy

2007-05-04T14:40:00.000-07:00

Here is an international song (known in English as "Now I Want To Be Loved") performed by the great and lovely French singer Françoise Hardy.
Françoise Hardy (born Françoise Madeleine Hardy in 1944 in Paris) is considered an iconic figure in many respects (fashion, music style, personality) in the francophile world. She signed her first contract with the record label Vogue in November 1961. In April 1962, shortly after finishing school, her first album appeared. The flip side of the record, "Tous les Garçons et les Filles", became a huge success, riding the wave of Yé-yé music in France, with two million copies sold. Hardy sang in French, English, Italian, Spanish, and German occasionally. In 1963 she represented Monaco in the Grand Prix d'Eurovision de la Chanson with "L'Amour s'en va" and took fifth place. In 1968, she was awarded the Grand Prix du disque of the Charles Cros Academy. In 1981, she married her long-time companion, the singer and actor Jacques Dutronc, with whom she had already had a son in 1973. In May 2000, she made a comeback with a new album. Her son played the guitar and her husband sang a duet with her. Françoise Hardy has been and is still one of the most famous and iconic French singers.
Enjoy her style and voice!

Juliette Gréco

2007-05-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

Here is a rare English version of that famous song ("Déshabillez-moi") performed by the great French singer Juliette Gréco.
Juliette Gréco (born in 1927) is a French actress as well as a very popular chanson singer. Born in Montpellier to a Corsican father and a mother active in the Résistance, in the Hérault département of southern France, she was involved also in the Résistance, and caught but not deported because of her young age. She was raised by her maternal grandparents. She moved to Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris in 1946 after her mother left the country for Indochina with the French Navy. Juliette Gréco came to be one of the stars of the bohemian "in" crowd of post-war France. She encapsulated the disenchantment and poverty of the French intellectuals following World War II in her person. She dressed in all black and let her long black hair hang free, creating an Ophelia-like look. A famous description of Juliette Gréco is that her voice "encompasses millions of poems". She was the muse of many of the writers and artists working in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Boris Vian. Some of these artists would write songs for her to sing. She fell in love with and almost married Miles Davis when he visited Paris in 1949. Gifted with a very special, deep, voice, Gréco is the symbol and the icon of an era.
Enjoy Juliette's irresistible style!

Another great performance by the sophisticated Juliette Gréco!

Fréhel

2007-05-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

Here is a great sad song from 1939 ("Sans Lendemain" - "No Tomorrow"), about love with no tomorrow, performed by one of France's most legendary singers, the sublime Fréhel, the French Bessie Smith.
Fréhel (born Marguerite Boulc'h, 1891 – 1951) was a French singer and actress. Born in Paris, France, to a poor family, she was a child left to a life on the streets in the dark side of Paris. In her teens she got a break when she met one of the female music-hall performers who heard her sing and introduced her to show business promoters. She began performing under the stage name "Pervenche". Fréhel had a relationship with Maurice Chevalier but it did not last long and after he left her for the much older megastar Mistinguett. Marguerite Boulc'h tried to escape her pain and travelled to Bucharest, Turkey and then to Russia where she remained for more than ten years. She returned to Paris in 1923 to a shocked public that saw the wasted shadow of the singer they had known and loved. She then signalled a new beginning by switching to the stage name "Fréhel", taking the name from Cap Fréhel in Brittany where her parents had been born. Singing as Fréhel, at the Paris Olympia in 1924 she recaptured the former magic with a powerful performance and was soon headlining at the most popular venues in the country. Part of what is now referred to as the bal musette, Fréhel often sang accompanied by pipes and/or an accordion player. In the 1930's, she appeared in several motion pictures, almost always portraying a singer in a minor or supporting role. The most notable films in which she performed were 1931's "Coeur des Lilas" and "Pépé le Moko" that starred Jean Gabin. She was a major show business force of 1930's France. Of all her songs, her 1939 "La Java Bleue", with music by Vincent Scotto, proved her most popular. Despite being one of Europe's most sought after performers, her destructive addictions led to her dropping out of sight for years. She never found the love she had sought for so long and died in 1951, alone in a hotel in Pigalle. She was interred in the Cimetière de Pantin, in Paris.
Enjoy Fréhel's remarkable performance and voice!

Another classic song by the great Fréhel!

Jacqueline François

2007-05-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a famous song performed with a delicious accent by the great French singer Jacqueline François.
Jacqueline François (born Jacqueline Guillemautot) was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris, in 1922. She began singing at the end of WWII. She has her first hit in 1948 with "C'est le printemps" ("Here is Spring") and wins the "Grand Prix du Disque 1948". That same year she records a song that will become her greatest hit and a world success, "Mademoiselle de Paris". She has been performing in French and English for more than four decades and she toured all over the world (she appeared in the Ed Sullivan Show in 1957), being one of the most successful and classy French singers.
Enjoy Jacqueline François' style and voice!

And here is another song by the great Jacqueline, Les lavandières du Portugal (1967).

Eva

2007-05-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

Here is a French song ("Vois", i. e. "See", that was adapted in English - under the title "Go" - and sung by many great performers such as Della Reese, Vikki Carr or Lana Cantrell), performed by the French singer Eva, gifted with a very original, deep and powerful voice.
Born in Berlin, of Russian and Lituanian origin, she goes to Paris at the age of 18 years and discovers the French repertoire in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. She begins singing in cabarets and, in 1964, her first album gets her the Grand Prix of the first record. Eva has sung everywhere, in Europe, Lebanon, Iran, Canada, Africa. In Paris, she has performed in the most famous cabarets and in the greatest theaters (Olympia and Bobino).
In 1972, Eva represented France at the festival of Sopot in Poland where she won 2 prizes, of interpretation and of composition. Recently she has performed in Canada in front of more than 5000 spectators. In her very last album "À Marlene" ("To Marlene"), made in Quebec in 2005, Eva sings in French, English and German the most beautiful songs of Marlene Dietrich.
Enjoy her powerful performance!

And here is another song, in German, Liebelei, performed live by the beautiful Eva.

Nicole Croisille

2007-05-04T14:20:00.000-07:00

Here is a famous song ("We, lovers"), performed by one of the great ladies of French song, Nicole Croisille.
Nicole Croisille was born in 1936 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris. A dancer and a singer, she began working at the end of the 1950's with Marcel Marceau and Joséphine Baker. She sang in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, in Paris and in New York. She had her first hit with a Ray Charles song, "Halleluya, I love her so". In 1964, she led the revue of the Folies Bergère in the United States. But it is Francis Lai who gave her the occasion of being famous in the whole world with the song from the film "Un homme et une femme" ("A man and a woman"). In 1968, under the name "Tuesday Jackson", she performed the song from the Marcel Carné film "Les jeunes loups", "I'll never leave you". She has been in show business for nearly 50 years. Gifted with a beautiful voice, and a great vocal range, she can belt out a song or whisper with much emotion to your ear. She has a unique and very original tone quality, recalling at time Lana Cantrell (who, by the way, sang some of Nicole's songs). She used to perform in her early years in the USA, and has been heard since on many great international stages.
Enjoy Nicole's great voice and style!

Here is another example of Croisille's style, when she was known as "Tuesday Jackson"!

And here are 2 other great songs:

Isabelle Aubret

2007-05-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

Here is a lovely song ("The Sky, The Earth And The Water", from the 1967 movie "Alexandre Le Bienheureux" - "Alexander The Blessed") performed by the great French singer Isabelle Aubret.
Isabelle Aubret was born Thérèse Coquerelle in 1938 in Lille, France (her mother was of Ukrainian origin). In 1952 she became French gymnastics champion. Her first record was released in 1961. She won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1962 representing France and singing "Un premier amour" ("A first love"). After winning the Eurovision Song Contest, Isabelle Aubret became famous, and not only in France. In 1968, she returned to the contest, again representing France, finishing third, and singing "La source" ("The spring"). Aubret was a participant in the French national heats for Eurovision in others years. Her first attempt was in 1961 with the songs "Le gars de n'importe où". She was awarded second place. Another runner-up spot came Aubret's way in 1970 when she teamed up with Daniel Bératta for the song "Olivier, Olivia". Aubret's final challenge for Eurovision was in 1983 with the patriotic "France, France" which took her to third place. From 1969 on Isabelle Aubret toured Canada, Cuba, Algeria, Poland, USSR, Germany, Japan, Finland, Marocco and many more countries. In 1976 Aubret won the "Best Singer Award" at the 5th Tokyo Music Festival. In 1990 she was awarded Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur by the French President. In 2000 Isabelle became Officier de l’Ordre du Mérite. In 1999, she has performed in Las Vegas, at the hotel Le Paris.
Listen to Isabelle's beautiful smooth voice and enjoy!