name	Belinda
gender	Female
footnotes	}}

The name Belinda is a common female first name of unknown etymology. It may have been coined from Italian ''bella'' "beautiful". Some scholars have speculated that Belinda derives from the Germanic given name ''Betlindis'', or possibly a contracted form of Old High German ''Betlinde'', meaning "bright serpent" or "bright linden tree." It may also be a merge of 'Belle' ["beauty"] and 'Linda' ["pretty"], sometimes translated as "immortal beauty".

It can refer to:

People

Belinda Ang Saw Ean, a judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore

Belinda Carlisle (born 1958), the lead vocalist for the rock and roll band The Go-Go's and also a solo artist

Belinda Clark (born 1970), Australian former cricketer

Belinda Cordwell (born 1965), a former tennis player from New Zealand

Belinda Emmett (1974-2006), Australian actress and singer

Belinda Mulrooney (1872–1967), Irish-American entrepreneur who made a fortune in the Klondike Gold Rush

Belinda Neal (born 1963), former member of the Australian Senate (1994-1998) and House of Representatives (2007-2010)

Belinda Snell (born 1981), Australian basketball player

Belinda Stronach (born 1966), a businessperson and former Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons

Belinda Vernon (born 1958), former Member of Parliament of New Zealand

Belinda Wright, several persons of that name

Belinda (entertainer), a Spanish born Mexican singer and actress

Fictional characters

Belinda, a character on Mona the Vampire.

Belinda, the owner of the lock stolen in Alexander Pope's poem ''The Rape of the Lock''

Belinda, the sister of Dido, in Henry Purcell's opera ''Dido and Æneas''

* ''"Thy hand, Belinda, When I am laid in earth"'' or "''Dido's Lament''", a noted aria from the above

Belinda McDonald, played by Jane Wyman in the 1948 film ''Johnny Belinda''

Belinda Peacock (née Slater), a minor recurring character in ''EastEnders''

Other uses

Belinda (moon), a satellite of Uranus

References

Category:English given names

cs:Belinda de:Belinda (Vorname) es:Belinda (nombre) is:Belinda it:Belinda (nome) hu:Belinda nl:Belinda (voornaam) no:Belinda nn:Belinda ru:Белинда sl:Belinda

name	Claude François
background	solo_singer
birth name	Claude Antoine Marie François
alias	Cloclo
born	February 01, 1939Ismaïlia, Egypt
died	Paris, France
instrument	Vocals
genre	Pop music
occupation	Musician, singer, songwriter
years active	1962–1978
label	Fontana, Phillips, Flèche
website	}}

Claude François (1 February 1939 – 11 March 1978) was a French pop singer,songwriter and dancer. He wrote "Comme d'habitude," the original version of "My Way."

Biography

Early life

The son of an Italian (Calabrian) mother and a French father, Claude François was born in Egypt, in the city of Ismailia, where his father, Aimé François (1908–1961), was working as a shipping traffic controller on the Suez Canal. In 1951 the job took the family to the city of Port Tawfik on the Gulf of Suez.

The singer's full name was Claude Antoine Marie. It was traditional in his father's family to give boys names that start with the letter A, but his mother managed to impose her will and named him "Claude." "Antoine" was then given as a middle name, and "Marie," the name of the Virgin Mary, was also given in order to protect the child. Claude François had an older sister, Josette ( 1934- ), who wrote her memoirs in 2008.

François' mother, Lucia Mazzeï (1919–1992), also known as Chouffa, was very musical and had her son take piano and violin lessons. On his own, the boy learned to play the drums. As a result of the 1956 Suez Crisis, the family returned to live in Monaco, where they struggled financially after François' father fell ill and could not work. A young François found a job as a bank clerk and at night earned extra money playing drums with an orchestra at the luxury hotels along the French Riviera. With a good but untested nasal singing voice, he was offered a chance to sing at a hotel in the fashionable Mediterranean resort town of Juan-les-Pins. His show was well received and eventually he began to perform at the glamorous night-clubs along the Côte d'Azur. While working the clubs, he met Janet Woolcoot, an English dancer whom he married in 1960.

Professional career

thumb||right|On stageAmbitious, François moved to Paris, where there were many more opportunities to pursue his career. At the time, American Rock and Roll was taking hold in France and he took a job as part of a singing group in order to make a living. With the goal of eventually making it as a solo act, he paid the cost to record a 45rpm. Trying to capitalize on the American dance craze "The Twist", François recorded a song titled "Nabout Twist" that proved a resounding failure. Undaunted, in 1962 he recorded a cover version in French of an Everly Brothers song, "Made to Love" (aka Girls Girls Girls). Written by Phil Everly, it had been only a minor hit in America (Eddie Hodges took the song to number 14 in the Billboard charts in July 1962), but François' rendition titled "Belles Belles Belles" rocked to the top of the French charts, selling close to two million copies and making him an overnight star.

Under a new manager, François' career continued to blossom. In 1963 he followed the first success with another French adaptation of an American song, this time recording "''If I Had a Hammer''" in French as "''Si j'avais un marteau''". François met Michel Bourdais who was working for the well-known French magazine "''Salut les Copains''" ("Hi Buddies"). He liked the rigor and the precision of Michel’s drawings and asked him to draw his portrait. This drawing has remained very famous until now. Capitalizing on his blond good looks, he mimicked Elvis Presley's stage style as well as the slicked-back hair. Performing in sequined suits, François gave high-energy stage performances that had hordes of adoring teenage fans racing to the music shops to purchase his latest record or lining up to buy a ticket for his shows.

In 1964, he headlined at the Paris Olympia, a sign that he had arrived. At the end of that year, François created original new dance steps, and Michel Bourdais drew them. For the first time, they brought up the idea of setting up a show with female dancers. In January 1965, while returning from a trip to Las Vegas, Francois, fascinated by the American shows, decided to take them as a model, and eventually the project of performing on the stage with a female dancer band became clear in his mind.

A dedicated professional, François worked hard to achieve success, producing a string of massively popular hit songs and touring constantly. With the onslaught of Beatlemania, he covered their hits in French, adjusted the hair style a little and kept his success moving ahead. But his talent for kitsch extended beyond copying the works others had made famous, and he wrote songs for himself and displayed a melodic voice when singing romantic ballads.

In 1966, François created a complete new stage act using four female dancers as backup. Named "''Les Claudettes''," the sexy girls danced in the background while François did his own energetic work center stage. In a return to the Paris Olympia he added eight musicians and a full orchestra to his backup dancers, putting on a spectacular show that filled every seat in the large theater and left fans standing in the street for lack of tickets.

Divorced from his wife, in 1967 he began a relationship with Eurovision-winning singer France Gall. Their affair was short-lived and he soon met Isabelle Forêt, with whom he had two sons in two years. Flushed with enormous success and confidence, he established his own record company. In 1967, he and Jacques Revaux wrote a song in French called ''Comme d'habitude'' ("As Usual"), which became a hit in Francophone countries. Canadian singing star Paul Anka reworked it for the English-speaking public into the now legendary hit most famously sung by Frank Sinatra as ''"My Way"''.

He also sang the original version of "Parce que je t'aime, mon enfant" (Because I Love You My Child) in 1971, which, while remaining relatively little-known in France, was taken over by Elvis Presley under the title "My Boy".

Although François continued his successful formula of adapting English and American rock and roll hits for the French market, by the 1970s the market had changed and the disco craze that swept North America took root in France. For the versatile François, this was not a problem. He simply re-invented himself as the king of French disco, recording ''La plus belle chose du monde'', a French version of the Bee Gees' hit record, ''Massachusetts''.

Looking for new talent, he came across a singing family of two sisters and their cousins. These ladies became known as "Les Flêchettes" (named after "Flêche", the production label he owned). He produced a couple of albums for them before his death, and the ladies went on to sing for some of the major stars in European music.

He worked non-stop, touring across Europe, Africa and at major venues in Quebec in Canada. However, in 1971, his workload caught up with him when he collapsed on stage from exhaustion. After a brief period off, he returned to the recording studios, releasing several best-selling hits throughout the early 1970s. He expanded from owning his own record company to acquiring a celebrity magazine and a modeling agency. Although driven to achieve financial success, in 1974 he organized a concert to raise funds for a charity for handicapped children, and the following year he participated in a Paris concert to raise funds for medical research. By the mid-1970s he was single again, dating several well-known European stars. He continued to perform while overseeing his numerous business interests. In 1975, while in London, he narrowly escaped death when an IRA bomb exploded and two years later a gangster tried to shoot him while he drove his car. In 1977 and 1978, more than 15 years after his first hit record, he was still topping the musical charts with multi-million sales from hits such as ''Alexandrie Alexandra'' (this one was issued on the exact day of his burial) and performing to large audiences.

Death

After working in Switzerland, on Saturday, 11 March 1978 he returned to his Paris apartment in order to appear, the next day, on "Les Rendez-vous du Dimanche" with TV host Michel Drucker. While standing in a filled bath, he noticed a light bulb that wasn't straight, tried to straighten it with his wet hands and was accidentally electrocuted. His tragic death at only 39 years of age brought a wave of public sympathy for a French "national treasure."

François owned a house near the village of Dannemois in the Essonne department about 55 km (35 miles) south of Paris. It was a place where he liked to spend time relaxing—in the quiet countryside—and Dannemois is the town where he was buried.

On 11 March 2000, on the 22nd anniversary of his death, Place Claude-François in Paris was named in his memory; it is located right in front of the building where he died.

Partial list of songs he covered

Reach Out I'll Be There (The Four Tops): J'Attendrai

It's The Same Old Song (The Four Tops): C'est la même chanson

Bernadette (The Four Tops): Bernadette

Baby I Need Your Loving (The Four Tops) Tout le monde a besoin d'amour.

If I Had a Hammer (Pete Seeger) Si j'avais un marteau

Stop in the Name of Love (Diana Ross and the Supremes) Stop au nom de l'amour

You Keep Me Hangin' On

You Can't Hurry Love

A Little Bit of Soap: Ne t'en fais mon vieux (Recorded as "Koko", on his first record)

Made to love (The Everly Brothers): Belles! Belles! Belles!, his first hit

Venus in Blue Jeans (Mark Wynter): Ma venus en blue Jeans

I'll Be Around (The Spinners): Soudain il ne reste qu'une chanson.

I Can See Clearly Now (Johnny Nash): Toi et le soleil

Guava Jelly (Johnny Nash, a song from Bob Marley): Rubis

Tears on My Pillow (Johnny Nash): Des pleurs sur l'oreiller

Who do you think you are (Candelwick Green): On est qui on est quoi?

Chicago (Crosby Stills & Nash): Et je ne pense plus à toi

Terry (Twinkle): Terry

I Want to Hold Your Hand (The Beatles): Laisse-moi tenir ta main

Telephone line (Electric light orchestra): Sacrée chanson

Ease on Down the Road (from ''The Wiz''): Doucement sur la route

Take Me Home, Country Roads (John Denver): J'ai encore ma maison

Freedom Come Freedom Go (The Fortunes): Il fait beau, il fait bon

You've Got Your Troubles (The Fortunes): Tu as tes problèmes j'ai les miens

A Kind of Hush (Herman's Hermits): Qu'est-ce que tu deviens?

Silhouettes (Herman's Hermits): Silhouette

Daydreamer (David Cassidy): Le mal aimé

Baby Now that I Found You (The Foundations): Pourquoi?

Simon Says (1910 Fruitgum Company): Jacques a dit

D.I.V.O.R.C.E. (Dolly Parton): Les mots secrets

Nasty Dan (Johnny Cash): Sale Bonhomme

Yesterday Once More (The Carpenters): Sha la la (Hier est près de moi)

Wild World (Cat Stevens) : Fleur sauvage

Wonderful World, Beautiful People (Jimmy Cliff): Le monde est grand, les gens sont beaux.

By the Devil I Was Tempted (Blue Mink): A part ça la vie est belle

Winchester Cathedral (The New Vaudeville Band)

The Reason Why (The Byrds): Toute la vie

It Takes Two (Marvin Gaye): Il faut être deux

Carrie-Ann (The Hollies): L'homme au traineau

My Guy (Mary Wells): Ma fille

In the Country (Cliff Richard and The Shadows): A la campagne

Bend Me, Shape Me (The American Breed / Amen Corner): Serre-moi, griffe-moi

Young Girl (Gary Puckett & The Union Gap): Prends garde, petite fille

Eloïse (Barry Ryan / The Damned): Eloïse

Daydream (Wallace Collection): Rêveries

Proud Mary (Creedence Clearwater Revival): Roule

Games People Play (Joe South): Jeux dangereux

Beggin' (Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons): Reste

Oh What a Night (December '63) (Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons): Cette année-là

Show Me (Joe Tex): Cherche

Torn Between Two Lovers (Mary MacGregor): Drame entre deux amours

Every Face Tells a Story (Olivia Newton-John / Cliff Richard): Chaque visage dit une histoire

Statues without Hearts (Larry Galtin): Statues sans coeur

Mandy (Barry Manilow / Westlife): Mandy, toutes les filles de ton age

Now is the Time (Jimmy James and the Vagabonds): Laisse une chance à notre amour

I Go To Rio (Peter Allen): Je vais à Rio

At Seventeen (Janis Ian): 17 ans

I Write the Songs (Barry Manilow): Je chante des chansons

Don't Let the Good Times Fool You (Melba Montgomery): Combien de temps faut-il donc?

Please Mr Please (Olivia Newton-John): Pourquoi pleurer (sur un succès d'été)

Reggae Tune (Andy Fairweather-Low): Où s'en aller?

I'm Leaving It up to You (Dale and Grace): Il ne me reste qu'à partir

You Are Everything (The Stylistics / Marvin Gaye & Diana Ross): Tu es tout pour moi

Our Last Song Together (Neil Sedaka): Notre dernière chanson ensemble

Brother Louie (Hot Chocolate / Stories): Dis-lui pour moi

I'm Gonna Make You Love Me (Diana Ross & The Supremes): Où tu veux, quand tu veux

Breaking Up is Hard to Do (Neil Sedaka): Moi, je pense encore à toi

Tell him (The Exciters): Dis-lui

Walk Right In (Rooftop singers): Marche tout droit

Language of Love (John D Loudermilk): Langage d'amour

Bachelor Boy (Cliff Richard and The Shadows): Moi je voudrais bien me marier

From Me to You (The Beatles): Des bises de moi pour toi

How do You Do (Gerry & The Pacemakers): Comment fais-tu?

24 Hours from Tulsa (Gene Pitney): Maman chérie

Gentle on My Mind (John Hartford / Dean Martin / Elvis Presley): Si douce à mon souvenir

American Pie (Don McLean): Feu de paille

Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves (Cher): Voleurs bohémiens

I Got You Babe (Sonny & Cher): Je t'aime trop toi

Jesus Christ Superstar (Murray Head): Jésus-Christ superstar

By the Time I Get to Phoenix (Glen Campbell): Le temps que j'arrive à Marseille

Puff, the Magic Dragon (Peter, Paul and Mary): Le Dragon magique

Rose Garden (Lynn Anderson): Je te demande pardon

You’ve Got a Friend (Dusty Springfield, Carole King): Un jardin dans mon cœur

River Deep, Mountain High (Ike & Tina Turner): Combien de rivière

Another Saturday Night (Sam Cooke): La Vie d'un homme

Reggae Like It Used to Be (Paul Nicholas): C'est le reggae

Surrender (Diana Ross): Aime-moi ou quitte-moi

Sugar, Sugar (The Archies): Douce Candy

The Marvelous Toy (Tom Paxton): Le Jouet Extraordinaire

And I love you so (Don McLean) : Et Je T'Aime Tellement

External links

Claude Francois biography

Category:1939 births Category:1978 deaths Category:People from Ismailia Governorate Category:Accidental deaths by electrocution Category:Egyptian emigrants to France Category:People of Calabrian descent Category:French male singers Category:French pop singers Category:French singer-songwriters Category:French-language singers Category:French people of Italian descent Category:Accidental deaths in France Category:French people of Egyptian descent

bg:Клод Франсоа ca:Claude François cy:Claude François de:Claude François es:Claude François eo:Claude François fa:کلود فرانسوا fr:Claude François it:Claude François he:קלוד פרנסואה arz:كلود فرانسوا nl:Claude François pl:Claude François pt:Claude François ru:Франсуа, Клод

Belinda Bedekovic is a Croatian keytar player.

Biography

Born in Zagreb, Croatia, Belinda received her first keyboard, a red "Bambi," at the age of three and a half. She first appeared on TV as a five-year-old. Cameramen and the director called her a wonder child because she played a song perfectly on the first take while recording for the show. She became a child star, and it was then that she realized that music is what she loved most and what she wanted to do with her life.

Belinda joined her first band, Belinda Band, when she was 11, and the band performed all across Croatia. When she was 15, she entered music school, skipping the junior school and the first and second grades of the high school. She was enrolled into the third grade because the professors felt that she knew scores well enough to qualify. She finished school and was able to become a music teacher, but she instead chose to be an entertainer.

Recently, she has been working on the project "Tornado on the Remote Keyboard."

In 2006, she traveled to America to film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. In the movie, she and Borat play keytar together in the song "You be My Wife." In her biography, she says that Sacha Baron Cohen wanted only her for the part, so he postponed filming for a year so she could get her visa sorted out. However, she does not appear in the film at all, but appeared in the soundtrack advertisement and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

References

External links

Belinda Bedekovic official site

Belinda Bedekovic playing Tornado on her keytar

Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Croatian musicians Category:Keyboardists Category:Keytarists

fr:Belinda Bedekovic