Marie et les Garçons

Marie et les Garçons were a French new wave band formed in Lyon in 1976. After Marie Girard left, the remaining members continued as Garçons.

History

In 1975, students leaving the Lycée Saint-Exupéry in Lyon formed a band, Femme Fatale, playing songs by the Velvet Underground, Roxy Music, The Seeds and others. The band members were Marie Girard (1956 - 6 August 1996) (vocals), Patrick Vidal (b. 1957) (bass, vocals), Erik Fitoussi (guitar), Christian Faye (guitar) and Philippe Girard (drums). After a few months, Philippe Girard left, and was replaced on drums by his sister Marie. Vidal took over as lead singer, Jean-Marc Vallod (bass) joined the band, and, on the advice of Marc Zermati of Skydog Records, they changed their name to Marie et les Garçons. Faye left soon afterwards.

In June 1977, the band performed at the Mont de Marsan Festival at Zermati's invitation. Their demo records were heard by Michel Esteban, founder of the leading Paris rock merchandise shop Harry Cover, who soon signed them to his new label Rebel Records. Vallod then left the band, being replaced by bassist Jean-Pierre Charriau. The band's first single, "Rien à dire", produced by Esteban and, like most of their material, written by Vidal and Fitoussi, was released in December 1977. Esteban played demos of the band to John Cale, who offered to produce the band in New York. In March 1978, they recorded another single, "Attitudes" / "Re-Bop", in New York; Cale played piano and marimba on the record. The record was released on Esteban's Rebel label in France, and then on Cale's SPY label in the US. The band also played at CBGB, supporting X-Ray Spex, before returning to Paris where they supported Patti Smith and, later in the year, Talking Heads. Later in 1978, "Re-Bop", coupled with the band's version of the Village People's "Macho Man", was issued as a single on ZE Records, the new label formed in New York by Esteban with Michael Zilkha.