Sacha Distel (29 January 1933 – 22 July 2004) was a French singer and guitarist who had hits with a cover version of the Academy Award-winning "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" (originally recorded by B. J. Thomas), "Scoubidou", and "The Good Life". He was born in Paris.

Career

Sacha Distel, born Alexandre Distel, was a son of Russian White émigré Leonid Distel. Sacha's uncle, Ray Ventura, was a founder of the Original Dixieland Jass Band. In the 1930s Ventura promoted and participated in the development of swing in France. When his uncle settled in Paris with his orchestra, “Les Collégiens”, Distel gave up his piano for the guitar.

In 1948, Ventura invited Distel to listen to Dizzy Gillespie perform with his orchestra, along with Bruno Coquatrix, Paul Misraki and André Hornez. Distel's efforts led to the orchestra's split, which gave birth to two rival bands: Guy Wormser's New Orleans die-hards and the cool jazz and bebop aficionados led by Distel. After meeting Hubert Damisch, a saxophone player, Sacha founded the band that would allow him to be up with the leaders. With help from Jean Marie Ingrand (bass), Mimi Perrin (piano) and Jean Louis Viale (drums), the band won the Coliseum's Night of Jazz “Meilleur Petit Orchestre Moderne” award, with Damisch and Distel winning prizes as musicians on the same night. Distel became a professional jazz guitarist. Over his career he worked alongside Dizzy Gillespie and Tony Bennett and appeared on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' in the late 1950s after establishing himself as a French crooner.

In the 1960s, he composed "La Belle Vie", a tune that made its way across the Atlantic as "The Good Life", most famously performed by Tony Bennett. French lyrics were added in the 1970s and it became Distel's signature tune. During the 1960s, he had his own variety show on French television. During the 1970s, he became popular outside France, and once hosted the Miss World contest in London. During this decade, he spent more time in the UK than in France.

In August 1980, in honour of Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, Distel performed at Buckingham Palace to mark the Queen Mother's 80th birthday. The Queen Mother was said to have been impressed by Distel's moving voice and later in the night she requested "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby", a song that had been recorded by Perry Como, one of her favourite singers.

Distel remained reasonably popular in France in the 1980s and 1990s, including a new show named after his song ''La Belle Vie''. In 2000, Distel had a part as lawyer Billy Flynn in the London production of ''Chicago''.

Personal life

Distel was involved with actress Brigitte Bardot in 1958, having invited her to his birthday party in St Tropez. The relationship ended in 1959, it being reported that Distel having allegedely refused Ms Bardot's proposal in marriage. Distel reported that she ended the affair in a press release in 1959. He married championship Olympic skier Francine Bréaud in 1963. Sacha Distel remained faithful to his wife. He said, "Anything I want in a woman I can get at home." They had two sons and he doted on his family.

Death

Sacha Distel died on 22 July 2004, aged 71, after a long illness, in Rayol-Canadel, southeast France.

Legacy

His name was used in Peter Sarstedt's song "Where Do You Go To, My Lovely?" and he appeared in the "Paris" episode of the British Series Absolutely Fabulous, where he confuses Daphne Selfe with Patsy.

The video for his song "Où Ça Où Ça" has been shown before Morrissey's concerts in Europe and the US, on his 2007 and 2008 Greatest Hits tour.

Selected filmography

''Nous irons à Deauville'' (1962)

References

External links

Sacha Distel's official website

Obituary in The Guardian

Category:1933 births Category:2004 deaths Category:Musicians from Paris Category:French male singers Category:French people of Russian descent

de:Sacha Distel es:Sacha Distel eo:Sacha Distel fr:Sacha Distel it:Sacha Distel hu:Sacha Distel nl:Sacha Distel pl:Sacha Distel pt:Sacha Distel ru:Дистель, Саша sv:Sacha Distel uk:Саша Дістель

name	Brigitte Bardot
birth name	Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot
birth date	September 28, 1934
birth place	Paris, France
other names	BB
occupation	Actress, model, singer, animal rights activist
years active	1952–73
spouse	(divorced) (divorced) (divorced)
children	1 son
awards	David di Donatello Award Legion of Honor (refused) }}

Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot (; ; born 1934) is a French former fashion model, actress and singer, and animal rights activist. She was one of the best-known sex-symbols of the 1960s.

In her early life, Bardot was an aspiring ballet dancer. She started her acting career in 1952 and, after appearing in 16 films, became world-famous due to her role in her then-husband Roger Vadim's controversial film ''And God Created Woman''. She starred in Jean-Luc Godard's 1963 cult film, ''Contempt''. She was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress for her role in Louis Malle's 1965 film, ''Viva Maria!''.

Bardot caught the attention of French intellectuals. She was the subject of Simone de Beauvoir's 1959 essay, ''The Lolita Syndrome'', which described Bardot as a "locomotive of women's history" and built upon existentialist themes to declare her the first and most liberated woman of post-war France.

Bardot retired from the entertainment industry in 1973. During her career in show business Bardot starred in 47 films, performed in numerous musical shows, and recorded 80 songs. She was awarded the Légion d'honneur in 1985 but refused to receive it.

After her retirement, Bardot established herself as an animal rights activist. During the 1990s she became controversial by criticising immigration, Islamization and Islam in France, and has been fined five times for "inciting racial hatred".

Early life

Brigitte Bardot was born in Paris to Anne-Marie 'Toty' Mucel (1912–1978) and Louis 'Pilou' Bardot (1896–1975). Her father had an engineering degree and worked with his own father (Charles Bardot) in the family business. Toty was sixteen years younger and they married in 1933. She grew up in a middle-class observant Roman Catholic family. Brigitte's mother enrolled Brigitte and her sister Marie-Jean (born 5 May 1938) in dance. Marie-Jean eventually gave up dancing lessons to complete her education, whereas Brigitte decided to concentrate on a ballet career.

In 1947 Bardot was accepted to the Conservatoire de Paris, and for three years she attended the ballet classes of Russian choreographer Boris Knyazev. (One of her classmates was Leslie Caron; fellow ballerinas nicknamed Bardot: Bichette [Little Doe]).

At the invitation of an acquaintance of her mother, she modeled in a fashion show in 1949. In the same year, she modeled for a fashion magazine "''Jardin des Modes''" managed by journalist Hélène Lazareff. Aged 15, she appeared on an 8 March 1950 cover of ELLE and was noticed by a young film director, Roger Vadim, while babysitting. He showed an issue of the magazine to director and screenwriter Marc Allégret who offered Bardot the opportunity to audition for "''Les lauriers sont coupés''" thereafter. Although Bardot got the role, the film was cancelled but it made her consider becoming an actress. Moreover, her acquaintance with Vadim, who attended the audition, influenced her further life and career.

Career

Although the European film industry was then in its ascendancy, Bardot was one of the few European actresses to have the mass media's attention in the United States, an interest which she did not reciprocate, rarely if ever going to Hollywood. She debuted in a 1952 comedy film ''Le Trou Normand'' (English title: ''Crazy for Love''). From 1952-56 she appeared in seventeen films; in 1953 she played a role in Jean Anouilh's stageplay ''L'Invitation au château'' (''Invitation to the Castle''). She received media attention when she attended the Cannes Film Festival in April 1953.

Her films of the early and mid 1950s were generally lightweight romantic dramas, some historical, in which she was cast as ingénue or siren, often in varying states of undress. She played bit parts in three English-language films, the British comedy ''Doctor at Sea'' (1955) with Dirk Bogarde, ''Helen of Troy'' (1954), in which she was understudy for the title role but only appears as Helen's handmaid, and ''Act of Love'' (1954) with Kirk Douglas. Her French-language films were dubbed for international release.

Roger Vadim was not content with this light fare. The New Wave of French and Italian art directors and their stars were riding high internationally, and he felt Bardot was being undersold. Looking for something more like an art film to push her as a serious actress, he showcased her in ''And God Created Woman'' (1956) with Jean-Louis Trintignant. The film, about an immoral teenager in a respectable small-town setting, was an international success.

In Bardot's early career, professional photographer Sam Levin's photos contributed to her image of sensuality. Onephoto shows Brigitte from behind, dressed in a white corset. British photographer Cornel Lucas made iconic images of Bardot in the 1950s and 1960s that have become representative of her public persona. She divorced Vadim in 1957 and in 1959 married actor Jacques Charrier, with whom she starred in ''Babette Goes to War''. The paparazzi preyed upon her marriage, while she and her husband clashed over the direction of her career.

''Vie privée'' (1960), directed by Louis Malle has more than an element of her life story in it. The scene in which, returning to her apartment, Bardot's character is harangued in the elevator by a middle-aged cleaning lady calling her offensive names, was based on an actual incident, and is a resonant image of celebrity in the mid-20th century. Bardot was awarded a David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign actress for the role.

Bardot withdrew to the seclusion of Southern France where she had bought the house ''La Madrague'' in Saint-Tropez in May 1958. In 1963 she starred in Jean-Luc Godard's critically acclaimed film ''Contempt''. Bardot was featured in many other films along with notable actors such as Alain Delon (''Famous Love Affairs'', ''Spirits of the Dead''), Jean Gabin (''In Case of Adversity''), Sean Connery (''Shalako''), Jean Marais (''Royal Affairs in Versailles'', ''School for Love''), Lino Ventura (''Rum Runners''), Annie Girardot (''The Novices''), Claudia Cardinale (''The Legend of Frenchie King''), Jeanne Moreau (''Viva Maria!''), Jane Birkin (''Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman'').

In 1973 Bardot announced that she was retiring from acting as "a way to get out elegantly".

She participated in various musical shows and recorded many popular songs in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly in collaboration with Serge Gainsbourg, Bob Zagury and Sacha Distel, including "Harley Davidson", "Je Me Donne A Qui Me Plait", "Bubble gum", "Contact", "Je Reviendrais Toujours Vers Toi", "L'Appareil A Sous", "La Madrague", "On Demenage", "Sidonie", "Tu Veux, Ou Tu Veux Pas?", "Le Soleil De Ma Vie" (the cover of Stevie Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life") and the notorious "Je t'aime... moi non plus".

Bardot pleaded with Gainsbourg not to release this duet and he complied with her wishes; the following year he re-recorded a version with British-born model and actress Jane Birkin, which became a massive hit all over Europe. The version with Bardot was issued in 1986 and became a popular download hit in 2006 when Universal Records made their back catalogue available to purchase online, with this version of the song ranking as the third most popular download.

Personal life

On 21 December 1952, aged 18, Bardot was married to director Roger Vadim. In order to receive permission from Bardot's parents to marry her, Vadim, originally a Russian Orthodox Christian, was urged to convert to Catholicism, although it is not clear if he ever did so. They divorced five years later, but remained friends and collaborated in later work. Bardot had an affair with her ''And God Created Woman'' co-star Jean-Louis Trintignant (married at the time to actress Stephane Audran) before her divorce from Vadim. The two lived together for about two years. Their relationship was complicated by Trintignant's frequent absence due to military service and Bardot's affair with musician Gilbert Bécaud, and they eventually separated.

The 9 February 1958 edition of the ''Los Angeles Times'' reported on the front page that Bardot was recovering in Italy from a reported nervous breakdown. A suicide attempt with sleeping pills two days earlier was denied by her public relations manager.

Family

On 18 June 1959 she married actor Jacques Charrier, by whom she had her only child, a son, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier (born 11 January 1960). After she and Charrier divorced in 1962, Nicolas was raised in the Charrier family and did not maintain close contact with Bardot until his adulthood.

Bardot's other husbands were German millionaire playboy Gunter Sachs (14 July 1966  – 1 October 1969) and Bernard d'Ormale (16 August 1992 – present). In the late 1950s she shared an exchange which called "la croisée de deux sillages" ("the crossing of two wakes") with actor and true-crime author John Gilmore, then an actor in France who was working on a New Wave film with Jean Seberg. Gilmore told ''Paris Match'': ''"I felt a beautiful warmth with Bardot but found it difficult to discuss things in any depth whatsoever."''

In the 1970s Bardot she lived with sculptor Miroslav Brozek and posed for some of his sculptures. In 1974 she Bardot appeared in a nude photo shoot in Playboy magazine, which celebrated her 40th birthday.

Animal welfare activism

In 1973, before her 39th birthday, Bardot announced her retirement. After appearing in more than forty motion pictures and recording several music albums, most notably with Serge Gainsbourg, she chose to use her fame to promote animal rights.

In 1986 she established the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals. She became a vegetarian and raised three million francs to fund the foundation by auctioning off jewelry and many personal belongings. Today she is a strong animal rights activist and a major opponent of the consumption of horse meat. In support of animal protection, she condemned seal hunting in Canada during a visit to that country with Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. She sought to discuss the issue with Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, but her request for a meeting was reportedly denied. On 25 May 2011 the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society renamed its fast interceptor vessel, formerly known as MV Gojira, as ''MV Brigitte Bardot'' in appreciation of her support.

She once had a neighbor's donkey castrated while looking after it, on the grounds of its "sexual harassment" of her own donkey and mare, for which she was taken to court by the donkey's owner in 1989. Bardot wrote a 1999 letter to Chinese President Jiang Zemin, published in French magazine VSD, in which she accused the Chinese of "torturing bears and killing the world's last tigers and rhinos to make aphrodisiacs".

She has donated more than $140,000 over two years for a mass sterilization and adoption program for Bucharest's stray dogs, estimated to number 300,000. She is planning to house many of these stray animals in a new animal rescue facility that she is having built on her property.

In August 2010 Bardot addressed a letter to the Danish Queen, Margrethe II of Denmark appealing for the sovereign to halt the killing of dolphins in the Faroe Islands. In the letter, Bardot describes the activity as a "macabre spectacle" that "is a shame for Denmark and the Faroe Islands . . . This is not a hunt but a mass slaughter . . . . an outmoded tradition that has no acceptable justification in today's world".

On 22 April 2011 French culture minister Frédéric Mitterrand officially inscribed bullfighting on a list enumerating the country's cultural heritage, a decision which Bardot is currently publicly contesting. "French culture is a culture of enlightenment and has nothing to do with bloody things like bullfighting," she wrote.

Politics and legal issues

Bardot expressed support for President Charles de Gaulle in the 1960s. Her husband Bernard d'Ormale is a former adviser of the Front National, the main nationalist party in France. Bardot never joined the party and is not a known sympathiser.

In her 1999 book "Le Carré de Pluton" (Pluto's Square), Bardot criticizes the procedure used in the ritual slaughter of sheep during the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. Additionally, in a section in the book entitled, ''Open Letter to My Lost France'', Bardot writes: "...my country, France, my homeland, my land is again invaded by an overpopulation of foreigners, especially Muslims.". For this comment, a French court fined her 30,000 francs in June 2000. She had been fined in 1997 for the original publication of this open letter in Le Figaro and again 1998 for making similar remarks.

In her 2003 book, ''Un cri dans le silence'' ("''A Scream in the Silence''"), she warned of an “Islamicization of France”, and said of Muslim immigration:}} In May 2003 the Movement Against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples (MRAP) announced they would sue Bardot for the comments. The "Ligue des droits de l'homme" (Human Rights League) announced they were considering similar legal proceedings.

In the book, she also made comparisons of her close gay friends to today's homosexuals who, "jiggle their bottoms, put their little fingers in the air and with their little castrato voices moan about what those ghastly heteros put them through" and that some contemporary homosexuals behave like "fairground freaks". In her own defence, Bardot wrote in a letter to a French gay magazine, saying, "Apart from my husband—who maybe will cross over one day as well—I am entirely surrounded by homos. For years, they have been my support, my friends, my adopted children, my confidants." Bardot's book was also against "the mixing of genes"; made attacks on modern art, which Bardot equated with "shit"; drew similarities between French politicians and weather vanes; and compared her own beliefs with previous generations who had "given their lives to push out invaders".

On 10 June 2004 Bardot was again convicted by a French court for "inciting racial hatred" and fined €5,000, the fourth such conviction/fine from a French court. Bardot denied the racial hatred charge and apologized in court, saying: "I never knowingly wanted to hurt anybody. It is not in my character."

In 2008 Bardot was convicted of inciting racial/religious hatred in relation to a letter she wrote, a copy of which she sent to Nicolas Sarkozy when he was Interior Minister of France. The letter stated her objections to Muslims in France ritually slaughtering sheep by slitting their throats without anesthetizing them first but also expressed that she was "fed up with being under the thumb of this population which is destroying us, destroying our country and imposing its habits" in reference to Muslims. The trial concluded on 3 June 2008, with a conviction and fine of 15,000 euros, the largest of her fines to date. The prosecutor stated that she was tired of charging Bardot with offences related to racial hatred.

During the 2008 United States presidential election she branded the Republican Party vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin as "stupid" and a "disgrace to women". She criticized the former governor of Alaska for her stance on global warming and gun control. She was also offended by Palin's support for Arctic oil exploration and for her lack of consideration in protecting polar bears.

On 13 August 2010 Bardot lashed out at director Kyle Newman regarding his plans to make a biographical film on her life. Her response was, "Wait until I'm dead before you make a movie about my life!". Bardot warned Newman that if the project progresses "sparks will fly".

Influence

In fashion the Bardot neckline (a wide open neck that exposes both shoulders) is named after her. Bardot popularized this style which is especially used for knitted sweaters or jumpers although it is also used for other tops and dresses.

Bardot is recognized for popularizing bikini swimwear in early films such as ''Manina'' (''Woman without a Veil'', 1952), in her appearances at Cannes and in many photo shoots.

Bardot also brought into fashion the ''choucroute'' ("Sauerkraut") hairstyle (a sort of beehive hair style) and gingham clothes after wearing a checkered pink dress, designed by Jacques Esterel, at her wedding to Charrier. She was the subject for an Andy Warhol painting.

In addition to popularizing the bikini swimming suit, Bardot has also been credited with popularizing the city of St. Tropez and the town of Armação dos Búzios in Brazil, which she visited in 1964 with her boyfriend at the time, Brazilian musician Bob Zagury. A statue by Christina Motta honours Brigitte Bardot in Armação dos Búzios.

Bardot was idolized by young John Lennon and Paul McCartney. They made plans to shoot a film featuring The Beatles and Bardot, similar to ''A Hard Day's Night'', but the plans were never fulfilled. Lennon's first wife Cynthia Powell lightened her hair color to more closely resemble Bardot, while George Harrison made comparisons between Bardot and his first wife Pattie Boyd, as Cynthia wrote later in ''A Twist of Lennon''. Lennon and Bardot met in person once, in 1968 at the Mayfair Hotel, introduced by Beatles press agent Derek Taylor; a nervous Lennon took LSD before arriving, and neither star impressed the other. (Lennon recalled in a memoir, "I was on acid, and she was on her way out.") According to the liner notes of his first (self-titled) album, musician Bob Dylan dedicated the first song he ever wrote to Bardot. He also mentioned her by name in "I Shall Be Free", which appeared on his second album, ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan''.

She dabbled in pop music and played the role of a glamour model. In 1965, she appeared as herself in the Hollywood production ''Dear Brigitte'' (1965) starring James Stewart, one of the few American films in which she appeared. She refused to travel to Hollywood to film her scene, requiring the needed cast and crew members to travel to film in Paris.

In 1970 sculptor Alain Gourdon used Bardot as the model for a bust of Marianne, the French national emblem.

In 2007 she was named among ''Empire'' magazine's 100 Sexiest Film Stars.

The first-ever official exhibition looking at Bardot's influence and legacy opened in Paris on 29 September 2009 – a day after her 75th birthday.

In May 2011, the MV Gojira of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was renamed to the MV Brigitte Bardot.

Filmography

''Le portrait de son père'' ''Royal Affairs in Versailles ''Le fils de Caroline chérie'' ''Helen of Troy (film) ''Une Parisienne'' ''The Night Heaven Fell ''La femme et le pantin'' ''L'affaire d'une nuit'' ''Please, Not Now! ''A Very Private Affair ''Contempt (film) ''Une ravissante idiote'' ''Dear Brigitte'' ''Masculin, féminin'' ''À coeur joie'' ''Histoires extraordinaires'' ''Les Femmes'' ''L'ours et la poupée'' ''Boulevard du Rhum'' ''Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman

style="background:#B0C4DE;"	Year	Film	Role	Notes
rowspan="3"	1952	''Les dents longues''	Bridesmaid
''Le trou normand''	Javotte Lemoine
''Manina, the Girl in the Bikini	Manina, la fille sans voile''	Manina
rowspan="2"	1953	|	Domino	(''His Father's Portrait'' )
''Act of Love (1953 film)	Un acte d'amour''	Mimi
rowspan="2"	1954	Si Versailles m'était conté''||	Mademoiselle de Rozille	(''Rotal Affairs in Versailles)''
''Tradita''	Anna
rowspan="5"	1955	|	Pilar d'Aranda	(''Caroline and the Rebels'')
''Futures Vedettes''	Sophie
''Doctor at Sea (film)	Doctor at Sea ''	Hélène Colbert
''The Grand Maneuver	Les grandes manoeuvres''	Lucie
''La lumière d'en face''	Olivia Marceau
rowspan="6"	1956	Helen of Troy'' ||	Andraste
''Cette sacrée gamine''	Brigitte Latour
''Nero's Weekend	Mio figlio Nerone''	Poppea
''Mademoiselle Striptease''	Agnès Dumont
''La Mariée est trop belle''	Chouchou
''And God Created Woman (1956 film)	''Et Dieu créa la femme''	Juliette Hardy
1957	|	Brigitte Laurier
rowspan="2"	1958	Les bijoutiers du clair de lune'' ||	Ursula	(''The Night Heaven Fell'')
''En cas de malheur''	Séverine Serizy
rowspan="3"	1959	|	Eva Marchand	(''A Woman Like Satan'')
''Babette s'en va-t-en guerre''	Babette
''Come Dance with Me	(film)	''Voulez-vous danser avec moi?''	Virginie Dandieu	(''Come Dance with Me!'')
rowspan="2"	1960	|	Woman in restaurant	''(It Happened at Night'') Cameo
''La Vérité (film)	La Vérité ''
rowspan="2"	1961	La Bride sur le cou'' ||	Sophie	(''Please!, Not Now!'')
''Amours célèbres''	Agnès Bernauer
rowspan="2"	1962	Vie privée'' ||	Jill	(''A Very Private Affair'')
''Le repos du guerrier''	Geneviève Le Theil
1963	Contempt '' ||	Camille Javal	(''Le Mépris'')
1964	|	Penelope Lightfeather	''(The Ravishing Idiot)'
rowspan="2"	1965	|	Herself	Cameo
''Viva Maria!''
1966	|	Actress in bistro	Cameo
1966	|	Cecile	(''Two Weeks in September '')
rowspan="2"	1968	|	Giuseppina	(''Spirits of the Dead'')
''Shalako (film)	Shalako''	Countess Irina Lazaar
1969	|	Clara	(''The Vixen'')
rowspan="2"	1970	|	Felicia	(''The Bear and the Doll'')
''Les Novices''	Agnès
rowspan="2"	1971	|	Linda Larue	''(Rum Runners)''
''The Legend of Frenchie King	Les Pétroleuses''	Louise
rowspan="2"	1973	Don Juan ou Si Don Juan était une femme'' ||	Jeanne	(''Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman'')
''The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot	L'histoire très bonne et très joyeuse de Colinot Trousse-Chemise''	Arabelle

Discography

Bardot released several albums during the 1950s and 1960s

"Sidonie" (1961, Barclay), lyrics by Charles Cros, music by Jean-Max Rivière and Yanis Spanos, guitar by Brigitte - first song, from the film ''Vie privée''

''Brigitte Bardot Sings'' (1963, Philips) - collaborations by Serge Gainsbourg ("L'Appareil à sous", "Je me donne à qui me plaît"), Jean-Max Rivière as writer ("La Madrague") and singer ("Tiens ! C'est toi !"), Claude Bolling, Gérard Bourgeois

''B.B.'' (1964, Philips) with Claude Bolling, Alain Goraguer, Gérard Bourgeois

"Ah ! Les p'tites femmes de Paris", duet with Jeanne Moreau in ''Viva Maria'' (1965, Philips) directed by Georges Delerue

''Brigitte Bardot Show 67'' (1967, Mercury) with Serge Gainsbourg (writes "Harley Davidson", "Comic Strip", "Contact" and "Bonnie and Clyde"), Sacha Distel, Manitas de Plata, Claude Brasseur, David Bailey

"Je t'aime moi non plus", duet with Serge Gainsbourg (1967, published by Philips in 1986)

''Brigitte Bardot Show'' (1968, Mercury), themes by Francis Lai

''[Burlington Cameo Brings You] Special Bardot'' (1968. RCA) with "The Good Life" by Sacha Distel and "Comic Strip (with Gainsbourg) in english

''Single Duet with Serge Gainsbourg "Bonnie and Clyde"''

"La Fille de paille"/"Je voudrais perdre la mémoire" (1969, Philips), collaboration with Gérard Lenorman

''Tu veux ou tu veux pas'' (1970, Barclay) with the hit "Tu veux ou tu veux pas", french version of the brasilian "Nem Vem Que Nas Tem" directed by François Bernheim, "John and Michael", hymn to the collective love, "Mon léopard et moi", collaboration with Darry Cowl, and "Depuis que tu m'as quitté"

"Nue au soleil"/"C'est une bossa nova" (1970, Barclay)

"Chacun son homme", duet with Annie Girardot in ''Les Novices'' (1970, Barclay)

"Boulevard du rhum" and "Plaisir d'amour", duet with Guy Marchand, in ''Boulevard du rhum'' (1971, Barclay)

"Vous ma lady", duet with Laurent Vergez, and "Tu es venu mon amour" (1973, Barclay)

"Le Soleil de ma vie", duet with Sacha Distel

"Toutes les bêtes sont à aimer" (1982, Polydor)

References

Literature

Brigitte Tast, Hans-Jürgen Tast (Hrsg.) ''Brigitte Bardot. Filme 1953–1961. Anfänge des Mythos B.B.'' (Hildesheim 1982) ISBN 3-88842-109-8.

Singer, Barnett ''Brigitte Bardot: A Biography'' (McFarland & Company, 2006) ISBN 0-7864-2515-6, ISBN 978-0-7864-2515-0

External links

Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the welfare and protection of animals

Category:1934 births Category:Animal rights advocates Category:Breast cancer survivors Category:French activists Category:French female models Category:French female singers Category:French film actors Category:French Roman Catholics Category:French-language singers Category:French vegetarians Category:Légion d'honneur refusals Category:Living people Category:MGM Records artists Category:Actors from Paris Category:Individuals associated with animal welfare

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Raymond Ventura (16 April 1908, Paris - 30 March 1979, Palma de Mallorca, Spain) was a French jazz bandleader. He played a significant role in popularizing jazz in France in the 1930s.

Career

Ventura played piano in a group called The Collegiate Five from 1924, which recorded under the name Ray Ventura and His Collegians for Columbia Records beginning in 1928. He led the group from 1929 and recorded for Decca Records and other labels through the 1930s, becoming a popular dance ensemble in France in that decade. His sidemen included Philippe Brun, Alix Combelle, and Guy Paquinet. He led a big band in South America from 1942 to 1944 before returning to lead a group in France from 1945 to 1949.

During his tour in Brazil during the Second World War he was joined by the French singer Henri Salvador (1917–2008). Two years later in Argentina the French trumpet player Georges Henry joined the group after having left the Lecuona Cuban boys. Georges Henry later worked at the creation of TV Tuppi in Brazil.

References

Category:1908 births Category:1979 deaths Category:Musicians from Paris Category:French musicians Category:Jazz bandleaders Category:Sephardi Jews de:Ray Ventura es:Ray Ventura fr:Ray Ventura nl:Ray Ventura ru:Вентура, Рэй tl:Ray Ventura

name	Sylvie Vartan
background	solo_singer
born	August 15, 1944 Iskretz, Sofia Province, Bulgaria
origin	Paris, France
genre	Yé-yé, soul, jazz, rock'n'roll, pop, disco
occupation	Singer
years active	1961–present
label	Decca, Universal
Associated acts	Johnny Hallyday
website	sylvie-vartan.com }}

Sylvie Vartan (born 15 August 1944) is a French singer. She was one of the first rock girls in France. Vartan was the most productive and active of the yé-yé style artists, considered as the toughest-sounding of those. Her performance often featured elaborate show-dance choreography. She made many appearances on French and Italian TV. Yearly shows with her husband at the time Johnny Hallyday attracted full houses at the Olympia and the Palais des congrès de Paris throughout the 1960s and mid-1970s. After a break in performances, she began recording and giving concerts of jazz ballads in French-speaking countries in late 2004.

Early life

Vartan was born in Iskretz, Sofia Province, Bulgaria. Her father, Georges Vartan, was born in France to an Armenian father and a Bulgarian mother. He worked as an attaché at the French embassy in Sofia. Her mother, Ilona (née Mayer), was Hungarian. The original family name was Vartanian, but her parents shortened it to Vartan after they fled to France. In September 1944, when the Soviet Army occupied Bulgaria, the Vartanian family house was nationalised and they moved to Sofia. In 1952, Dako Dakovski, a film director and her fathers' friend offered Sylvie a role of a schoolgirl in the movie ''Pod igoto''. The film was about Bulgarian rebels against the Turkish occupation. Being a part of the film had a lasting impression on her and made her dream of becoming an entertainer.

The privations of the postwar Bulgaria made the family emigrate to Paris in December 1952. At first they stayed in the Lion d'Argent hotel near Les Halles, where Georges found a job. The family stayed in a single room at the Angleterre Hotel for the following four years. Young Sylvie had to work hard to keep up at school and to assimilate with her schoolmates. She learned French in two years. In 1960 her family moved to an apartment in Michel Bizot Avenue. Thanks to the example of her music producer brother Eddie, teenage Sylvie's main interest became music. The most influential genres were jazz and, out of spite toward her strict high school, rock 'n' roll. Her favourites included Brenda Lee, Bill Haley and Elvis Presley.

Career

Twisting schoolgirl

In 1961 Eddie offered Sylvie to record the song "Panne d'essence" with the French rocker Frankie Jordan. The EP by Decca Records was a surprise hit. Although she was not credited on the sleeve, "Panne d'essence" provided Vartan her first appearance on French television. The journalists gave her the nickname ''la collégienne du twist''. After the "twisting schoolgirl" had finished the Victor Hugo High School, she was free to sign a contract with Decca Records to start recording her own EP. By the beginning of December, 1961 the EP with the title song "Quand le film est triste", covering Sue Thompson's "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)" was on sale. This was yet another hit, that served her first concert in Paris Olympia hall on 12 December 1961. Quickly "Est-ce que tu le sais?", her version of the Ray Charles song "What’d I Say", was released. She opened for Vince Taylor at Paris Olympia for her second concert. In July she toured France with Gilbert Bécaud. In fall, 1962 she released her version of "The Loco-Motion" on EP and her first LP ''Sylvie''. Her next hit was "Tous mes copains", issued on EP in 1962. A small part of a singer in the film ''Un clair de lune à Maubeuge'' was her first adult appearance in a movie. 250px|right|thumb|Cover of the album ''Sylvie à Nashville'' In 1963, Paul Anka offered her "I'm watching you", her first international hit (Japan, Korea). In the same year she did four TV specials and became the darling of the teen magazine ''Salut les Copains''. Six of her thirty-one songs released in 1962/1963 became top 20 European hits. In late winter 1963, Vartan toured France with Johnny Hallyday and starred with him in the movie ''D'où viens-tu, Johnny?''

Later in 1963, after announcing their engagement over the radio, the young couple performed to a noisy audience of 200,000 at the La Nation Square of Paris. At the end of the year, they traveled to Nashville, Tennessee to record an album with The Jordanaires. With the special treatment of vocalists, strings and brass sections in the true Nashville style, these recordings were a great commercial success in France. The album ''Sylvie à Nashville'' included the hits "La plus belle pour aller danser" and "Si je chante" and three news songs in English (featuring Paul Anka again for one of them). Being accompanied by the movie ''Cherchez l’idole'', the EP with "La plus belle pour aller danser" became n°1 in France, sold over a million copies in Japan, very successful in Korea and Spain too, and her 1st release in Italy. In 1964 at the Paris Olympia, she appeared as the main attraction (third performance) on the same bill as The Beatles and Trini Lopez. The commercial for the clothes “Renown” and a supporting role in the film "Patate" made her even more famous. The singer made appearances on U.S. TV:''The Ed Sullivan Show'', ''Shindig!'', ''Hullabaloo'', and an international concert tour, including Canada, South America and Polynesia. In Tokyo she gave 13 concerts in 12 days.

Yé-yé diva

In December 1964, as her husband went into military service, brother Eddie hired two English songwriting session musicians, Tommy Brown on drums and Mick Jones on guitar, as they went to record in New York. The two Brits wrote a hit for her, called "Cette lettre-là". Set in the smart design of the ''J.C. Averty Show'', "Cette lettre-là" was the first of Sylvie Vartan's TV variety night performances. In 1966-67 she recorded more original hits. "Dis moi, que tu m'aimes" was accompanied by a group of male dancers and aired on TV on 9 July 1967. "Le jour qui vient" was aired on the ''Dim dam dom'' program of the French Television 1 in color in 14 January 1968. In 11 April 1968 she suffered injuries in a traffic accident but was back on tour in August. Her new sexy cabaret dancer image was demonstrated to the French TV audience in the "Jolie poupée" show on 4 December 1968. In the show, the collaboration with Maritie and Gilbert Carpentier produced a highly entertaining result. The variety night included the performance of "Irresistiblement", accompanied by elaborate girl-group choreography, and "Jolie Poupee", a dialogue between a doll Sylvie and an adult one. The hits of the "Jolie poupée" show were released as the ''Maritza'' album. In Italy, she released a cover version of Mina's "Zum zum zum". Being the 23rd biggest selling single of the following year in Italy, Vartan's version did better in Italian charts than Mina's original. Vartan continued with her one-woman shows at the Paris Olympia in December 1968. The shows were published as the documentary ''Sylvie à L'Olympia''. For nine Saturday nights in winter of 1969, Vartan starred in the ''Doppia coppia'' variety nights of RAI, performing her hits "Irresistiblement" ("Irresistibilmente") and "Le jour qui vient" ("Una cicala canta") in Italian. In March 1969, "Irrestibilmente" entered the Italian charts at #3, peaked at #2 and stayed in Top Ten for 10 weeks. In 1969 the single was the #22 single on the Italian chart. The tender ballad "Blam blam blam", written originally for the ''Doppia coppia'', peaked at #14 of the Italian charts and was among the 100 biggest selling singles in Italy in 1969. After her world tour in autumn 1969, she returned to Italy to perform "Festa negli occhi, festa nel cuore" on a ''Canzonissima'' variety night and "C'est un jour à rester couché" on the ''Incontro con Sylvie Vartan'' TV show, recorded in the Gattopardo Club of Messina. Her appearances, dressed in short skirts and Barbarella boots, with each song having a different costume, were popular in Italy and France. The cartoonists of both countries even drew Sylvie Vartan lookalikes.

1970–today

In spite of suffering a second serious car accident in 1970, Sylvie Vartan continued extensive performing and recording and, in 1972, she starred in the film ''Malpertuis''. She sold millions of records on the RCA label (the most prolific artist on this label after Elvis Presley). Her most famous songs are "J'ai un probleme", "L'amour au Diapason", "Parle moi de ta vie", "Petit Rainbow", "Bye Bye leroy Brown", "Disco Queen". Her annual world tours and Italian TV shows, however, continued to include her best of the late sixties. In 1976, she recorded "Qu'est-ce qui fait pleurer les blondes?", a disco-style cover of a John Kongos's track, which topped the French chart for several weeks. Her disco era climaxed at the ''Dancing star'' TV show on TF1 on 10 September 1977. The show was produced by Maritie and Gilbert Carpentier. The performances were published by RCA Records as the LP ''Dancing star''. After releasing "Love again" in duet with John Denver, a #85 single on Billboard Hot 100 in 1984, she took a break from show business.

In 1990, she gave a concert at the Palace of Culture of Sofia, opening and closing with a Bulgarian song. This was her first visit to the city after her emigration. In 1991 she performed for three weeks at the Palais des Sports in Paris. She reached the charts with "Quand tu es là". After her brother Eddie died in 2001, she took another break from performing in public. In fall 2004 she started recording and giving concerts of jazz ballads in francophone countries and Japan. She performed two weeks in the Palais des congrès in 2004 and 2008 (sold out concerts each time). In 2009 she toured in Turkey, France, Japan, Switzerland and Belgium.

Artistry

Sylvie Vartan was one of the first rock girls in France. Before her, it was not common for a French pop artist to sing and dance at the same time. Sylvie Vartan was the most productive and active of the yé-yé girls; and her rock-and-roll voice and rhythms made her the toughest-sounding of those.

Influence

Vartan's concerts were said to be an excuse for some of the first violent acts of rockers in French theatres. There is a Sylvie Vartan rose variety and a toy factory named after her. The Mattel toy company designed a dummy model after her body. In 2005, the singer was appointed as WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal and Child Health in the European Region.

Honours

''Chevalier'' (Knight) of the Ordre national du Mérite on 13 November 1987, ''Officier'' (Officer) in 2006. ''Chevalier'' (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur on 14 November 1998, ''Officier'' (Officer) in 2009.

Personal life

In 1962, during her second concert in Paris Olympia hall, Vartan met Jean-Philippe Smet, known as Johnny Hallyday. On 12 April 1965, they were married in Loconville. They had a son David Michael Benjamin, later known as David Hallyday. Johnny Hallyday and Vartan were the "golden couple" of their generation in France, and their marriage was among the most carefully watched relationships for the nation's publicity. However, as Hallyday openly preferred his pals to the parenting, they had disagreements and finally divorced on 4 November 1980. She is currently married to record producer Tony Scotti. They have adopted a young Bulgarian girl, Darina. Vartan is an aunt to Eddie Vartan's son Michael Vartan.

Discography

Albums in the 1960s

1962 : ''Sylvie''

1963 : ''Twiste et Chante''

1964 : ''Sylvie a Nashville''

1965 : ''A gift wrapped from Paris''

1966 : ''Il y a deux filles en moi''

1967 : ''2'35 de bonheur''

1967 : ''Comme un garçon''

1968 : ''La Maritza''

EPs

1961 : ''Panne d'essence'' (with Frankie Jordan)

1962 : ''Le Locomotion''

1962 : ''Tous mes copains''

1963 : ''I'm watching you''

1963 : ''Si je chante''

1964 : ''La Plus Belle pour aller danser''

1965 : ''Cette lettre-là''

1965 : ''Quand tu es là''

1966 : ''Il y a deux filles en moi''

1966 : ''Par amour, par pitié''

1967 : ''2' 35 de bonheur'' (with Carlos)

1967 : ''Comme un garçon''

1968 : ''Irrésistiblement''

1968 : ''La Maritza''

1969 : ''Face au soleil''

1969 : ''Abracadabra''

1971:Parle-moi de ta vie

1973: J'ai un probleme

1974: L'amour au diapason

1974: Bye Bye Leroy Brown

1975: La Drole de fin

1975: Danse-la, Chante-la

1976: Qu-est-ce qui fait pleurer les blondes

1976: L'amour c'est comme les bateaux

1977: Petit Rainbow

1978: Fantaisie

1978: Solitude

1978: Disco Queen

1979: I don't want he night to end

1980: Nicolas

1980: Tape, Tape

1981: L'amour c'est comme une cigarette

1981: Ca va mal

1982: La sortie de secours

1983: La premiere fois qu'on s'aimera

1983: Danse ta vie

1985: If you walk away

1985: Double Exposure

1988: Femme sosu influence

1990: C'est fatal

1990: Quant tu es la

1993: Tes tendres annees

1996: Je n'aime encore que toi

1998: Darina

2004: Ce n'est pas rien

2005: La neige en ete

2009: Je chante le blues

2010: Je me detacherai

2011: Personne

Filmography

''Pod igoto'' (1952)

''Un clair de lune à Maubeuge'' (1962)

''D'où viens-tu, Johnny?'' (1964)

''Patate'' (1964)

''Malpertuis'' (1971)

''L'ange noir'' (1994)

''Mausolée pour une garce'' (2001) (TV)

Bibliography

''Jour après jour'', by Frédéric Quinonéro, to be published in 2008

''Sylvie Vartan dans la lumière'', autobiography, Xo - 2007 ISBN 9782845633377

''Entre l'ombre et la lumière'', autobiography, Xo - 2004, ISBN 2845631952

''Sylvie Vartan'', by Camilio Daccache and Isabelle Salmon, Vaderetro - 1996, ISBN 2909828417

''Sylvie Vartan, une fille de l'Est'', by Eric Cazalot and Christian Cazalot, Express Prelude & Fugue - 2003, ISBN 2843431638

''Sylvie Vartan, Revue de mode'', Paris-Musées - 2004, ISBN 2879008476

''Dictionnaire des chansons de Sylvie Vartan'', by Benoît Cachin, Tournon - 2005, ISBN 2914237340

References

External links

Official site

Unofficial site

Season's greeting cards of Association Sylvie Vartan pour la Bulgarie

Photo Gallery

Category:1944 births Category:Bulgarian Armenians Category:French Armenians Category:French expatriates in the United States Category:French female singers Category:French people of Bulgarian descent Category:French pop singers Category:Hungarian people of Armenian descent Category:Living people Category:Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Category:Officiers of the Ordre national du Mérite Category:People from Sofia Province

bg:Силви Вартан de:Sylvie Vartan es:Sylvie Vartan fr:Sylvie Vartan it:Sylvie Vartan ja:シルヴィ・ヴァルタン pl:Sylvie Vartan fi:Sylvie Vartan tr:Sylvie Vartan

name	Mireille Mathieu
background	solo_singer
alias	MimiSparrow from Avignon
born	July 22, 1946Avignon, Vaucluse, France
label	Ariola RecordsMetronome RecordsAtlantic RecordsWarner Music FranceColumbia RecordsPhilips RecordsBarclay Records
genre	Chanson, Pop standards
occupation	Singer, Publisher, Author
years active	1962–present
website	mireillemathieu.com }}

Mireille Mathieu () (born 22 July 1946) is a French chanteuse, and pop singer. Hailed in the French press as the successor to Édith Piaf, she has achieved great commercial success, recording over 1200 songs in nine different languages, with more than 120 million records sold worldwide.

Biography

Childhood to early teens

Mireille Mathieu was born and raised in Avignon, Vaucluse, France, the eldest daughter of a family of fourteen children. The youngest brother born after she had moved to Paris. Her father Roger was from Avignon, and her mother Marcelle-Sophie Poirier came to Avignon from Dunkirk in 1944, as a refugee from World War II. Roger, with his father Arcade, ran a stonemason shop outside the Saint-Véran Cemetery in Avignon, which is still in business today. The family lived in poverty, and were dependent on government housing.

Roger had once dreamed of becoming a singer, but his father Arcade disapproved, inspiring him to have one of his children learn to sing with him in church. Mireille's first paid performance before an audience, at age four, was rewarded with a lollipop. Another defining moment was seeing Édith Piaf sing on television.

Mireille performed poorly in elementary school due to dyslexia, requiring an extra year to graduate. Born left handed, her teachers used a ruler to strike her hand each time she was caught writing with it. She became right handed, although her left hand remains quite animated while singing. She has a fantastic memory, and never uses a prompter on stage. Abandoning higher education, she began work in a local factory in Montfavet at age fourteen (1960), where she helped with the family income and paid for singing lessons. Very popular at work, she often sang songs at lunch, or while working. Like her parents, she is a short woman at five-feet in height. Her sister Monique () began work at the same factory a few months later, both given bicycles on credit to commute with, making for very long days.

Mireille is Roman Catholic, and her patron Saint is Saint Rita. Saint Rita is the Saint for the Impossible. Mireille's paternal grandmother Germaine assured her that Saint Rita was the one to pray to for hopeless cases. Beyond religion, like many artists, she is unabashed about superstition and luck.

First public appearances

Mathieu began her career by participating in singing contests. Her private singing lessons were from Madame Laure Collière, who was also a piano teacher in Avignon. Self described as very stubborn in her autobiography, she wrote about singing love songs that the audience thought were inappropriate for a young girl. Thus, losing to Michèle Torr in 1962 during Avignon's first ''On Chante dans mon Quartier'' contest, and losing again in 1963. In 1964, though, she won the event with the Édith Piaf song "La Vie en rose." Her win got her a pre-audition on the televised talent show ''Jeu de la Chance'' in Paris, on which amateur singers competed for audience votes. Her participation and train fare, arranged by Raoul Colombe, the deputy mayor of Avignon. Accompanied by a pianist and dressed in black, like Piaf, she sang two Piaf songs to the audition judges and left dispirited. Non-French cannot hear it, but Parisians at the studio made fun of her Provençal accent, and her dyslexia scrambled words. For example, her sister and current manager, Monique is called "Matite" because Mireille couldn't pronounce "petite" as a child.

During a 1965 summer gala, added to the Enrico Macias concert by Raoul Colombe (her first manager), she met her future manager Johnny Stark. Mireille and her father both thought he was an American based on his mannerisms, and they nicknamed him ''l'Américain''. Stark had worked with singers such as Yves Montand, and the relationship between him and Mathieu is often described as resembling that between Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley. Stark is credited with making her a star and the successor to Piaf. By 1968, under his careful management, she was France's most popular singer.

Breakthrough: ''Télé-Dimanche'' and Olympia

On Sunday 21 November 1965, Mathieu performed live on ''Jeu de la Chance,'' a talent segment of the popular French program "Télé-Dimanche." Both the studio audience and telephone voters gave her a slight lead over five-time winner Georgette Lemaire, so the producers called it a tie. Johnny Stark officially became her manager that night, and with his longtime assistant Nadine Joubert, helped prepare Mireille to win the contest the following week. In a later interview, she underscored the importance of the event: "For me, Paris was the end of the world. I never took a train or saw a camera before. I did not know what the outcome of the adventure would be."

In the middle of her seven consecutive performances on ''Télé-Dimanche'' she performed a concert at the Paris Olympia, which propelled her to stardom. She signed with Bruno Coquatrix, the owner of the Olympia, on 20 December, and performed the only three Piaf songs she had memorized, two days later. She was hailed in the press, in France and abroad, as the "Sparrow from Avignon," in reference to Piaf's nickname "Sparrow of the Streets." The Olympia performance convinced a skeptical Paul Mauriat to work with Mireille, and song writer André Pascal joined forces to develop her into a successful act. Pascal wrote ''Mon crédo'', ''Viens dans ma rue'', ''La première étoile'' and many other hit songs for her. Her first album ''En Direct de L'Olympia'' – on the Barclay label – was released in 1966. Highly acclaimed, along with the Single's and EP's from it, the album made her a star outside of France.

A regular early contributor of material was Francis Lai, who wrote two songs: ''C'est ton nom'', and ''Un homme et une femme'' for her first album, and often accompanied her with his accordion on television. Her first record was recorded in the EMI studios, with Paul Mauriat's band. Mathieu's success led her record company, Barclay, to claim that they controlled 40% of the French pop disk market.

Mireille spent all of 1966 and 1967 touring. It was during a car ride to another concert that Stark advised Mireille that she was finally debt free, and worth more than a million francs. She had always prayed that she could get her family out of poverty, but the touring and singing were much more important at the time. In her autobiography, she said her first major purchases were a vehicle for her father's business, and a large home for her parents and siblings. Most important, a telephone, so her parents no longer had to go to the pharmacy to talk to her in Paris. Her one regret was that she was unable to see her grandmother Germaine in the hospital before she died during these tours.

Following her performance at the London Palladium, her French cover of Engelbert Humperdinck's "The Last Waltz" (La dernière valse) generated much publicity in Great Britain and was a hit even though the original had been number one only a few months previously. She also toured Canada and the United States where she appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and the Danny Kaye Show. While on a visit to Hollywood, she met Elvis Presley, and in Las Vegas sang with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra.

Career

Although the popularity of her genre suffered, given the domination of Rock and Roll and the global lack of interest in non-English popular music during her most profitable years, she remained a popular artist in France and other countries. Many thousands of fans have met her before and after performances for autographs and well wishes over the years, and the common refrain is how well she treats her fans. She easily interacts with the public.

While on tour in February 1968, Mireille was in a car accident in which she fractured one of her vertebrae; the injury sidelined her for three months. She writes in her book, that they received a note which said "we will get you next time" but it was not proved to be anything but an accident.

In 1971, Barclay was unable to meet the demands for records. Johnny Stark then made a contract for Philips Records to print all the Singles, and EP's, resulting in a US $1 Million lawsuit from Barclay for breach of contract. Barclay's contract was to run until 1972.

In 1985, Mireille joined in a huge project by Placido Domingo, called ''The Tales of Cri-Cri.'' This television special used puppets along with fifty-years of traditional Mexican songs, producing popular versions in Spanish, French, and English. Mireille's father Roger died this same year.

In 1986, she performed a concert in Beijing, China. In her autobiography she states that she was the first Western performer to give a concert, but this was in error, as at least two other Western performances preceded hers.

In 1988, Mathieu published her autobiography with co-author Jacqueline Cartier. The title is ''Oui Je Crois'' which is taken from the lyrics of ''Mon crédo,'' her first recording.

In 1989, President François Mitterrand invited Mathieu to sing a tribute to General Charles de Gaulle. Johnny Stark died the same year. Divorced and estranged from his family, Johnny was entombed in the mausoleum Mathieu in Avignon.

Mireille writes in her autobiography that she and Johnny Stark understood each other. She wanted to be a singer, and he was tired of people who just wanted to be famous. They were both hard workers, and he kept her schedule filled with lucrative contracts. She also writes that she was forbidden to read the press, and having peeked at some of it, was content to follow that rule. Stark, of course, had a heavy hand in manipulating the press. Mireille writes that her mother was often surprised to read on the front page that she was engaged to a movie star, Prince, or Duke. Upon Starks death, everyone said that no one could replace him, and it proved true, but by then the entertainment press had also matured.

The most controversial event of Mathieu's career occurred when she took over Stark's office on Avenue de Wagram, and ended her business relationships with Nadine Joubert and Vincence Stark. Her sister Monique became her business manager, and the two women have since been very successful in the industry.

In December 1990, She gave a series of concerts at the Palais des Congrès in Paris.

In 1993, she released two albums devoted to her idol, Édith Piaf, essentially retracing her roots. One album was in French, the other in German. Her unique vibrato since childhood has mostly faded by this stage, and her use of both alveolar and uvular trills, popular with many Parisian singers, becomes dominant.

In January 1996, ''Vous lui Direz'' was released. She did not perform live in France to promote the album, preferring rather to go to Los Angeles, where she gave a tribute to Judy Garland. She was dressed by Christian Lacroix.

In 1999, she released a German album ''Alles nur ein Spiel'', with Francis Lai on accordion.

In 2002, she released her thirty-seventh French album: ''De tes mains'', followed by a series of concerts at the Paris Olympia in November.

Mathieu celebrated the fortieth anniversary of her career at the Paris Olympia in November 2005, and released her thirty-eighth French album: ''Mireille Mathieu 2005''. The album reached number fourteen on the charts in France, and remained in the top 100 for several months. The performance, and interview, were recorded and released in wide-screen DVD format in 2006; however, the DVD was in European video format only.

In 2007, she gave her support to Nicolas Sarkozy who was the mayor of Neuilly sur Seine (Neuilly), where she has resided since coming to Paris in 1965. Sarkozy was elected President of France, and Prince of Andorra.

On 1 November 2008, she was a guest of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow, and performed a concert in his honor. The two visited the tent of visiting Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi.

Her recording contract with EMI-Capitol ended in 2008, but she remains active with several concerts a year. She favors a small band with background singers, rather than recordings. She is well known for singing mime during her television years, but never in concert.

On 4 November 2010 she was awarded the Russian Medal of Friendship by President Dmitry Medvedev at a State Dinner. She was in Russia and the Baltic States through-out November, returning to Paris after a concert in Warsaw, Poland on 28 November.

On 26 January 2011, Mireille was promoted from Chevalier (9 December 1999) to Officier of the Légion d'honneur.

According to her web site she has cancelled her early 2011 Israel and Japan concerts, and is instead planning to return to Moscow, Lithuania, and Estonia later in 2011. She plans to have a November concert in Israel. Neither Mireille, or her sister Monique, make statements to the press concerning cancellations. In most cases if the ticket sales don't meet their expectations, the concerts just disappear from the calendar.

Discography

See also

List of Mireille Mathieu songs

List of personalities from Avignon

References

Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:People from Avignon Category:French female singers Category:French pop singers Category:French-language singers Category:German-language singers Category:Spanish-language singers Category:English-language singers Category:Italian-language singers Category:Officiers of the Légion d'honneur

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