Mireille Mathieu; born 22 July 1946) is a French singer. She has recorded over 1200 songs in 11 languages, with 122 million albums sold worldwide. Mireille Mathieu was born on 22 July 1946 in Avignon, France, the eldest daughter of a family of fourteen children; the youngest brother was born after she moved to Paris. Her father Roger and his family were native to Avignon, while her mother Marcelle-Sophie, née Poirier, was from Dunkirk. She arrived in Avignon in 1944 as a refugee from World War II after her grandmother had died, and her mother went missing. Roger, with his father Arcade, ran the family stonemason shop just outside the Saint Véran cemetery main gate. The Mathieu family have been stonemasons for five generations. Today the shop is named La Marbrerie Mathieu-Mardoyan, and is still owned and operated by the family. The Mathieu family lived in poverty, with a huge improvement in their living conditions in 1954, when subsidized housing was built in the Malpeigné quarter near the cemetery. Then again in 1961 they moved to a large tenement in the Croix des Oiseaux quarter southeast of the city. Roger 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 included his operatic voice on her 1968 Christmas album, where it was mixed in with the Minuit Chrétiens song. Mireille's first paid performance before an audience, at age four, was rewarded with a lollipop when she sang on Christmas Eve 1950 during Midnight Mass. A defining moment was seeing Édith Piaf sing on television.
Mireille performed poorly in elementary school because of 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.[8] Abandoning higher education, at age 14 (1960), she began work in a local factory in Montfavet (a suburb southeast of town) where she helped with the family income and paid for her singing lessons. Popular at work, she often sang songs at lunch, or while working. Like her parents, she is a short woman at 1.52 m (5 feet) in height. Her sister Monique, born on 8 July 1947, began work at the same factory a few months later, both given bicycles on credit to commute with, making for very long days, and many bad memories of riding against the Mistral winds. The factory went out of business, so Mireille and her two oldest sisters (Monique, and Christiane) became youth counselors at a summer camp before her rise to fame, a summer where she had her fortune told by Tarot cards by an old Gypsy woman, saying she would soon mingle with Kings and Queens.
Mireille is Roman Catholic, and her adopted patron saint is Saint Rita, the Saint for the Impossible. Mireille's paternal grandmother Germaine née Charreton, 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. She has stage fright, and can often be seen making the sign of the cross before moving out on stage. Mathieu began her career by participating in an annual singing contest in Avignon called On Chante dans mon Quartier (We sing in my Neighborhood). Photos depict the affair as rather drab with a cheap curtain and one projector light. The stage was only twenty feet square, and the singer having to share that with a large piano and musicians. One cannot help but notice the large, boisterous, and mostly young audience. The judges sat at a table in front of and below the elevated stage. Anyone who signed the contract in the weeks before the show was allowed to sing. Talent scouts made this a worthwhile event for singers within hundreds of kilometers to participate in. Mireille's private singing lessons were by 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 when she sang "Les cloches de Lisbonne" at the first contest, and losing again in 1963 singing Édith Piaf's "L'Hymne à l'amour." In 1964, though, she won the event with another Piaf song: "La Vie en rose".
Her win was rewarded with a free trip to Paris, and a pre-audition for the televised talent show Jeu de la Chance (Game of Luck), where amateur singers competed for audience and telephone votes. Her participation and train fare were arranged by Raoul Colombe, the deputy mayor of Avignon. Accompanied by a pianist at the studio, 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 name and manner, and 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.
Mireille was invited to Paris by the impresario Régis Durcourt to sing on the "Song Parade" television program, on 19 November 1965. Stark promised to write to her, but after months of waiting she gave up on him, and accepted Durcourt's offer. The truth has never been revealed how, but Mireille was suddenly moved-up to compete live on the Sunday 21 November 1965 episode of "Jeu de la Chance," a talent segment of the popular French program "Télé-Dimanche." Stark's ex-wife Nanou Taddéi worked at Studio 102, and probably recognized Mireille, as she participated in her earlier pre-audition. Mathieu explained that "Song Parade" offered only one chance to sing, while "Jeu de la Chance" offered many chances to sing, but only if she won, and she intended to win. 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 and bury Georgette. Stark and Lemaire had a mutual dislike for each other. In a short film called La guerre des Piaf (War of the Sparrows) Georgette and Mireille are interviewed separately, both are small and the same height. Mireille is surrounded by her sisters Monique and Christiane, with Johnny hovering in the background as she is interviewed for the first time on camera. She appears to be uncomfortable, staring at the floor during many of the questions, even looking dumbfounded once, like a deer in the headlights. Johnny finally comes to her rescue. In a later interview, she underscored the importance of the event, stating, "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 Piaf d'Avignon (Sparrow from Avignon), in reference to Piaf's nickname "Sparrow of the Streets". All was not going well at this point. Mathieu said "I was managed to such mimicry of my idol that I thought I was not able to do anything else. It was instantly one of the biggest disappointments of my life". Stark then abandoned the Piaf direction he was taking her. 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. Together they wrote new modern material for her: Mon crédo, Viens dans ma rue, La première étoile and many other hit songs. Her first album En Direct de L'Olympia, on the Barclay label, was released in 1966. Highly acclaimed, along with the singles 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 then, during a car ride to another concert, that Stark advised Mireille that she was finally debt free, and worth more than a million francs ($200k USD in 1967). 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 stated her first major purchases were a vehicle for her father's business and a large home for her parents and siblings. Most importantly, she had a telephone installed for the family, so her parents no longer had to go to the pharmacy to talk to her while she was in Paris. Her one regret, was that she was unable to see her grandmother Germaine in the hospital before she died because of all the tour contracts. Mireille arrived in Paris with two dresses and a change of underwear, and Johnny set her up in style, sent for Mireille's two oldest sisters, and let them go shopping for a week. He then rented her a home and a maid in upscale Neuilly after she had won, and made sure she only had her singing to worry about. Johnny recorded all the expenses though, and he was fully compensated before a franc was ever put in Mireille's account. Mireille sang twice at the London Palladium during royal performances (before the Queen and her family). Once in 1967, and again in 1969. Following her second performance, her French cover of Engelbert Humperdinck's "The Last Waltz" (La dernière valse) generated much publicity in Great Britain and became a hit record 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, Nevada sang with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra.
La Paloma ade
Wenn rot wie Rubin die Sonne im Meer versinkt
Ein Lied aus vergangener Zeit in den Herzen klingt.
Das Lied
Es erzählt von einem der ging an Bord
Und da sagte er zur Liebsten ein Abschiedswort:
Weine nicht
Wenn ich einmal nicht wiederkehr!
Such einen andern dir
Nimm es nicht zu schwer!
Und eine weiße Taube fliegt dann zu dir
Bringt einen letzten Gruß übers meer von mir.
La Paloma ade!
Wie die wogende See
So ist das Leben ein Kommen und Gehn
Und wer kann es je verstehn?
Sie sah jeden Morgen fragend hinaus zum Kai -
Sein Boot "La Paloma"
Es war nie mehr dabei.
Denn eine weiße Taube zog übers Meer!
Da wußte sie
Es gibt keine Wiederkehr!
La Paloma ade!
Wie die wogende See
So ist das Leben ein Kommen und Gehn
Und wer kann es je verstehn?
Une Femme Amoureuse
Le temps qui court comme un fou
Aujourd'hui voilqu'il s'arrete sur nous
Tu me regardes et qui sait si tu me vois
Mais moi je ne vois que toi
Je n'ai plus qu'une question
Tes yeux mes yeux
Et je chante ton nom
Si quelqu'un d'autre venait
Je l'loignerais et je me dfendrais
Je suis une femme amoureuse
Et je brle d'envie de dresser autour de toi
Les murs de ma vie
C'est mon droit de t'aimer
Et de vouloir te garder
Par dessus tout
Hier aujourd'hui demain
Comptent un seul jour quand tu prends ma main
C'est comme un plan fabuleux trac l-haut
Pour l'amour de nous deux
Qu'on soit ensemble longtemps
Ouspars par des ocans
Si un danger survenait
Je l'loignerais et je me dfendrais
Je suis une femme amoureuse
Et je te parle claire , et tu dois savoir
Ce qu'une femme peut faire
C'est mon droit de t'aimer
Et de vouloir te garder
Je suis une femme amoureuse
Et jebrle d'envie de dresser autour de toi
Les murs de ma vie
C'est mon droit de t'aimer
Et de vouloir te garder
Et de vouloir te garder
La Vie En Rose
Des yeux qui font baisser les miens
Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche
Voilà le portrait sans retouches
De l'homme auquel j'appartiens
Quand il me prend dans ses bras
Il me parle tout bas
Je vois la vie en rose
Il me dit des mots d'amour
Des mots de tous les jours
Et ça m'fait quelque chose
Il est entré dans mon coeur
Une part de bonheur
Dont je connais la cause
C'est lui pour moi, moi pour lui, dans la vie
Il me l'a dit, l'a juré, pour la vie
Et dès que je l'aperçois
Alors je sens dans moi,
Mon coeur qui bat
Des nuits d'amour à plus finir
Un grand bonheur qui prend sa place
Les ennuis, les chagrins s'effacent
Heureux, heureux à en mourir
Quand il me prend dans ses bras
Il me parle tout bas
Je vois la vie en rose
Il me dit des mots d'amour
Des mots de tous les jours
Et ça m'fait quelque chose
Il est entré dans mon coeur
Une part de bonheur
Dont je connais la cause
C'est toi pour moi, moi pour toi, dans la vie
Tu me l'as dit, l'as juré, pour la vie
Et dès que je t'aperçois
Alors je sens dans moi
Mon coeur qui bat
Amour Défendu
Le vent d'octobre
Froissait la rivière
Les pluies de ma robe
Frôlaient la bruyère.
L'air était si tendre
Que j'ai voulu prendre
Ta main qu'une bague
M'avait défendu.
La seule faute
Restera la mienne,
J'ai oublié l'autre
Et j'ai dit "je t'aime".
Les fleurs de la lande
Aux couleurs de l'ombre
Ont tout recouvert
Et mon coeur s'est perdu.
Amour de rêve,
Amour de l'automne,
Quand le jour se lève
C'est l'hiver qui sonne.
On a pris le monde
Pour quelques secondes,
Mais on ne vit pas
D'un amour défendu.
Il y avait l'autre,
Il y avait ses larmes.
J'ai repris ma faute
J'ai jeté les armes.
Les fleurs de la lande
Aux couleurs de l'ombre
Où l'on s'est aimés
Ne me reverront plus.
Amour de rêve,
Amour de l'automne,
Quand le jour se lève
C'est l'hiver qui sonne.
On a pris le monde
Pour quelques secondes
Mais on ne vit pas
D'un amour défendu.
On a pris le monde
Pour quelques secondes,
Mais on ne vit pas
D'un amour défendu.
Mais on ne vit pas
D'un amour défendu.
The Best of Mireille Mathieu
No comments:
Post a Comment