50 Fun Facts About French Singers

Which French singer, under five feet tall, wrote the words to her signature song 'La Vie en rose'?

Édith Piaf took her stage name from Paris slang for a sparrow, a nickname a nightclub owner gave her for her nervousness and tiny frame.

Which French pop star co-wrote 'Comme d'habitude', the song Paul Anka reworked into Frank Sinatra's 'My Way'?

Claude François co-wrote the 1967 original, and David Bowie's English lyrics for the tune were turned down before Paul Anka's version reached Frank Sinatra.

Which French songwriter recorded the duet 'Je t'aime... moi non plus' with British actress Jane Birkin?

Serge Gainsbourg's duet was denounced by the Vatican and banned from radio in several countries, yet it still topped the UK chart.

Which singer and former fashion model became first lady of France by marrying President Nicolas Sarkozy?

Carla Bruni had a surprise hit with her debut album 'Quelqu'un m'a dit', which sold two million copies five years before the wedding.

Which French Open tennis champion, discovered as a boy by Arthur Ashe, later became a popular singer?

Yannick Noah was living in Cameroon when Ashe spotted him at age 11, and in 1983 he became the first Frenchman in 37 years to win the title.

Which French singer was only 14 when her single 'Joe le taxi' became an international hit?

Vanessa Paradis went on to act in films and became a Chanel spokesmodel in 1991, chosen by Karl Lagerfeld for a perfume advert set in a birdcage.

Which actress won an Oscar for playing the singer of 'Non, je ne regrette rien' in a 2007 film?

Marion Cotillard became the first actor to win an Academy Award for a French-language performance, and the director cast her before they had even met.

In which country was Jacques Brel, the singer and writer of 'Ne me quitte pas', born?

Belgium produced Jacques Brel, who was born in Schaerbeek, Brussels. His best-known song reached English listeners as 'If You Go Away'.

Which American-born singer of 'J'ai deux amours' became the first Black woman inducted into France's Panthéon?

Josephine Baker also spied for the French Resistance in World War II, carrying secret notes pinned inside her clothing or written in invisible ink.

Which singer, credited with bringing rock and roll to France, drew about a million people to his funeral procession?

Johnny Hallyday was introduced abroad as the French version of Elvis Presley, yet he stayed little known outside the French-speaking world.

Which French-Armenian crooner, dubbed France's Frank Sinatra, topped the UK chart with his ballad 'She'?

Charles Aznavour spent four weeks at number one with it, and Elvis Costello later recorded the same song for the film Notting Hill.

Which singer of 'Tous les garçons et les filles' had a poem dedicated to her on a Bob Dylan album cover?

Françoise Hardy fascinated 1960s rock stars: Mick Jagger called her his ideal woman, and Dylan left drafts of the poem behind in a café.

Which straw-hatted French entertainer sang 'Thank Heaven for Little Girls' in the 1958 film musical 'Gigi'?

Maurice Chevalier made a boater and tuxedo his trademark, and he had been nominated for the Best Actor Oscar back in 1930.

Which singer, born in Cairo to Italian parents, became a French star who performed songs in eleven languages?

Dalida first appeared in Egyptian films under the name Dalila, a stage name she soon changed by a single letter.

Which French star of the film 'And God Created Woman' also recorded pop songs such as 'Harley Davidson'?

Brigitte Bardot recorded more than 60 songs alongside her 47 films, then quit acting in 1973 to campaign for animal rights.

Which French stage musical, adapted from a Victor Hugo novel, launched the hit song 'Belle' in 1998?

Notre-Dame de Paris gave the song to three men, Quasimodo, Frollo and Phoebus, who each sing in turn of their love for Esmeralda.

Which French singer wrote 'La Mer', the tune Bobby Darin turned into the English-language hit 'Beyond the Sea'?

Charles Trenet was nicknamed the Singing Madman, and the English version of his tune later played over the end credits of Finding Nemo.

Which singer's 'Dernière danse' became the first French-language song to pass a billion YouTube views?

Indila calls herself a child of the world, with Algerian, Cambodian, Indian and Egyptian roots. The hit led off her album Mini World.

Which French singer performed in the streets of Montmartre before her jazzy 2010 single 'Je veux' became a hit?

Zaz, born Isabelle Geffroy, mixes jazz, French variety and soul, and a magazine tipped her in 2010 as the revelation of the summer.

Which French singer starred in 'La Famille Bélier', the film later remade in English as the Oscar-winning 'CODA'?

Louane reached the semi-finals of The Voice in France before the role won her the César Award for Most Promising Actress.

Which French pop star, born in Quebec to French parents, made 'Désenchantée' her signature song?

Mylène Farmer moved to France at the age of eight and tried modelling and acting before music. The 1991 single became her most successful.

Which French teenager won the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg with 'Poupée de cire, poupée de son'?

France Gall was 17 when she won, and two decades later her tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, 'Ella, elle l'a', topped the charts in several countries.

Which Italian-born French singer and actor starred opposite Marilyn Monroe in the film 'Let's Make Love'?

Yves Montand was born Ivo Livi in a Tuscan village and grew up in Marseille, where he worked in his sister's beauty salon and on the docks.

Which singer of the French pop standard 'Les Champs-Élysées' was actually born in Brooklyn, New York?

Joe Dassin moved to Europe after his film-director father was put on the Hollywood blacklist. His signature hit began as an English song called 'Waterloo Road'.

Which Bamako-born singer of 'Djadja' performed at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris?

Aya Nakamura comes from a family of griots, the storytellers and praise singers of West Africa, and Spotify named her its most-streamed French female artist of 2019.

Which French singer and actor, born in Algeria, also won a World Series of Poker bracelet in 1998?

Patrick Bruel took the bracelet in a $5,000 Limit Hold'em event, and by 2009 he had earned more than $900,000 in tournament play.

Which one-name French singer performed 'Le Festin' on the soundtrack of the Pixar film 'Ratatouille'?

Camille also voiced the chef Colette in the French dub of the film, having earlier worked with the band Nouvelle Vague.

Which French disco singer of 'Born to Be Alive' picked a young Madonna as one of his tour dancers?

Patrick Hernandez dated her briefly after she was chosen at New York auditions, while his 1979 single became a worldwide hit.

Which singer-songwriter wrote Céline Dion's 'D'eux', the most successful French-language album ever recorded?

Jean-Jacques Goldman also shared a 1997 Grammy for Album of the Year, as co-author of three tracks on her English-language album Falling into You.

Which Corsican-born tenor recorded the Christmas favourite 'Petit Papa Noël', France's best-selling single of all time?

Tino Rossi first recorded the song for a 1946 film, having started out singing with his guitar around his home town before moving on to Marseille.

Which singer from Avignon, eldest of fourteen children, found fame on the 1965 TV talent show 'Jeu de la Chance'?

Mireille Mathieu, a stonemason's daughter, arrived in Paris with just two dresses to her name.

Which singer-songwriter and poet from Sète set verses by Victor Hugo and Paul Verlaine to guitar music?

Georges Brassens, son of a French father and an Italian mother, won his fame with elegant, harmonically complex songs for just voice and guitar.

Which singer, nicknamed the muse of existentialism in postwar Paris, had an affair with jazz trumpeter Miles Davis?

Juliette Gréco knew the writers of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and her friend Jean-Paul Sartre said she had millions of poems in her voice.

Which French-Spanish singer founded the band Mano Negra before releasing the solo album 'Clandestino'?

Manu Chao started out busking in Paris, and he sings in French, Spanish, English, Arabic, Portuguese and several other languages.

Which French singer is credited with pioneering the modern discotheque at the Whisky à Gogo club in Paris?

Régine, often called the Queen of the Night, swapped the jukebox for disc jockeys working linked turntables while keeping up her own recording career.

Which singer of 'Il est cinq heures, Paris s'éveille' won a best-actor César for playing the painter in 'Van Gogh'?

Jacques Dutronc began by writing hits for other 1960s singers before going solo, and took the title role in the biopic three decades later.

Which name was given to the 1960s French teen pop wave that grew out of the radio show 'Salut les copains'?

Yé-yé took its name from the English 'yeah! yeah!' popularised by British beat bands, and the radio show behind it first aired in 1959.

Which annual awards, first held in 1985, are regarded as the French music industry's equivalent of the Grammys?

Victoires de la Musique rank alongside the César for film and the Molière for theatre as one of the major entertainment awards in France.

Which singer from the original 'Starmania' cast died in a 1986 helicopter crash with the Paris-Dakar Rally's founder?

Daniel Balavoine was in Mali to oversee a charity project bringing water to villages in the Sahel, which relied on the rally's logistics.

Which singer of 'La Poupée qui fait non' caused a scandal with a 1972 tour poster showing his bare buttocks?

Michel Polnareff faced legal trouble over the poster, and his very first single had featured a session guitarist named Jimmy Page.

Which French singer, known as 'Monsieur 100,000 Volts', wrote the song that became 'What Now My Love' in English?

Gilbert Bécaud also wrote the tune the Everly Brothers turned into 'Let It Be Me', and he earned his nickname with his energetic stage shows.

Which French rapper, born in Dakar to parents from Chad, broke through in the early 1990s with 'Bouge de là'?

MC Solaar went on to record with the American rapper Guru for the Jazzmatazz project, and opened for De La Soul when they played Paris in 1991.

Which singer from Ajaccio won the TV talent show 'Graines de star' before her teenage hit 'Moi... Lolita'?

Alizée had an airliner named after her as a child, when her design was chosen to decorate it, and she later won Danse avec les stars.

Which singer, sponsored at 19 by actor Gérard Depardieu, had her first big hit with 'Mademoiselle chante le blues'?

Patricia Kaas grew up in Lorraine beside the German border, and later sang for France at Eurovision in Moscow, where she finished eighth.

Which Paris music-hall star, who made 'Mon Homme' her signature song, had her legs insured for 500,000 francs?

Mistinguett first recorded the song in 1920, and Fanny Brice then made it a standard for English-speaking singers under the title 'My Man'.

Which singer won the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest for France with 'L'oiseau et l'enfant', a day before turning 20?

Marie Myriam, a French singer of Portuguese descent, became the first Eurovision winner to be born after the contest itself was created.

Which singer from a Catalan Gitano family won season 3 of 'The Voice' in France as part of Team Mika?

Kendji Girac was taught to play the guitar and sing by his grandfather, and he speaks Catalan with his parents.

Which French singer topped charts in Germany, Spain and Norway in the 1980s with the single 'Voyage, voyage'?

Desireless reached number one in West Germany, Austria, Norway and Spain with the song, yet it stalled at number two at home in France.

Which Bulgarian-born singer reached number one in France in the 1960s with 'La plus belle pour aller danser'?

Sylvie Vartan sold over a million copies of the record in Japan too, and recorded an album in Nashville that included songs in English.

Which one-name singer of 'L'Aigle noir' wrote 'Göttingen', a song said to have aided Franco-German reconciliation?

Barbara was born to a Jewish family in Paris, and she was 13 when she went into hiding during the German occupation of France.