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Barbara | |
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.jpg) Barbara inAmsterdam in 1965 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Monique Andrée Serf |
| Born | 9 June 1930 Paris, France |
| Died | 24 November 1997 (aged 67) Neuilly-sur-Seine, France |
| Genres | Chanson,French pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter and actress |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, piano |
| Years active | 1958–1996 |
| Labels | Universal Music Group |
Monique Andrée Serf (9 June 1930 – 24 November 1997),[1] known asBarbara, was a French singer. She took her stage name from her grandmother, Varvara Brodsky, a native ofOdesa,Ukraine. Barbara became a famouscabaretière in the late 1950s in Paris, known asLa Chanteuse de minuit ('the midnight singer'), before she started composing her own tracks, which brought her to fame. Her most famous songs include "Dis, quand reviendras-tu ?" (1962), "Ma plus belle histoire d'amour" (1966) and "L'Aigle noir" (1970), the latter of which is said to have sold over 1 million copies in just twelve hours.[2]
Born on Rue Brochant in Paris to a Jewish family, Barbara lived in northwestern Paris as a child. She then lived inRoanne from 1938 andTarbes from 1941. Barbara was 13 years old when she had to go into hiding during theGerman occupation of France in World War II. Her family was hidden by the family of conductorJean-Paul Penin from 1943 to 1945, first inPréaux and then inSaint-Marcellin.
After the war ended, Barbara's family came back to Paris in 1946, on Rue Vitruve in the20th arrondissement. Her childhood dream was to become a pianist, but a problem with her hand made such a career impossible. To console her, her parents agreed to pay for singing lessons. A neighbourhood music professor, who heard her sing, took an interest in helping her develop her talents. She was given vocal lessons and taught to minimally play the piano; eventually she enrolled at the École Supérieure de Musique in 1947. Money was a problem and she gave up her musical studies in 1948. She was first recruited at theThéâtre Mogador, before a stint in Belgium, where she performed under the stage name Barbara Brodi. Late 1951, she returned to Paris to audition at La Fontaine des Quatre Saisons, a popularcabaret in the7th arrondissement. However, as she failed to become a permanent cast member, she returned to Brussels. In 1955, she returned to Paris; with more luck, she began to sing at various cabarets throughout the capital, with a growing audience.
She was deeply scarred by the war and her family's plight. The feelings of emptiness experienced during childhood showed in her songs, particularly "Mon Enfance". She said in her uncompleted autobiography,Il était un piano noir (assembled from notes found after her death), that her father sexually abused her when she was 10 and she hated him for that. He later abandoned the family.
A tall person, Barbara dressed in black as she sang melancholy songs of lost love. From 1950 to 1951, after her father's desertion of her family, she lived in Brussels, where she became part of an active artistic community, before visitingCharleroi, where she befriended many artists. Her painter and writer friends took over an old house, converting it into workshops and a concert hall with a piano where she performed the songs ofÉdith Piaf,Juliette Gréco andGermaine Montero. However, her career evolved slowly and she struggled constantly to eke out a living.
Returning to Paris, she metJacques Brel and became a lifelong friend, singing many of his songs. Later she metGeorges Brassens, whose songs she began to use in her act and to record on her first album. In the 1950s, she sang at some of the smaller clubs and began building a fan base, particularly with the young students from theLatin Quarter. In 1957, she went back to Brussels to record her first single, but it was not until 1961 that she got a real break when she sang at theBobino Music-Hall inMontparnasse. Dressed in a long black robe, she gave a haunting performance, but the Parisian critics said she lacked naturalness and was stiff and formal in her presentation. She continued to perform at small clubs, and two years later at theThéâtre des Capucines she succeeded with the audience and critics alike, singing new material she had written herself. From that point on, her career blossomed and she signed a major recording contract in 1964 withPhilips Records.
Influenced originally by songwritersMireille andPierre MacOrlan, she developed her own style and the writing of her own songs transformed her image into that of a unique singer-songwriter. In the 1960s, she wrote her landmark song, "Ma plus belle histoire d'amour c'est vous" ("My Most Beautiful Love Story Is You"), and others for which she remains famous such as "L'aigle noir", "Nantes", "La solitude", "Göttingen" and "Une petite cantate." These five songs plus "Dis, quand reviendras-tu?" were translated into German by Belgian-German singer-songwriter Didier Caesar. The song "Göttingen" (named after the German city ofGöttingen) is said to have contributed more to post-war German–French reconciliation than any speech by a politician.[3] On the 40th anniversary of the Elysée agreement, ex-chancellorGerhard Schröder quoted from the song in his official speech in the Château de Versailles.[2]
She returned to Bobino in 1964 for several sold-out performances. She performed at theParis Olympia and other important venues in France, becoming one of her country's most beloved stars. In 1964, she released the albumBarbara chante Barbara, which became a critical and financial success, winning in 1965 theGrand Prix du Disque of the Charles Cros Academy. At the award ceremony, Barbara tore her award into several pieces, giving a piece to each of her technicians as a sign of her gratitude.[4]
In 1969, Moustaki[citation needed] wrote the theme song "Moi, je me balance" for the filmLa fiancée du pirate that Barbara sings. She announced that she would limit her concert singing, and in 1970 she made her acting début in the stage playMadame that proved to be a commercial flop. In 1971, she co-starred with Jacques Brel in a film he directed titledFranz. Two years later she starred inL'Oiseau rare directed byJean-Claude Brialy. Her final film role came in 1975 inJe suis né à Venise by choreographerMaurice Béjart.[citation needed]
In the 1970s, Barbara made appearances on television variety shows with stars such asJohnny Hallyday and a tour of Japan, Canada, Belgium, Israel, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Through the 1980s, she continued to tour and to write songs; her albumSeule was one of France's top grossing releases of 1981. The next year she was awarded theGrand Prix du Disque in recognition of her contribution toFrench culture. She developed a close working relationship with rising film starGérard Depardieu and his wife Élisabeth, collaborating on songs for film and records. In 1986, she went to New York City to perform on piano at theMetropolitan Opera withMikhail Baryshnikov in a song and dance ballet presentation. She co-wrote the music for the stage playLily Passion withLuc Plamondon, in which she co-starred with Depardieu. It told the story of a killer who murders someone each time he hears her sing.
In the latter part of the 1980s, she became active in the fight againstAIDS. She recordedSID'Amour à mort and gave outcondoms at performances. In 1988 the government of France awarded her theLegion of Honour. Health problems impeded her performing and she began to devote time to the writing of her memoirs. However, she recorded another successful album in 1996—which sold over a million copies in twelve hours—before she died of respiratory problems inNeuilly-sur-Seine (a suburb of Paris), on 24 November 1997. She was interred in the family grave at theCimetière de Bagneux in southwest Paris.
TheParis Métro stationBarbara, named in her honour and situated near her gravesite, was opened 13 January 2022, on a southern extension ofLine 4.[5][6]
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In October 1953, she married Claude John Luc Sluys, a Belgian law student, but they separated in 1956. She wrote many very personal songs, including "Nantes" about her father and "Une petite cantate", which was dedicated to her friendLiliane Benelli [fr], who had died in a car accident earlier in 1965. Later in life, she wrote a song to her public – "Ma plus belle histoire d'amour" – and another about her musicians – "Mes hommes".
Barbara's musical legacy is revealed in the writing of a number of singers, French-speaking and otherwise. A style referred to as "Nouvelle Chanson",[7] or "New Chanson", artists such asKeren Ann,Benjamin Biolay,Coralie Clement,Emilie Simon,Daphné,Vincent Delerm andTancrède[8] are often cited as exponents of the updated style. One of the few English-speaking artists to cover her work isMarc Almond, whose version of "Amours Incestueuses" ("Incestuous Loves") was released on his 1993 album"Absinthe". The Anglo-French biographerDavid Bret, a close friend of Barbara, wrote at her behest "Les Hommes Bafoués", a song about AIDS prejudice. Bret also adapted three of her songs, "Ma Plus Belle Histoire D'Amour", "La Solitude", and "Précy Jardin" into English for Barbara. These were taped in 1992, but so far have never been released.[citation needed] In 1971, the Spanish singerMaria del Mar Bonet recorded a cover of L'Aigle Noir in Catalan which was a success in Spanish-language countries.[9] L'Aigle Noir has also been adapted and sung in Spanish, and Swedish (Rikard Wolff), and many times in Japanese, also with great success.
Well-known contemporary artists such as New York-basedMartha Wainwright and Spanish singer-songwriterConchita Mendivil (who both recently reprised "Dis, Quand Reviendras-tu?",[10]), and London-based singer-songwriterAna Silvera[11] have reprised songs sung by Barbara.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion with: albums and singles as this list is just selective and she has more releases. You can help byadding to it.(March 2012) |
