Mireille Mathieu

Mireille Mathieu
Mireille and Marcelle
Background information
Also known as	Mimi Sparrow of Avignon
Born	22 July 1946 (1946-07-22) (age 64) Avignon, Vaucluse, France
Genres	Chanson, Pop standards
Occupations	Singer, Author
Years active	1962[1]–present
Labels	Ariola Records Atlantic Records Warner Music France Barclay Records
Website	Mireille Mathieu

Mireille Mathieu (French pronunciation: [miʁɛj maˈtjø]) (born July 22, 1946) is a French chanson and variety Pop singer. She has achieved great success in France, and internationally. Performing and recording music in many different languages.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Childhood to Early Teens 1.2 Late Teens to Late Forties 1.3 End of the Era 1.4 Becoming a Grande Dame 2 Current Events 3 Discography (albums) 4 Trivia 4.1 Family Mausoleum 5 See also 6 References

Biography

Childhood to Early Teens

Mireille Mathieu was born and raised in Avignon, Vaucluse, France, the eldest daughter of a family of fourteen children. Her father Roger, like his father Arcade, had a stonemason shop outside the cemetery of Avignon. Mireille's mother, Marcelle-Sophie Poirier, came to Avignon in 1944 from Dunkirk as a refuge from World War II. Mireille's parents were married in April 1946 with "un polichinelle dans le tiroir" (a bun in the oven). Roger had once dreamed of becoming a singer, but his father Arcade disapproved. This inspired him to have one of his children learn to sing well. Roger sang in church, and he taught Mireille (the oldest) to sing a childrens song at age four (against the advice of her mother, who thought she was too young). While she writes that the performance was not very good, she still remembers the applause, and that was something exciting for her. It was her first paid performance, as Roger rewarded her with a lollipop.^[2]

The family struggled financially, and it was Mireille's work ethic and her chance encounter with Johnny Stark, who was an established and gifted agent, that allowed her family to escape poverty.^[2] Her singing style is French Chanson and is lyric oriented. She is unique in her style and vocal performance.

While the family had no money, and struggled from week to week, they did not suffer from chronic moral weaknesses. Life improved in little steps, such as indoor hot water and toilet in 1954. Little Mireille no longer had to pump water outside or heat water on the stove, which was one of her family chores. The most profound event was becoming the first family in the tenement to get a television. Roger explained that if he couldn't afford to take his wife to the movies, he would bring them home to her. He was allowed to pay for it in very small payments each week. This television allowed Mireille to see Édith Piaf sing, and watch variety programs.^[2]

Mireille performed poorly in elementary school due to dyslexia. She required an extra year to graduate. Born left-handed, her teachers forced her to write right-handed by smacking her left hand with a ruler. This then caused reading and speech problems which relegated her to the rear of the class. From her first recorded interviews, until even today in her sixties, she still has facial expressions as she struggles to put the words in order. Abandoning higher education, she began work in a local factory in Montfavet at age 14, where she helped with the family income and paid for singing lessons. Her employer bought her a bicycle to commute with, and deducted a small amount from her wages each week. Very popular at work, she often sang songs at lunch, or while working. She wrote that the mistral winds would knock her off her bicycle because they were so strong, and she was so small.^[2]

Like her parents, she is a short woman, measuring five feet tall in height, with small feet. Unlike her height; However, she had a very loud voice, and a very loud laugh that she had to tame years later in Paris. In her autobiography, she mentions that others called it howling, which then really motivated her to stop doing it.

Her life is often compared to a fairy tale, but the truth is she had a raw talent, worked hard to become an entertainer, and was befriended by the best in the business. Her singing lessons were from Madame Laure Collière, who was a piano teacher on Rue des Teinturiers^[3] in Avignon. The street (Alley), even today, is where artists congregate. The distance from her home was great enough that it shows her great passion. Before this, she attempted to attend a free music class, but the students were so advanced that she again was relegated to a desk at the rear. She finally left saying "This is all Chinese to me."^[2] She is stubborn and single-minded, but learns from each public performance. Madame Collière was not strict, but Mireille finds her advice to be true whenever her performance fails. She lost to 15 year old Michèle Torr in 1962 during the cities first "On Chante dans mon Quartier" (They Sing in my Neighborhood) contest. She lost again in 1963. In 1964, at age 18, she finally wins the event with an Édith Piaf song "La vie en Rose" ("Life in Rosy Hues"), and this win allows her to call herself a singer, and opens doors for her.^[2]

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 in hopeless cases. In her autobiography, Mireille lists several miracles she attributes to her prayers. Like many artists, she is unabashed about superstition and luck. Decisions are made in an instant if they have a good number associated with them. Such as her train leaving Avignon at 1313 hours, or Johnny Starks 122 address (anything with a 22 in it, as it was the day she was born).^[2]

Télé-Dimanche (TV-Sunday) has a Télé-crochet (Talent Show) called "Le Jeu de la Chance" (The Game of Fortune) every Sunday night where amateur singers compete for audience votes (in-studio and telephone voters). The program is shown live across all of France. Today it would be much like American Idol only on a much smaller scale.

In March 1965, as a result of winning the "They Sing in my Neighborhood" contest, she was given a pre-audition for Télé-Dimanche in Paris. Like Piaf, she bought a black dress. Unable to buy her two train tickets, the city found a chaperone in a retired Colonel who was going to Paris the same day. Before going to the studio she forgoes a sweet roll and steps into a church, where she buys a candle for Saint Rita. She used the rest of her money for a taxi to and from the studio. Accompanied by a pianist, she sings two Piaf songs to an empty studio, except for one man in the audience who says "Thank you, we'll write." Roger Lanzac (the host of the show) upon meeting her, says "Good gracious, you have a strong accent!" which didn't add to her confidence. In the end she rides the train home unescorted, an adult now. While disappointed in what seemed like a complete waste of time, her spirit broken, and depressed for several months afterwards, she resolved to keep taking singing lessons.^[2]

When asked if her experience was similar to what contestants get on Star Academy, she said: "No, because they lack freshness. There are no surprises. They know they are being filmed, and there will be a winner at the end. 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."^[4]

Late Teens to Late Forties

Mireille first met her future manager Johnny Stark during a summer performance in Avignon, where he was invited to watch the local performers. He told her that she needed a lot of work, but he is interested in her career, and will write to her parents soon. He never did write, saying later that he was too busy. She and her father mistakenly think he might be an American, and he gets the nickname "L'Américain Cowboy." He is the same age as her parents, and as they become a team, she often refers to him as "Uncle Jo."^[2]

At age 19, in November 1965, she was invited to Paris to sing on a competing television program called "Song Parade." She had a close friend in Avignon whose mother, Madame Vidal, was a hairdresser. They decided on a style that is now famous. No one has ever told the secret, but a telegram was sent to Avignon the same day, which was relayed back to Mireille in Paris. Télé-Dimanche wanted her at their studio immediately. They forced her to decide between "Song Parade" and "The Game of Fortune". She was alone, without an adviser, but decided on "The Game of Fortune". Her only reason for the decision, was that she would have multiple appearances if she won the singing competition, while "Song Parade" only had one chance to perform. She also admits that "The Game of Fortune" and Roger Lanzac is the families favorite television program. The only friendly face the whole day was Nanou Taddéi, who treated her with respect. Nanou later told Mireille that she is Johnny Starks ex-wife. Mireille at this stage is still socially inept, and a bit shy due to her father's over-protectiveness. She mentions some of this, humorously, in her book, such as being completely confused when told that a man she found attractive "didn't like women."^[2]

Both programs were performed live (direct transmission) in those days. She sang that Sunday (November 21, 1965) and Johnny Stark changed from pajamas to a suit in thirty seconds and traveled to the studio to re-introduce himself.^[2] Five days later France launches its first satellite, and it took longer to reach outer space than Johnny's trip to the television studio. While he liked Mireille's raw talent in Avignon, it was her photogenic image on television that convinced him she could be a big star. Both the studio audience and telephone voters gave her a slight lead over Georgette Lemaire, so the producers called it a tie. Georgette had won for five weeks in a row before the tie. Johnny Stark was not with a contract yet, but the week was a whirlwind between them, designed to put her on top, and to meet the press. She went on again the next week and won outright, with another Piaf song, and a record audience. The earlier tie attracted even more viewers. The win had a little controversy because Georgette had signed with a label and was now considered a professional, and no longer elligible.^[2]

She was exactly what Stark was looking for as a pop singer. After a debut performance at the Paris Olympia of three Piaf songs, she was hailed as another Piaf because of her haunting voice. This title was not without controversy, and many older artists resented the comparison. Calling her Edith Mathieu, and trying to copy Piaf's style. Léo Ferré (known also for rejecting his Légion d'honneur) even wrote a song called "To a Dead Singer", but Barclay censored it because of its virulent attack on Mireille.^[5] This really boiled-over in the Paris press, but Johnny Stark made it a rule for her (which she admits to sometimes failing to heed) that she was to read none of the press, either good or bad. Johnny answered all the charges in the press, in a way that rang true to the public, and the people who were the most critical, were merely seen as scoundrels. Mireille herself wrote, that she didn't think Ferré was all that critical, but was mostly misunderstood.^[2] Known in Germany ever since, as "Spatz von Avignon", or "Sparrow from Avignon" in reference to Piaf's nickname "The Little Sparrow".

It was this Olympia performance, that convinced a skeptical Paul Mauriat to work with Mireille. Song writer André Pascal joined forces to develop her into a successful act.^[2] Pascal wrote "Mon crédo", "Viens dans ma rue", "La première étoile" and many other hit songs for her. Bruno Coquatrix, who owned the Olympia was very worried it might be too soon for her to perform there, but both Johnny and Mireille were excited to do it.^[2] The Olympia was a popular place until Bruno died in 1979, and then it just declined with bad management. Singing here in the 80's was not a pleasant experience. Almost relegated to a parking lot, it was reborn in 1993, and is again a wonderful place for both the artists and the public. For Mireille in 1965, this was a dream come true, and fear of failure was not in her vocabulary.

Like Piaf, and modest by nature, she dressed and presented herself to appeal to a more conservative audience, maintaining the appearance of a society woman, not the girlish pop outfits that stars like Sylvie Vartan, and France Gall wore. She writes that she was not ready for dresses above the knee just starting out, but was aware of others calling her black dress a "pensioners" dress. Style changes came quickly, and were always in good taste. Her favorite expression at this stage is "Je rougir jusqu'à la racine de mes cheveux" (I blushed to the roots of my hair), because the Parisians and artists have none of her provincial modesty.^[2]

Blessed with a vibrant personality and a huge smile, she could turn mediocre interviews and television programs into highly rated programs. It isn't just a smile, it's an expression of joy that she transmits, and people feel she'd rather be no place else. Stark began investing in her right away, renting her a home and buying clothes so she could work in Paris. Nadine Jaubert, Johnny's assistant, was a great friend to her, during her rise to stardom. Stark introduced her to other entertainers, who found her refreshing. Maurice Chevalier had Johnny bring her to his home in Marnes-la-Coquette, and while Johnny was always making excuses about her being a débutante, Maurice took her aside and said he didn't know anything when he first started either, and it was nothing to make excuses about. They were friends and confidants for the rest of his life. Stark found Eddie Barclay of Barclay Records excited to produce her, so both invested in studio time at EMI for Mireille and Mauriat and listened to hundreds of new songs to get her past the Piaf stage. Her first album En Direct de L'Olympia - on the Barclay label - was released in 1966. Highly acclaimed, along with the singles from it, made her a huge star outside of France.^[2]

She was introduced to Francis Lai early on, who wrote two songs for her first album ("C'est ton nom", and "Un homme et une femme"). He was often seen playing accordion on her television programs where she sang many of his songs. A joke perpetuated by them is that he is her "accordionist" although, truth told, she is really his singer. She describes their first meeting as wanting to run to a church for protection against evil, only to find that his black painted room with red lights was how he simulated night during the day, and what inspired him to write music. When they were invited to the Huntsville, Texas Prison Rodeo, Francis said he was never so afraid in his life, and Mireille put on her sunglasses so she could close her eyes and not watch. She believes the condemned prisoners playing beautiful music from a hanging cage are playing for their pardon, but is told they will be executed. The two find the contrast between their tour of NASA and the Prison to be complete insanity, but also completely American.^[2]

Mireille tells of going into the EMI studio for the first time, and seeing Mauriat's band playing. What she didn't understand; however, was that the next day she would be singing all alone. Placed before a microphone, and wearing headsets for the first time (which were very large by today's standards), she found she couldn't perform. They were constantly stopping to tell her to start over again. As she finally broke down in tears, she noticed the people in the control room were just reading a paper or whistling to themselves. She ended up needing a second day in the studio, which cost a fortune. Francis Lai finally comforted her, saying not to worry, as they only take the good parts, and throw the rest away. They do that with everybody, he says.^[2]

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. With hit after hit, she soon 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 to great acclaim.

She was the first Western singer to give a concert in communist China. Over the years, she has sung with many famous singers and ensembles, including: Red Army Choir, Charles Aznavour, Barry Manilow, Paul Anka, Plácido Domingo, Julio Iglesias, Tom Jones, and Peter Alexander.

Performances such as "Ma Pomme", "Acropolis adieu," "Ne me quitte pas", and "Santa Maria de la mer," are considered classics. Her French version of Roy Orbison's ballad, "Blue Bayou", was regarded by many as one of the best covers of that popular song. Noted French/Algerian lyricist Eddy Marnay (who wrote songs for Edith Piaf during her later career) was the author of several songs Mireille recorded and popularized.

Before 1967 she was debt free, and easily worth a million franc's. Her prayer of getting her family out of poverty finally answered. Her first large purchases was a vehicle to help Roger in his business, and then a home to give them the space they needed for the large family. Most important, a telephone, so they no longer had to go down to the Pharmacy.^[2]

End of the Era

She has sold about 122 million copies of her albums in her forty-plus year career, and recorded about 1200 songs in nine languages. As Rock and Roll dominated the recording industry during her most profitable years, she was basically singing to the baby boomer generations parents. The tremendous sales volume shows how popular she was worldwide in spite of the dominant Rock and Roll. Singing artists are not paid well from just record sales, so her wealth can be more attributed to her concert ticket sales and television performances. She is still popular today, with new musicians rediscovering the era and finding her music and lyrics attractive in their own performances.

Like most Pop singers in the 1980s, and through the disco, punk rock, and Rap eras, she and many others became essentially irrelevant to the industry which ignored non-English pop music. Variety programs were no longer given prime time slots. Johnny Starks health began falling apart, ending with his divorce from Nicole Bertho in 1980, and then death in 1989. Her father died in the middle of this turmoil in 1985. Mireille then changed her appearance (the inverted bob haircut), and performance style (more hip movements which the audience found comical), of which neither increased her french audience or record sales. The German audience; However, increased as the others waned. As such, her 2010 tour was dedicated to her German audience.

Her sister, Monique "Matite" Mathieu (born July 8, 1947)^[6], became Mireille's business manager after a bit of turmoil following Johnny Stark's second heart attack, and death on April 24, 1989. Johnny Stark was buried in the Saint-Véran Cemetery of Avignon, in the family mausoleum Mathieu.

Becoming a Grande Dame

In 1989, President François Mitterrand invited Mireille Mathieu to sing a tribute to General Charles de Gaulle. She gave a series of concerts at the Palais des Congrès in Paris in December 1990.

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.

In January 1996, "Vous lui direz…" was released. Maxime le Forestier wrote one of the titles, "À la moitié de la distance". She did not perform live in France to promote the album, preferring rather to go to Los Angeles, where she triumphed on November 14 with her vibrant tribute to one of her idols, Judy Garland. The performance was a tremendous success. She was dressed by Provence couturier Christian Lacroix.^[7]

In 1999, she released a very popular German album "Alles nur ein spiel" (It Was All Just a Game), probably one of the best chanson songs ever written in German. She sang in a stronger voice and lower in pitch than normal. Francis Lai performs a beautiful accordion accompaniment.

In 2002, she released her thirty-seventh French album "De tes mains" (Of Thy Hands). After seven years without a French album, EMI was excited to have her do an album, and she was excited to get Mick Lanaro to produce it. She also did another run at the Paris Olympia in November 2002. Of the album, she said: "I'm aware that this album's not particularly upbeat or gay, but when I listened to the songs they all really moved me in some way." She also went on to say that French people were surprised she was still alive, because variety shows were no longer on television. She explained: "...people are bored of seeing the same old faces miming to playback!" ^[8] Called a "comeback album" it is really just more of the same. She continues to favor live concerts over the lackluster recording industry.

Mireille also celebrated the fortieth anniversary of her career at the Paris Olympia in November 2005. She entertained a sold-out raucus audience, and also 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. Her performance of "Une place dans mon coeur" (A Place in My Heart) being a very popular song in her concerts ever since. She sometimes sings the refrain A cappella, like she did at the Olympia, and the older men in the audience will all clutch their hearts, the audience singing along. The concert was beautifully recorded on DVD with wide screen and surround sound, but was never released in the NTSC format, so most North Americans have never seen it. She again is indifferent to a new media format and market, which like records, leaves little monetary incentive for the singer.

As with any public figure, she gets criticized by the press. For the 2005 album interview she answered the charge of her "abandonment" of France with "Stop criticizing me. My country should be proud of me, as it is when it sends its footballers to play around the world. France allowed me to blossom, I flew on my own wings, but I will always come back to the nest."^[4]

In 2008, she was a guest of President Vladimir Putin in Russia, and performed a concert in his honor. She also visited the tent of visiting Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi with President Putin.

Current Events

Mireille still performs several nostalgia concerts a year. She performed a German tour in 2010, and plans a Baltic tour for the end of 2010.

On Bastille day, July 14, 2010, Mireille Mathieu was promoted from Chevalier (1999) to Officier of the Légion d'honneur.^[9]

Discography (albums)

Trivia

The name Mireille is derived from the Provençal name Mireio. It means "to admire." Interestingly, Mireille's sister Monique, who is her agent, has a name that means "advisor."

Her mother Marcelle gave birth to her last child (Vincent), when Mireille was 19 and living in Paris. Marcelle was pregnant basically, for twenty years. Mireille has six sisters: Monique, Christiane, Marie-France, Réjane, Sophie-Simone, Béatrice. Mireille has seven brothers: Régis, Guy, Roger, Jean-Pierre, Rémi, Philippe, Vincent. Régis and Guy are twins.^[2]

Mireille has not been married or had children. Folklore has it, she had enough changing diapers of her brothers and sisters to last two lifetimes.

Mireille and her family has suffered from stalkers, and free-range mental cases since the start of her career. On top of the mentally unstable, are the criminals who have tried to defraud them. She lists some of the more extreme cases in her book.^[2] Laws today protect artists and their families from these stalkers. You can see some of this activity today by doing a search of youtube. The stalkers are the ones who have web sites with a thousand pictures scanned-in from every magazine article ever written. If the picture doesn't exist, they create one. The bootleg recordings from Russia are a common theme.

Mireille has a fear of water (but not Aquaphobia). Never learning to swim, she avoids water deeper than her legs, and pictures of her near water almost always show her holding on to something or someone.^[2]

Her mother Marcelle, and her sister Monique have been constant companions when on tour, Monique is her roommate in Neuilly.

In 1978, Mireille became the second face of Marianne. The first being Brigitte Bardot in 1969. Catherine Deneuve replaced Mireille seven years later, after her father died in 1985. The French government no longer mentions her name, or others that followed, on the official Marianne web page. Only mentioning Brigitte Bardot, and Catherine Deneuve.

Many of Mireille's recordings since 1969 have featured members of "Les Fléchettes" (The Darts) (Francine Chantereau, Martine Latorre, Dominique Poulain and Catherine Welch) as backing chorus vocalists. The Fléchettes sang backing vocals for many famous artists at EMI, and were named after the record label of the late Claude Francois (Disques Flèches).

Mireille still maintains an office at the same address in the northwest 17th arrondissement of Paris^[10], where she and Johnny Stark developed her career, which is a short commute from her home in Neuilly.

Mireille's Grandfather Arcade, and father Roger Mathieu's stonecutting shop, is still just outside the cemetery gate in Avignon.^[11]

Roger is noted for creating the tombstone of Albert Camus.

She is listed in the International Who's Who of women.^[1]

Family Mausoleum

Located in the Saint-Véran Cemetery in Avignon^[12], the mausoleum has the following inscription as of 2002 (Vve means Veuve or Widow in French). The notes are not part of the inscription:

Top Half Centered

À la mémoire de notre fille et soeur bien aimée
Simone Mathieu 1926 - 1928 (Note: Sister of Roger and Irene)

ICI REPOSENT

Bottom Left Half

Raoul Charreton 1909 - 1961 (Note: Germaine's Brother)

Arcade Mathieu 1894 - 1965 (Note: Roger's Father, fluent in French and Occitan^[2])
Ancien Combattant de Verdun 14 - 18

Germaine Charreton (Note: Arcade's Wife, Roger's Mother, Due to contracts/travel, Mireille could not be with her as she died^[2])
Vve Mathieu 1894 - 1966

Irene Mathieu 1921 - 1973 (Note: Roger's Sister, Mireille's Godmother and roommate in Paris^[2])

Roger Mathieu 1920 - 1985 (Note: Mireille's Father, fluent in French and Occitan^[2])

Bottom Right Half

Julienne Charreton (Note: Germaine's Sister)
Vve Vincent 1895 - 1988

Johnny Stark 1922 - 1989 (Note: Mireille's Manager/Agent and family friend, fluent in French and English^[2])

See also

• List of Mireille Mathieu songs

References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} (PDF) International Who's Who of Women. google.com. http://books.google.com/books?id=6J8xDWDqOkEC&lpg=PA368&ots=vNAZYRcCDO&dq=abilene%20disc%20mireille%20mathieu&pg=PA368#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved July 8, 2010. 
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27} Mathieu, Mireille; Cartier, Jacqueline. Oui Je Crois Q'une Vie Ca Commence Avec Un Mot D'amour. First Edition, Paris: Robert Laffont Publisher, 1988
3. ↑ Rue des Teinturiers Street View
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} RFI Musique - - Mireille a big heart
5. ↑ RFI Musique - - Léo Ferré
6. ↑ Abilene Disc Registration
7. ↑ RFI Musique - - Mireille Mathieu
8. ↑ RFI Musique - - The Comeback Album
9. ↑ Officier of the Légion d'honneur
10. ↑ Avenue de Wagram Office
11. ↑ Arcade and Roger Mathieu Shop
12. ↑ Saint-Véran d'Avignon Cemetery