Mireille Mathieu

Mireille Mathieu
Mireille 2011
Background information
Also known as	Mimi Sparrow from Avignon
Born	22 July 1946 (1946-07-22) (age 65) Avignon, Vaucluse, France
Genres	Chanson, Pop standards
Occupations	Singer, Publisher, Author
Years active	1962[1]–present
Labels	Ariola Records Metronome Records Atlantic Records Warner Music France Columbia Records Philips Records Barclay Records
Website	mireillemathieu.com

Mireille Mathieu (French pronunciation: [miˈʁɛj maˈtjø]) (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 département, France, the eldest daughter of a family of fourteen children. The youngest brother born after she had moved to Paris. Her father Roger (French pronunciation: [ʁɔ.ʒe]) 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.^[2] The family lived in poverty, and were dependent on government housing.^[3]

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.^[3]

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.^[3] 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.^[4] 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 (French pronunciation: [mo.nikə]) began work at the same factory a few months later, both given bicycles on credit to commute with, making for very long days. The factory went out of business, so Mireille and her two oldest sisters became youth counselors for the summer 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.^[3]

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. She has a terrible stage fright, and can be seen making the sign of the cross before moving out on stage.^[3][4]

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.^[5] Self described as very stubborn in her autobiography, she wrote about singing love songs that the audience thought were inappropriate for a young girl.^[3] 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.^[3]

During a 1965 summer gala, added to the Enrico Macias concert by Raoul Colombe (her first manager), she met her future manager Johnny Stark.^[3][6] 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.^[7] Stark is credited with making her a star and the successor to Piaf.^[8] By 1968, under his careful management, she was France's most popular singer.^[6]

Breakthrough: Télé-Dimanche and Olympia

Quotation

Mireille has all to learn. How to walk, how to breathe, how to enunciate properly. But no one should ever touch that voice!

- Johnny Stark 1966

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.^[3] 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."^[9]

Johnny Stark and Mireille Mathieu

In the middle of her seven consecutive performances on Télé-Dimanche^[10] 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.^[3][10] 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."^[5] 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.^[3] 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.^[3]

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.^[3] Mathieu's success led her record company, Barclay, to claim that they controlled 40% of the French pop disk market.^[11]

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.^[3]

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.^[3]

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.^[12]

Quotation

In the life of a singer, it's not all triumphs and happy memories; there are days you have to go out there when it's the last thing you feel like doing.

- Mireille Mathieu

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.^[13][14] 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.^[3][15]

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.^[16]

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.^[17]

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. ^[18]

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.^[12] 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.^[3] Upon Starks death, everyone said that no one could replace him, and it proved true, but by then the entertainment press had also matured.

Many photographs and films from the early years show the life around Johnny Stark's villa in Roquefort (south of France). The villa, named "La Bedoule", allowed everyone to escape from Paris and relax. The home supported Johnny's telephone addiction with 28 telephones, with each car also having a phone. Mireille lived here with her aunt Irene, and brothers and sisters would often visit. The pool was designed to be shallow all around, and deep in the center, as Mireille has a fear of drowning, and never learned to swim. The property was sold after Johnny's divorce.

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.^[12]

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.^{[citation needed]} The performance, and interview, were recorded and released in wide-screen DVD format in 2006; however, the DVD was in European video format only. A publishing label Abilene Disc was created to produce the DVD and CD, along with a new website.^[12]

Quotation

My songs always speak of love, that's the way I like them.

- Mireille Mathieu

Dmitry Medvedev and Mireille Mathieu

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.^[19]

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.^[20]

External images
	Mireille Mathieu in Moscow
	Mireille and Rémi at La Bedoule pool
	Mireille at La Bedoule kitchen
	Mireille singing at La Bedoule

Discography

Main article: Mireille Mathieu discography

See also

• List of Mireille Mathieu songs
• List of personalities from Avignon

References

1. ^ International Who's Who. Europa. 2001. p. 368. ISBN 9781857431223. 
2. ^ Fleurs Mathieu, Réjane Mathieu Owner
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q} Mathieu, Mireille; Cartier, Jacqueline. Oui Je Crois Q'une Vie Ca Commence Avec Un Mot D'amour. Paris: Robert Laffont, 1988.
4. ^ ^{a b} Street, Julie. "Mireille Mathieu The Comeback Album". RFI Musique. http://www.rfimusique.com/musiqueen/articles/060/article_6965.asp. Retrieved 28 October 2011. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "A New 'Sparrow' Stirs France". LIFE: pp. 115–16. 10 June 1966. http://books.google.com/books?id=rlUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA115. Retrieved 22 September 2010. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Looseley, David (2003). Popular music in contemporary France: authenticity, politics, debate. Berg Publishers. pp. 32. ISBN 9781859736364. http://books.google.com/books?id=hy0rxkj8bdoC&pg=PA32. 
7. ^ "Rev. of En direct de l'Olympia – Mireille Mathieu". Stereo Review, Vol. 18. 1967. 
8. ^ Adler, Philippe (1 May 1971). "Talent in France: Poetry, Panache and Variety". Billboard. http://books.google.com/books?id=-wgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA33. Retrieved 22 September 2010. 
9. ^ Lemancel, Anne-Laure. "Mireille au grand coeur: Trente-huitième album de Mireille Mathieu". RFI Musique. http://www.rfimusique.com/musiquefr/articles/069/article_15759.asp. Retrieved 22 September 2010. 
10. ^ ^{a b} Stéphany, Pierre (2006). Les années 60 en Belgique. Lannoo. pp. 149. ISBN 9782873864873. http://books.google.com/books?id=xwHQ71GVSnwC&pg=PA149. 
11. ^ "Hot Roster Making Barclay a Pop Giant". Billboard. 28 May 1966. http://books.google.com/books?id=6xAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA32. Retrieved 22 September 2010. 
12. ^ ^{a b c d} "Biography: Mireille Mathieu". RFI Musique. http://www.rfimusique.com/siteEn/biographie/biographie_6096.asp. Retrieved 22 September 2010. 
13. ^ "From the Music Capitals of the World". Billboard. 30 March 1968. http://books.google.com/books?id=pQgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA57. Retrieved 24 September 2010. 
14. ^ "Miss Mathieu to Give First Concert Since Auto Mishap". Billboard. 13 April 1968. http://books.google.com/books?id=rQoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA52. Retrieved 24 September 2010. 
15. ^ "Mireille Mathieu 'New Piaf,' Breaks the gate in Brussels". Billboard. 25 March 1967. http://books.google.com/books?id=HSgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA53. Retrieved 25 September 2010. 
16. ^ "Barclay Sues Mathieu Mgr over Pact". Billboard. 3 April 1971. http://books.google.com/books?id=SUUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA57. Retrieved 26 September 2010. 
17. ^ "Cri-Cri (kree-kree) To Make World Television Debut in Musical Special". Billboard. 26 January 1985. http://books.google.com/books?id=7CQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT57. Retrieved 25 September 2010. 
18. ^ International Who's Who in Popular Music 2008
19. ^ "Mireille Mathieu nominated as counselor of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office". Cotidianul (Romanian Daily). 8 Sep 2010. http://www.cotidianul.ro/124143-Mireille_Mathieu_consiliera_a_Procuraturii_Generale_din_Rusia. Retrieved 24 September 2010. 
20. ^ "Mireille Mathieu promue officier de la Légion d'honneur par Nicolas Sarkozy". Le Post. 26 Jan 2011. http://www.lepost.fr/article/2011/01/26/2384460_mireille-mathieu-promue-officier-de-la-legion-d-honneur-par-nicolas-sarkozy.html. Retrieved 28 Jan 2011. 

Persondata
Name	Mathieu, Mireille
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	22 July 1946
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death