Véronique Sanson

Véronique Sanson (full name, Veronique Marie Line Sanson, according to the ASCAP Songwriter's Database) (born April 24, 1949, in Boulogne, near Paris, France) is a French singer-songwriter with an avid following in her native country.

She brings a very personal vocal style to the singing of French pop songs. Her voice has a very strong vibrato, which often makes her lyrics difficult to understand. Still nowadays Véronique Sanson is considered as one of the most talented French songwriter, and each of her appearance in the media is an event.

In 1972, her breakthrough album ("Amoureuse") was reviewed by many critics as a revolution, and Véronique Sanson became one of the very first French female singer-songwriter to break into stardom.

For more than 30 years, Véronique Sanson has undoubtedly been a prominent artist in her native country. Despite a tumultuous love life and difficulties to overcome her alcoholism, she has never failed in her artistic career, with an impressive series of hits, sold-out concerts, and platinum albums.

Sanson plays piano and guitar.

From 1973 to 1976 she was married to American rock musician Stephen Stills. Their son, Chris Stills, is also a musician.

One of her songs, "Amoureuse", was covered in the United Kingdom by singer Kiki Dee, and became a major hit in 1973. This song was also covered by Shirley Bassey on many occasions.

The 1960's

At the age of 13, she already composed her own songs, influenced by The Beatles, Ray Charles and by Dionne Warwick peculiar vibrato. In 1965, she suffered from amnesia after a severe meningitis.

In 1967, her career began in a trio, the Roche-Martin, with François Bernheim and her sister Violaine Sanson. At that time, she met Michel Berger (who was actually a childhood acquaintance) who introduced her to his record company, and encouraged her to pursue a solo career. Two years later, she released her first solo LP, including "Le Feu Du Ciel" and "Le Printemps est là", with very little success.

The 1970's

During her collaboration with Michel Berger in the early 1970's, Véronique Sanson's voice had reached its maturity, and she suddenly discovered her ability to produce a vibrato, which would rapidly become her trademark. In 1972, Sanson's finally released the album "Amoureuse", composed by the singer, and produced by Michel Berger. The album received a warm welcome from critics, and with the singles "Besoin de personne", "Amoureuse", and "Bahia", she reached the summit of the charts thanks to intensive radio plays. She also experienced the scene for the firt time as opening act for some of the big stars of the time (Claude Francois, Julien Clerc, and Michel Polnareff).

This album was closely followed by "De l'autre côté de mon rêve", which also became a huge success with the single "Comme je l'imagine". The same year (1972), she attended a concert of the American band Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young) in Paris, and met the lead singer, Stephen Stills. The pair fell in love, and Véronique Sanson left Michel Berger (She supposedly went out to buy cigarettes, but never came back...)

Véronique Sanson and Stephen Stills got married in 1973, in Guilford, England. She moved out permanently in the United States, but travelled back to France regularly to give concerts, and perform on French television. In 1974, she gave birth to her only child, Christopher Stills, in Boulder, Colorado. This exile in America had a tremendous impact on her music, especially on one of her best album, "Le maudit", issued in 1974, and recorded with Stephen Stills' musicians. The singles for this album reflected new musical influences; bossa nova in "Alia Souza", rock in "On m'attends là-bas" and "le maudit".

In 1976, the album "Vancouver", recorded in London, adds up to her previous achievements. The album reached the top of the charts and got a tremendous amount of radio plays, especially the single "Vancouver".

In the late 1970's, she began a long-lasting professional collaboration with producer Bernard Saint-Paul (12 albums). This collaboration started with the release of two other successful studio albums, "Hollywood" and "7ème", whose success was triggered by the singles "Féminin" and "Ma révérence".

In 1979, Véronique Sanson left Stephen Stills and asked for divorce, which marked the beginning of a darker period for the singer, after a decade that can easily be qualified as the zenith of Sanson's career. Indeed, she had managed to craft six critically and commercially acclaimed albums in the lapse of eight years.

The 1980's

The transition toward the 1980's was a difficult and a challenging period for Sanson. In addition to her violent separation with Stephen Stills, she was enganged in a juridical procedure with her ex-husband to obtain the custody of her son Christopher. In 1981, she settled permanently in France, but only obtained the custody of her son in 1983. Despite the nuanced commercial 'failure' of her new album in 1981 (" Laisse la vivre"), she spent the following year on the roads, and managed to rally a large audience in her successive tours.

In 1988, she renewed with success with popular and critical success with the album "Moi le venin", which included the highly controversial song Allah. Censored in the media, the song resulted in a violent discontentment among the muslim community. In consequence to several death threats, Veronique Sanson was put under police protection. The muslim tradition that forbids the reference to Allah in a song was the reason of this violent controversy, and in reaction to that, Sanson claimed that the song was only meant to be a message of peace and tolerance.

The 1990's

The album "Sans regrets" released in 1992 was a tremendous success propelled by the famous single "Rien que de l'eau". This single still remains one of the biggest hit of her career.

In 1995, she married the stand-up comedian Pierre Palmade in Triel-sur-Seine, where she lives since 1981. A new album entitled "Indestructible" is released in 1998, followed by a sold out tour.

The 2000's

Her cover album of a few well-known Michel Berger's songs, was released in 2000 ("D'un papillon à une étoile"). This album was followed by a successful tour with Paul Buckmaster's orchestra (Elton John's producer), and a live album was subsequently released ("Avec vous").

After a prolounged absence due to health problems ( [AutoBiography, La Douceur du Danger, 2004] , Véronique Sanson had to cancel a piano-solo tour in 2002.

In september 2004, she is back with the album "Longue Distance". In 2005 her tour is a triumph, spiced up by 9 concerts in the mythical "Olympia".

In her autobiography, "La Douceur du Danger" (wrote with Didier Varrod), she depicts the most striking events of her life, particularly her alcoholism.

The best of entitled "Petits moments choisis" was released in november 2007, and since march 2008 all her albums/dvds are available in the 24CDs/2DVDS collection "Et voilà".

Discography

Albums

*1972 - Amoureuse
*1972 - De l'autre côté de mon rêve
*1974 - Le maudit
*1976 - Vancouver
*1976 - Live at the Olympia
*1977 - Hollywood
*1979 - 7ème
*1981 - Laisse-la vivre
*1981 - Au Palais des Sports
*1985 - Véronique Sanson
*1986 - Olympia 85
*1988 - Moi le venin
*1989 - A l'Olympia 89
*1990 - Symphonique Sanson
*1992 - Sans regrets
*1993 - Zénith 93
*1995 - Comme ils l'imaginent
*1998 - Indestructible
*1999 - D'un papillon à une étoile
*2000 - Avec vous
*2004 - Longue distance
*2005 - Olympia 2005
*2007 - Petits moments choisis
*2008 - Et voilà

References

External links

* [http://www.veronique-sanson.net/ Official Site]
* [http://www.rfimusique.com/siteen/biographie/biographie_6065.asp Biography of Véronique Sanson] , from Radio France Internationale