Colette Magny (31 October 1926 – 12 June 1997) was a French singer and songwriter. A charismatic performer who did not record until her thirties, her work encompassed blues,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

protest song A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre. Among social mov ...

s, experimental music and

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

recordings.

Life and career

She was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, and from 1948 worked as a secretary and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Fluent in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, she became a fan of American blues and

singers such as

Bessie Smith Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the " Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock a ...

and

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

, and was taught

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

by jazz musician

Claude Luter Claude Luter (23 July 1923 – 6 October 2006) was a jazz clarinetist who doubled on soprano saxophone. Luter was born and died in Paris. He began on trumpet, but switched to clarinet. He might be best known for being an accompanist to Sidn ...

. She also started writing songs. Her mother took up acting in the 1950s, and Colette began singing her own songs and

blues standard Blues standards are blues songs that have attained a high level of recognition due to having been widely performed and recorded. They represent the best known and most interpreted blues songs that are seen as standing the test of time. Blues ...

s in Paris clubs. Pierre Perrone, Obituary - Colette Magny, ''The Independent'', 25 June 1997
Retrieved 12 December 2019 She made her first recordings in 1958, on an album by

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

er and bandleader Gilles Thibaut, ''Des classiques du jazz''. After appearing at the Contrescarpe

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining o ...

in 1962, she was discovered by the singer

Mireille Hartuch Mireille Hartuch (30 September 1906 – 29 December 1996) was a French singer, composer, and actress. She was generally known by the stage name "Mireille," it being a common practice of the time to use a single name for the stage. Biography Mirei ...

, who featured her on her TV show ''Le Petit Conservatoire de la Chanson''. She received rave reviews, and gave up her full-time job for a musical career. She signed with

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company * CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990 * CBS Records (2006), founde ...

, and her first single, the self-penned "Melocoton" ("Peach"), which featured

Mickey Baker MacHouston "Mickey" Baker (October 15, 1925 – November 27, 2012) was an American guitarist, best known for his work as a studio musician and as part of the recording duo Mickey & Sylvia. Early life Baker was born in Louisville, Kentucky. His ...

on guitar as did many of her later recordings, became a hit in France in 1963. Her first album, self-titled but sometimes known as ''Les Tuileries'', also featured her musical treatments of poems by

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he start ...

, Rilke and

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littérature''. He ...

, as well as blues classics including " Saint James Infirmary" and Bessie Smith's "Any Woman's Blues". Jason Birchmeier, Biography, ''Allmusic.com''
Retrieved 12 December 2019 Her second album, the experimental ''"Avec" poème'' (1966), released on the record label established by

Marcel Mouloudji Marcel André Mouloudji (16 September 1922 – 14 June 1994) was a French singer and actor who was born in Paris and died in Neuilly-sur-Seine. He sang songs written by Boris Vian and Jacques Prévert. Personal life Mouloudji was born to Algeria ...

, contained both spoken and sung texts over electroacoustic music and '' musique concrète'' by the

Surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

-influenced composer André Almuró. Magny became increasingly supportive of political activism. Her song "Le mal du vivre" was banned by ORTF, the state broadcasting network, and marked her out as France's first protest singer. Her recordings were issued by Le Chant du Monde. Her next album, also self-titled, featured her songs "Vietnam 67" and "Viva Cuba", together with one celebrating a strike of port workers, as well as further settings of poems and

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

texts. During the events and riots of

May 68 Beginning in May 1968, a period of civil unrest occurred throughout France, lasting some seven weeks and punctuated by demonstrations, general strikes, as well as the occupation of universities and factories. At the height of events, which h ...

, she actively supported students and workers at sit-ins and through

benefit concert A benefit concert or charity concert is a type of musical benefit performance (e.g., concert, show, or gala) featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate hu ...

s. She wrote the song "Les militants" for the protesters, and later also issued a

album, ''Magny 68/69''. She produced three albums in the early 1970s – ''Feu et rythme'' (1970), which won the

Grand Prix du Disque Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and co ...

from the

Académie Charles Cros The Académie Charles Cros (Charles Cros Academy) is an organization located in Chézy-sur-Marne, France, that acts as an intermediary between government cultural policy makers and professionals in music and the recording industry. The academy is ...

; ''Répression'' (1972), which concerned

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

and was supportive of the Black Panther movement; and ''Transit'' (1975), which she recorded with

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians duri ...

performers including saxophonist Maurice Merle. Her 1977 album ''Visage-Village'' was recorded with the

rock group A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists, ...

Dharma and accordionist Lino Leonardi. According to writer Benoît Houzé, "throughout her experiments, Magny always kept an artistic generosity which clearly binds most of her songs, as 'avant-gardist' as they can be, to the tradition of French '' chanson populaire''." Her 1979 album ''Je Veux Chaanter'' was recorded with, and included songs written by, children with mental disabilities in the Institut médico-pédagogique at Fontenoy-le-Château, and was performed partly with home-made instruments. In 1980, she released two single-sided spoken word albums, one of poems by Antonin Artaud and the other of text by the Swiss artist Sylvie Duval. Magny moved to live near

Aveyron Aveyron (; oc, Avairon; ) is a department in the region of Occitania, Southern France. It was named after the river Aveyron. Its inhabitants are known as ''Aveyronnais'' (masculine) or ''Aveyronnaises'' (feminine) in French. The inhabitants ...

in south-west France, and her recordings became more mellow in tone, her 1983 album ''Chansons pour Titine'' even including Cole Porter's " My Heart Belongs to Daddy". Her final album, ''Kevork'' (1989), included a song in praise of the

turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, a bird which, once released from domestication, can revert to its wild state. Magny suffered from health problems including

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's ...

and, in later years, a spinal disease that confined her to a bed or wheelchair. She died in 1997, aged 70.

Biography

A biography by Sylvie Vadureau, ''Colette Magny, Citoyenne - Blues'', was published in 2017.

Discography

Albums

* ''Frappe ton coeur'' (Le Chant du Monde, 1963) * ''Colette Magny'' (aka ''Les Tuileries'', CBS, 1964) * ''"Avec" Poème'' (Disques Mouloudji, 1966) * ''Colette Magny'' (aka ''Vietnam 67'', Le Chant du Monde, 1967) * ''Magny 68/69'' (Taï-Ki, 1969) * ''Feu et Rythme'' (Le Chant du Monde, 1971) * ''Répression'' (Le Chant du Monde, 1972) * ''Transit'' (with Free Jazz Workshop), (Le Chant du Monde, 1975) * ''Chili - Un peuple crève...'' (with

Maxime Le Forestier Maxime Le Forestier (; born 10 February 1949 as Bruno Le Forestier) is a French singer-songwriter. Life and career Bruno Le Forestier was born on 10 February 1949 in Paris to father Robert Le Forestier and mother Genevieve (née Lili 1917–2010 ...

and Mara Jerez), (Le Chant du Monde, 1975) * ''Visage-Village'' (with Dharma and Lino Leonardi), (Le Chant du Monde, 1977) * ''Je Veux Chaanter'' (with Les Enfants de l'I.M.P. de Fontenoy-le-Château), (Le Chant du Monde, 1979) * ''Thanakan'' (single-sided album, Le Chant du Monde, 1981) * ''Cahier d'une tortue'' (single-sided album, Le Chant du Monde, 1981) * ''Chansons pour Titine'' (Le Chant du Monde, 1983) * ''Kevork'' (Colette Magny Promotion, 1989) * ''Inédits 91'' (Colette Magny Promotion, 1991)

References

External links

*
Valérie Lehoux
"Colette Magny, une Léo Ferré au féminin injustement oubliée " , ''Télérama'', 23 May 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Magny, Colette 1926 births 1997 deaths Musicians from Paris French women singer-songwriters French singer-songwriters 20th-century French women singers