Eileen Goldsen (born May 16, 1941) is an American-born former pop singer, songwriter and music publisher, who has mainly worked and lived in France since the 1960s. Her recordings credit her

mononym A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. In some cases, a mononym selected by an individual may have originally been from a polynym, a word which refers to one o ...

ously as Eileen.

Biography

She was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the daughter of Mickey Goldsen (1912–2011), a

music publisher A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers started to play a role in the management of the intellect ...

who founded the Criterion Music Corporation. Eileen Goldsen studied languages, including French, at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, graduating in 1963. The following year, she settled in Paris, France, initially working as a teacher, and was asked to translate American folk songs into French. Lucien Morisse, director of the radio station

Europe 1 Europe 1, formerly known as Europe n° 1, is a privately owned radio station created in 1955. Owned and operated by Lagardère Active, a subsidiary of the Lagardère Group, it is one of the leading radio broadcasting stations in France and its pro ...

, suggested she make recordings of her own songs, and she found some success with her songs "Prends ta guitare" and "Une grenouille dans le vent", issued on the AZ label and credited simply to Eileen. In 1965, she married producer and songwriter Jacques Robinson. Eileen, ''Ready Steady Girls''
Retrieved 6 August 2020Eileen, ''Passion Chanson''
Retrieved 6 August 2020 In early 1966, she recorded versions of "

These Boots Are Made for Walkin' "These Boots Are Made for Walkin' is a hit song written by Lee Hazlewood and recorded by American singer Nancy Sinatra. It charted on January 22, 1966, and reached No.1 in the United States ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and in the UK Singles Chart. Su ...

" – a song published by her father's company – in English, French ("Ces bottes sont faites pour marcher"), German ("Die Stiefel sind zum Wandern") and Italian ("Questi stivali sono fatti per camminare"). Her

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

s included American guitarist

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 m ...

. Although the recordings were promoted on TV programmes and had some success, they lost out commercially to

Nancy Sinatra Nancy Sandra Sinatra (born June 8, 1940) is an American singer and actress. She is the elder daughter of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra ( Barbato), and is best known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'. Nancy Sinatra ...

's original recording. In April 1966 she was included in

Jean-Marie Périer Jean-Marie Périer (born 1 February 1940) is a French photographer and film director. On 22 June 1963, the magazine '' Salut les copains'' organised a concert on Place de la Nation in Paris, with singers such as Johnny Hallyday, Richard Antho ...

's photograph of 46

yé-yé ''Yé-yé'' () (''yeyé'' in Spanish) was a style of pop music that emerged in Western-Southern Europe in the early 1960s. The French term "''yé-yé''" was derived from the English "yeah! yeah!", popularized by British beat music bands such as ...

and other French pop singers known as "La Photo du siècle". She also recorded an English version of Sinatra's follow-up record, "How Does That Grab You, Darlin'?", and a version of "

Love Is Strange "Love Is Strange" is a crossover hit by American rhythm and blues duet Mickey & Sylvia, which was released in late November 1956 by the Groove record label. The song was based on a guitar riff by Jody Williams and was written by Bo Diddley un ...

", originally recorded in 1956 by Baker with

Sylvia Robinson Sylvia Robinson (née Vanderpool; May 29, 1935 – September 29, 2011) was an American singer, record producer, and record label executive. Robinson achieved success as a performer on two R&B chart toppers: as half of Mickey & Sylvia with ...

Mickey and Sylvia Mickey & Sylvia was an American R&B duo composed of Mickey Baker and Sylvia Vanderpool, who later became Sylvia Robinson. They are best known for their number-one R&B single "Love Is Strange" in 1957. Baker and Vanterpool began recording toge ...

. She continued to record in France until 1969, when she gave up recording until a brief comeback in 1982. She founded a music publishing company, French Fried Music, in Paris. French Fried Music
Retrieved 6 August 2020

List of Songs

This is a list of her songs sung in the various languages. Given is also the composer and the texter. Source i

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eileen (singer) 1941 births Living people Yé-yé singers American expatriates in France German-language singers Italian-language singers French women pop singers