Jo Lemaire (born 5 January 1956) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

singer and songwriter born in

Gembloux Gembloux (; wa, Djiblou; nl, Gembloers, ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Namur, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 21,964 inhabitants. The total area is 95.86 km², yielding a population dens ...

, Namur. Beyond her native country, she is also popular in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Career

Jo Lemaire debuted musically in the late 1970s with her musical group, "Jo Lemaire + Flouze". The group saw true success with the release of their album '' Pigmy World'' in 1981. That album, containing a moody

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

adaptation of Serge Gainsbourg's "Je suis venue te dire que je m'en vais", propelled the singer into stardom all over

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

. In 1982, the group separated, and Lemaire continued her career as a solo artist. She divorced Philippe Depireux, a fellow former bandmember, and moved to Bilzen with her new partner, Fa Vanham. Her first solo album, ''Concorde'', was released to great success in 1983. The

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

was uniquely bilingual, in having one side 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 ...

and the other in French. A year later, a self-titled album was released, produced by

Jean-Marie Aerts Jean-Marie Aerts (Zeebrugge (Bruges), 25 May 1951) is a Belgian guitarist and producer, best known as the guitar player for TC Matic. Aerts was a session musician who had worked with Kaz Lux, Raymond van het Groenewoud, and Plastic Bertrand when ...

. It also enjoyed success. Her third solo album, '' Stand Up'', was produced by

PolyGram International PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be ...

rather than

Phonogram Belgium Phonogram may refer to: * A sound recording – see Geneva Phonograms Convention * ''Phonogram'' (comics), a comic book by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie * Phonogram (linguistics), a grapheme which represents a phoneme or a combination of pho ...

. It was not a hit; her long career has experienced highs and lows. Through her concerts abroad, her multilingualism and covers of hits by foreign artists, Lemaire has many fans outside Belgium; in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, the

, and in French-speaking countries like

, and

. She has participated in the

Transmusicales Les Rencontres Trans Musicales (generally referred to as ''Les Transmusicales de Rennes'') is a music festival that lasts for 3 or 4 days. It is held annually in December. The festival takes place in Rennes, Brittany, France. Since the festival's ...

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

, the

Printemps de Bourges Le Printemps de Bourges is an annual music festival that is held in Bourges, France, over the course of five days. It is now a major event in France and Europe. History The festival was created in 1977 (by , , and ). With its span of 35 years ...

, the

Rock en France Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, and many other tours and music festivals. In 1990, she released ''

Duelle ''Duelle (Une )'' is a 1976 experimental fantasy drama directed by Jacques Rivette. The main title is a neologistic feminine form for the noun "duel." The director-assigned English title is ''Twhylight'', a combination of "twilight" and "why". The ...

'', a collection of French songs. It reached

Gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

status in France. Later that year, a

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-Europea ...

album was also released, a tribute to fellow Belgian musician

Will Tura Arthur Achiel Albert, Knight Blanckaert (born 2 August 1940 in Veurne), known by his stage name Will Tura, is a Belgian artist famous in Flanders and the Netherlands. Tura is a singer, musician (he plays the piano, guitar, drums, accordion and h ...

. In 1994, she collaborated with

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

singer

Carmel Carmel may refer to: * Carmel (biblical settlement), an ancient Israelite town in Judea * Mount Carmel, a coastal mountain range in Israel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea * Carmelites, a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order Carmel may also ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

to produce an album of the same name. In 2000, she began touring

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

schools using music to encourage children to learn

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

. Two CDs based on the "Bob & Bobette" comic characters from this campaign were released, titled ''Eventail Junior''. In 2001, she partnered the former

Hooverphonic Hooverphonic is a Belgian band that formed in October 1995. Though originally categorized as a trip hop group, they quickly expanded their sound to the point where they could no longer be described as a singular genre, but rather encompass altern ...

band member Frank Duchêne and lyricists Michael Bisceglia and Ronny Mosuse on the album '' Flagrants Délices'', and its associated single "La saison des amours". In 2007 she recorded a song with

Rocco Granata Rocco Granata (born 16 August 1938) is an Italian-Belgian singer, songwriter, and accordionist. Granata was born in Figline Vegliaturo, Calabria, southern Italy; but his parents immigrated to Belgium when he was aged ten. Rocco's father was a ...

on the album ''La Vie à Deux''.

Discography

singles

* "So Static!" (with Flouze) * "Je suis venue te dire que je m'en vais" (with Flouze)

Albums

* '' Jo Lemaire + Flouze'' (1979) * '' Precious Time'' (1980) * '' Pigmy World'' (1981) * ''

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...

'' (1983) * ''

Jo Lemaire Jo Lemaire (born 5 January 1956) is a Belgian singer and songwriter born in Gembloux, Namur. Beyond her native country, she is also popular in France, Switzerland, Canada, and the Netherlands. Career Jo Lemaire debuted musically in the late 1 ...

'' (1984) * '' Stand Up'' (1987) * ''

'' (1990) * ''

Aujourd'hui ''Aujourd'hui'' (, ''Today'') was a daily newspaper which styled itself as "independent" and which was created in August 1940 by Henri Jeanson, to replace ''le Canard enchaîné'' under agreement with the Germans. The first issue appeared on ...

'' (1992) * ''

'' (1994) * '' Jour et Nuit'' (1997) * '' Enkelvoud'' (1998) * ''

Une Vie ''Une vie'' also known as ''L'Humble Vérité'' is the first novel written by Guy de Maupassant. It was serialised in 1883 in the ''Gil Blas'', then published in book form the same year as ''L'Humble Vérité''. It was the basis for the 1958 fi ...

'' (1999) * '' Flagrants Délices'' (2001) * '' Jo Prend La Mer'' (2003)

Compilations

* '' Jo Lemaire Master Serie'' * ''

Tranches de vie ''Slices of Life'' (''Tranches de vie'') is a 1985 French comedy-sci fi film directed by François Leterrier. It is based on Gérard Lauzier's comic strip of the same name. Plot The film is a series of sketches Cast * Laura Antonelli as Mo ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lemaire, Jo 1956 births Living people Belgian women singers Dutch-language singers of Belgium English-language singers from Belgium French-language singers of Belgium Rocket Records artists People from Gembloux Walloon musicians