Pauline Louise Benattar (; born 14 December 1988), better known by her stage name Louise Verneuil (), is a French singer-songwriter.

Biography

Verneuil was born in the department of Ariège,

Midi-Pyrénées Midi-Pyrénées (; oc, Miègjorn-Pirenèus or ; es, Mediodía-Pirineos) is a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Occitania. It was the largest region of Metropolitan France by are ...

. She has one sister. Her father, a pharmacist, enjoyed English-speaking artists including

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

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and

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

, and taught Verneuil how to play guitar. Her Spanish mother, who died in 2018, listened to Gilbert Bécaud, Marie Laforêt,

Barbara Barbara may refer to: People * Barbara (given name) * Barbara (painter) (1915–2002), pseudonym of Olga Biglieri, Italian futurist painter * Barbara (singer) (1930–1997), French singer * Barbara Popović (born 2000), also known mononymously as ...

, Jean Ferrat,

Serge Reggiani Serge Reggiani (2 May 1922 – 23 July 2004) was an Italian-French actor and singer. He was born in Reggio Emilia, Italy and moved to France with his parents at the age of eight. After studying acting at the Conservatoire des arts cinématog ...

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, and

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. Verneuil's family moved to La Bastide-sur-l'Hers, Ariège when she was 18 months old, and owned a restaurant there. They moved to Golfe-Juan when Verneuil was eleven and she was educated at Lycée du Mont Saint-Jean (1998-2002) in nearby

Antibes Antibes (, also , ; oc, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal, Antíbol) is a coastal city in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department of southeastern France, on the French Riviera, Côte d'Azur between Cannes and Nice. The town of ...

. After studying journalism at university, Verneuil spent time in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic before working in Paris as a publicist for a contemporary art gallery. She has been in a relationship with the musician Alex Turner since 2018.

Music career

After moving to Paris at the age of 22, Verneuil chose a stage name inspired by the name of her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother (Louise) and the street where Gainsbourg once lived (Rue de Verneuil). In 2012, when Verneuil was 23, she was a contestant on France's '' The Voice''. She had never sung in front of an audience before and described Gainsbourg and Alain Bashung as her main influences. Her ''Voice'' mentor was Louis Bertignac, guitarist for the rock band

Téléphone Téléphone () was a French rock band formed in 1976. Their first, self-titled album was released in 1977; by the end of the decade they were one of the biggest French rock bands around, opening shows for The Rolling Stones in Paris, Quebec, th ...

. Following her elimination in the quarter-finals, she recorded an album with Bertignac but did not release it. In 2013, she worked as a backstage reporter for ''The Voice''. Verneuil then began performing live and co-wrote a song for

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. In June 2019, she released a self-titled EP, produced by Samy Osta. In April 2020, she released her debut album ''Lumiere Noire'' also produced by Samy Osta. It features the songs from her EP and other songs including "Love Corail", "Emerencia", "Fugitif", "Lumiere Noire", "A mort amant" and "L'evadée belle". As of June 2022 she has recorded and mixed a new album and is no longer signed to Mercury Records.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verneuil, Louise 1988 births 21st-century French women singers Living people French women pop singers French women singer-songwriters French singer-songwriters French people of Catalan descent French people of Spanish descent French rock singers