Lucienne Boyer (18 August 1901 – 6 December 1983) was a French

diseuse A monologist (), or interchangeably monologuist (), is a solo artist who recites or gives dramatic readings from a monologue, soliloquy, poetry, or work of literature, for the entertainment of an audience. The term can also refer to a person wh ...

Mansfield News Journal 9 November 1934 pg. 20 and singer, best known for her song " Parlez-moi d'amour". Her impresario was

Bruno Coquatrix Bruno Coquatrix (5 August 1910, Ronchin, Nord – 1 April 1979) was a French music producer, the owner and manager of the Olympia Hall in Paris from 1954 until his death in 1979. Career Coquatrix was first known as a song and music writer. He ...

Early career

Born as Émilienne-Henriette Boyer in

Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montparnasse has bee ...

, Paris, France. Her melodious voice gave her the chance, while working as a part-time model, to sing in cabarets. An office position at a prominent Parisian theater opened the door for her and within a few years she was cast as Lucienne Boyer, singing in major Parisian music halls.

Popular success

In 1927, Boyer sang at a concert by the great star Félix Mayol where she was seen by the American impresario

Lee Shubert Lee Shubert (born Levi Schubart; March 25, 1871– December 25, 1953) was a Lithuanian-born American theatre owner/operator and producer and the eldest of seven siblings of the theatrical Shubert family. Biography Born to a Jewish family, the so ...

who immediately offered her a contract to come to Broadway. Boyer spent nine months in New York City, returning to perform there and to South America numerous times throughout the 1930s. By 1933, she had made a large number of recordings for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

of France including her signature song, " Parlez-moi d'amour". Written by Jean Lenoir, the song won the first-ever

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of the Charles Cros Academy.

Personal life

Boyer lost her soldier father in World War I and had to go to work in a munitions factory to help her family get by. In 1939, she married the cabaret singer

Jacques Pills Jacques Pills (born René Jacques Ducos; 7 January 1906, Tulle, France – 12 September 1970) was a French singer and actor. His impresario was Bruno Coquatrix. In 1959, Pills was the Monegasque entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 wit ...

of the very popular duo Pills et Tabet. Their daughter

Jacqueline Jacqueline may refer to: People * Jacqueline (given name), including a list of people with the name * Jacqueline Moore (born 1964), ring name "Jacqueline", American professional wrestler Arts and entertainment * ''Jacqueline'' (1923 film), ...

, born on 23 April 1941, followed in their footsteps, becoming a very successful singer who won the 1960

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

. Throughout World War II, Boyer continued to perform in France, but for her Jewish husband, it was a very difficult time. Following the Allied Forces liberation of France, her cabaret career flourished and for another thirty years, she maintained a loyal following. At the age of 73, she sang with her daughter at the famous

Paris Olympia The Olympia (; commonly known as L'Olympia or in the English-speaking world as Olympia Hall) is a concert venue in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France, located at 28 Boulevard des Capucines, equally distancing Madeleine church and Opéra G ...

and appeared on several French television shows.

Death

She died in Paris, and was interred in the Cimetière de Bagneux in

Montrouge Montrouge () is a commune in the southern Parisian suburbs, located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe. After a long period of decline, the population has increased again in recent years. ...

, near Paris.

References

''Adapted from the articl
Lucienne Boyer
from

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, licensed under the

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.''

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Boyer, Lucienne 1901 births 1983 deaths Musicians from Paris Burials at the Cimetière parisien de Bagneux Boyer, Lucienne 20th-century French women singers