''Son nom est Dalida'' (''Her name is Dalida'') is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by French vocalist

Dalida Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti (; 17 January 1933 – 3 May 1987), professionally known as Dalida, was an Italian-French singer and actress born in Egypt. She sang in eleven languages and sold millions of records internationally. Her best known son ...

. It was released in December 1956 through

Barclay Records Barclay is a French record company and label founded by Eddie Barclay in 1953. Eddie Barclay was a bandleader, pianist, producer, and nightclub owner. With his wife, Nicole, who was the vocalist in his band, he started Barclay. The catalogue inc ...

. The tracks in the album are a mixture of vocally highlighted

pop standard Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...

s, of which some are basically inspired by

fado Fado (; "destiny, fate") is a music genre that can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon, Portugal, but probably has much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar Rui Vieira Nery states that "the only reliable information on the history of fado was ...

and

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

genres. The album received positive reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

upon its release, praising Dalida's passionate performance, and nationally reached commercial success, selling around 20,000 units, bracing Dalida as the highest album seller among French singers of that time.

Background

After signing a recording contract with

in May 1956, Dalida went on to release three EPs from August to October; ''Madona'', ''La violetera'' and ''Bambino'' respectively. After two moderately successful records, " Bambino" made Dalida an overnight star as it was an instant success that eventually became the commercially and critically one of the most successful French recordings of all time.

Recording and release

The album was completely recorded in Hoche Studios in Paris, under orchestra conduction of

Raymond Lefèvre Raymond Lefèvre (20 November 1929 – 27 June 2008) was a French easy listening orchestra leader, arranger and composer. Biography and career Born on 20 November 1929 in Calais, France, Raymond Lefèvre is best known for his interpretation of ...

and Wal-Berg. Due to the success of the song, Bambino was used as the title one, while other tracks were fully taken from Dalida's first two EPs including her first recorded song, "Madona". ''Son nom est Dalida'' was released during December 1956, in 25 cm (10 inch) format under catalog number 80 055. It was intended primary for French market, but its success made Barclay release it in USA, United Kingdom, South Africa and Australia. While the cover art of US release is slightly different in colour tone and is titled as ''Elle s'appelle Dalida'' (She's called Dalida), the cover for other

Anglophone Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest language ...

countries is completely different that the French one. In 2002,

, then as part of

Universal Music France Universal Music Group owns, or has a joint share in, many of the record labels listed here. According to UMG official site, the main labels are Abbey Road Studios, Bravado, Capitol Music Group, Decca Records, Def Jam Recordings, Deutsche Grammopho ...

, reissued the album in original vinyl format, and a digitally remastered version in CD, both with original French cover art and track list.

Public acclaim and sales

Following its release, ''Son nom est Dalida'' received highly positive critical acclaim from major French newspapers like Le Figaro, France-Soir and Le Parisien. Dalida also promoted it during her tour in provinces that ended with her first performance in Olympia on 27 February 1957. Since the French music industry at this time was still in the back, albums weren't covered with charts or record sales track. In early 1959, the latter formed official's disc sellers magazine ''Music Hall'' listed album with 19,530 units sold since its release in 1956. The reissued record sold additional 8,500 copies in period of 2002–05, adding up to total sales that almost reach 30,000 units.

Track listing

References

External links

*

' at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...