Jo Lemaire (born 5 January 1956) is a Belgian singer and songwriter born in

Gembloux Gembloux (; ; ) is a municipality and city 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 density of 229 inhabitants per ...

Namur Namur (; ; ) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is the capital both of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namur stands at the confl ...

. Beyond her native country, she is also popular in

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, and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

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 music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

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 continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

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 Bilzen () is a former Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgium, Belgian province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg. In 2021, Bilzen had a total population of 32,536. The total area is 75.90 ...

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 ...

was uniquely bilingual, in having one side in English and the other in French. A year later, a self-titled album was released, produced by Jean-Marie Aerts. It also enjoyed success. Her third solo album, '' Stand Up'', was produced by PolyGram International rather than Phonogram Belgium. 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 lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, 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 (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

, 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, and many other tours and music festivals. In 1990, she released '' Duelle'', 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 languages, West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language and is the List of languages by total number of speak ...

album was also released, a tribute to fellow Belgian musician

Will Tura Arthur Achiel Albert, Ridder (title), Knight Blanckaert (born 2 August 1940 in Veurne), known by his stage name Will Tura, is a Belgian artist considered as the most successful Flemish-speaking singer of the 20th century. Famous in Flanders and th ...

. 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. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

singer Carmel in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

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

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

schools using music to encourage children to learn

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

. 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 electronic band that was formed in October 1995. Though originally categorized as a trip hop group, they quickly expanded their sound to the point where it could no longer be described as a belonging to a single genre, ...

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 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 Concorde () is a retired Anglo-French supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France and the United Kingdom signed a treaty establishin ...

'' (1983) * '' Jo Lemaire'' (1984) * '' Stand Up'' (1987) * '' Duelle'' (1990) * ''

Aujourd'hui ''Aujourd'hui'' (, ''Today'') was a daily newspaper in Vichy France published between 1940 and 1944 in Paris. It was founded by journalist Henri Jeanson, who edited the publication during the autumn of 1940. After Jeanson was arrested and forced ...

'' (1992) * ''

'' (1994) * '' Jour et Nuit'' (1997) * '' Enkelvoud'' (1998) * '' Une Vie'' (1999) * '' Flagrants Délices'' (2001) * '' Jo Prend La Mer'' (2003)

Compilations

* '' Jo Lemaire Master Serie'' * '' Tranches de vie''

References

External links

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