Ophélie Kleerekoper-Winter (born 20 February 1974) is a French

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

and R&B singer and actress. She is the daughter of Dutch singer

David Alexandre Winter David Alexandre Winter (born Lion Kleerekoper; 4 April 1943) is a Dutch-born international pop singer. Winter found fame in Luxembourg and France. Early life Winter was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands into a Jewish family. Both he and his parent ...

and French fashion model Catherine Fefeu. She rose to prominence in much of Europe after signing with EastWest Records in 1995 and released her hit song " Dieu m'a donné la foi" which reached number one on the French singles chart as well as other hits: "le feu qui m'attise", "Shame on U", "Elle Pleure"" and "Sache"".

Early life

Winter was born in

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a department in the Île-de-France region of France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west and ...

. Her father

was a Dutch pop singer who had some success during the 1970s, while her mother Catherine Fefeu was a French fashion model, who is now her agent. Her brother Michael is a singer and TV presenter. Her parents divorced when she was just two years old and she moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

with her mother and brother, while her father left for the United States. In 1984, at the age of 10, she recorded her first song in France, ''La Chanson des Klaxons'' and three years later another song, ''Poil de Carotte'', in French. At the age of 17, she was discovered by a modeling agent on the

Champs-Élysées The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an Avenue (landscape), avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc ...

in Paris and after three years of modeling, she decided to become a singer and an actress.

Career

Ophélie Winter has released four studio albums starting in 1996, with her debut album, '' No Soucy !'', which her brother collaborated on, ''Privacy'', ''Explicit Lyrics'' and ''Résurrection''. The singer

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

wrote her a song. It was announced at one point that Prince intended The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, to be recorded in multiple languages by local artists, but it is unknown how many of these recordings took place; one recording that was made was Le Garçon Le Plus Beau Dans L’Univers by French model and actress Ophélie Winter (intended for a single, Le Garçon Le Plus Beau Dans L’Univers), but this remains unreleased. Ophélie Winter was a featured model in a photoshoot with Prince/0)+> in 1995, holding his gold symbol guitar. In 2014, she participated in the fifth season of ''

Danse avec les stars ''Danse avec les stars'' (''DALS''; ) is the French version of the British reality TV competition ''Strictly Come Dancing'' and is part of the ''Dancing with the Stars'' franchise. The show was first broadcast on TF1 on 12 February 2011, the parti ...

'', the French version of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

''. She was partnered with professional dancer Christophe Licata. On 10 October 2014 they were eliminated finishing 10th out of 11 contestants. She currently resides in Paris making various TV appearances. Her look-alike puppet is in the French show "

Les Guignols de l'info ''Les Guignols'' (, ''The Puppets''), formerly ''Les Guignols de l'info'' (, ''The News Puppets''), is a popular satirical latex puppet show on the French television channel Canal+. The show, which ran daily, was created in 1988 and drew insp ...

" (1988).

Discography

* '' No Soucy !'' (1996) * ''

Privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...

'' (1998) * '' Explicit Lyrics'' (2002) * ''Resurrection'' (2009)

Selected filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Winter, Ophelie 1974 births Living people Actresses from Boulogne-Billancourt Musicians from Boulogne-Billancourt French film actresses French television actresses French people of Dutch-Jewish descent Participants in French reality television series 20th-century French actresses 21st-century French actresses French contemporary R&B singers French women pop singers Warner Music France artists 21st-century French singers 21st-century French women singers French female models