When I grow up, I would like to be....

...a singer, and although I'm still one at heart, I've spent many years destroying my solo career.

I started in the business because of one mad Annie Calvert who took a liking to me, no matter how crazy I am (and was), and of people such as Lili Davis or Daniel Perreau to name a few. Thanks to some of them, I spent most of my time accompanying artists, starting with Lewis Furey & Carole Laure, then with Gilbert Montagné and Sylvie Vartan on stage, instead of taking the time to produce an album for myself.
In the very beginning, after strumming away on the guitar for a few years, learning all the Beatles, Elton John, Carly Simon and Simon and Garfunkel songs, I joined a band as their lead singer. We all went out and did gigs, first of Chuck Berry songs, then of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, David Bowie material. These were the late 70s after all !
One fine day it dawned on us, that we should write our own stuff, and I was convinced I wanted to become an artist....
Here's a piccie of the bunch I was working with at the time, recording my very first solo album - rock'n'roll all the way, no drum kits then, just take one, take two, or even three... tracks of the whole song, until everyone had it just about right.
Of course there were arguments and disagreements, but bascially, being in a band was an experience that unfortunately few people have to learn to deal with today. On the other hand, seeing this photograph sadely reminds me of how totally ridiculous we all looked and also of all the fun we had.
But being a singer takes a lot more than just recording an album and trying to be original about what you do...
It's also about promotions : dreadful television programmes, radio shows, reporters and journalists. It's show time all the time ! That's when you really find out what it's like and if your ego isn't as big as a planet (in the wise words of Richard Niles) then forget it.
And I did !
It was just...too much trouble. I still recorded a few things here and there, but it never had the same spirit, the same spontaneity that I originally believed in.
Now, I'm grateful after seeing what it really takes to be a star ! Being a star means spending a lot of time and energy trying to gain recognition, then the rest of your life hiding from your fans.


from left to right :
Becky Bell, Phil McAlpine
Carole Fredericks,
Ann Calvert, Yvonne Jones,
Michel & Georges Costa
 Meanwhile, I was learning to sing with others, for others, and I began to make money, becoming much too involved and spoiled to devote the time and energy it takes to think about myself as an artist....
I became a back-up singer ! I got caught up in a stream of sessions for albums, tv shows, gigs and hundreds of commercials.
Because I'm one of the happy few Americans living in Paris, I was called to sing bv's with all my other American pals, for Mister Stevie Wonder. We all took great pleasure in working and meeting him, however briefly, when he came to sing at the Eiffel Tower bicentennial show, songs "Free" and "Happy Birthday". Needless to say, we all had a serious case of the well-known heebeegeebees, but were ever so proud to be part of the act as you can see on this picture. It was taken just seconds before our cue. Of course I'm not on the picture, I was taking it !
We had a great time, and even got paid for it !
Is this a great job or what ?

I've always enjoyed singing, since I was a little kid, coming from a long line of performers, raised in a classical and jazz musical atmosphere. My grandfather was a famous song-plugger on Tin Pan Alley, and my father can quote all the jazz standards his father got in the charts in the 30s and 40s.
My very first performance was at the age of 4, when I got up on the stage and sang Honey Bun (from South Pacific) with the band playing @ Chubby Checkers' club in New York. A real little Shirley Temple, curls and all. A full-fledged ham by all means.
with :
Cyndi Lauper & Slim Batteux
Nowadays, I feel much more comfortable wearing shades and watching others take the floor. On the right there's a screen shot from a television show we did featuring the great Cyndi Lauper who performed "Voulez-Vous Coucher Avec Moi" with Angélique Kudjo live on Taratata.

One day I'll tell you why I can never manage an audition and how I still marvel at the idea that one can actually learn to read music, as opposed to the idea of having to train one's memory cells for full-speed mode only.
Nevertheless, on this little web site, I have finally managed to compile some of the albums I performed tracks on with my some of my favourite friends (and some not so favourite), on a page titled Discography !

Music has given me the people, the friends, things that can somehow be expressed with words or be heard in an audio - the generosity, the beauty I've found in performances, the rare and special talent, because I admire the intuition it takes to be creative and the love it may inspire to others as it has for me.

I would like to add a special word for Jannick Top, who I believe has a true sense of Art and Creativity as a musical director, arranger and recording producer - the most sensitive and gifted performer I've had the privilege of working with for some time now, more recently on projects such as the Notre Dame de Paris shows and album that has become such a success.
A special word also for Chris Thompson who I have met only recently and who has since become my favourite artist by far, I'd like to include this track on my page, because it is simply one of my favourites. To David Linx and Khalil Chahine, who have given me this track that is haunting me because it's simply rare and beautiful. But above all, I'd like to include a special thanks to Ann Calvert, without whom this never would have started, I need to thank her once again for my fondest memories, the Vanessa Paradis album we recorded, produced by Frank Langolf, with Serge Gainsbourg's lyrics, managing to sound very much like the original girls on Vanessa's version of "Walk On The Wild Side". And I'm sure she'll never forget our version of "Just One Look" recorded for a commercial, by singing together just like in the sixties, with no overdubs.....that was fun too !

My greatest thanx however, is for all the singers I have had the privilege of working with and for the musician's community whom I thoroughly enjoy being a member of, here in Paris.

So you see, when I was a little girl, I did not dream of becoming a session singer, but I've been having a hell of good time being one !