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France Gall (born Isabelle Genevieve Marie Anne Gall on October 9, 1947 in Paris) is a popular French singer. Her father was lyricist Robert Gall, and her mother, Cécile Berthier, was the daughter of Paul Berthier, co-founder of Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois.

Gall was married to, and had a very successful singing career in partnership with, the well-known French singer-songwriter, Michel Berger.

Biography

Early years

In spring 1963, Robert Gall encouraged his daughter to record some songs and send the demos to musical publisher, Denis Bourgeois. That July, she attended an audition at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, after which Bourgeois wanted to sign her immediately. As France was a minor, her father signed the contract with the music division of Philips.

At the time, Bourgeois was already with the label as Artistic Director for Serge Gainsbourg. Bourgeois thus becomes Gall's artistic director as well, and she starts by recording 4 titles with jazzman, composer and arranger Alain Goraguer.

Heavyweight Team for a Minor

In 1963, on Gall's sixteenth birthday, her surprise gift was hearing the first airplay of her song on the radio. This single, Ne sois pas si bête ("Don't Be So Stupid"), enters the hit parade as of November, and was a hit. Serge Gainsbourg, whose career was faltering in spite of his several albums and his songs written for singers such as Michèle Arnaud and Juliette Gréco, was asked by Bourgeois to write songs for Gall. Gainsbourg's N'écoute pas les idoles ("Don't listen to the idols") became Gall's second single, which reached the top of the charts in France in March 1964.

At the same time, Gall made her debut on stage by opening for Sacha Distel in Belgium. She teamed up with Distel's business manager, Maurice Tézé, also a lyric writer. This team allowed her to create an original repertoire, unlike the majority of her contemporaries ("yéyés") who sang adaptations of Anglo-Saxon hits. However, under the immense weight of this team of music veterans, Gall struggled to defend her choice of repertoire. This became a problem and left her with very bad memories to this day.

In addition to her father's songs, Gall's success in the 1960s was built on songs written by the biggest names among the French composers and lyricists: Gérard Bourgeois, Jean-Pierre Bourtayre, Vline Buggy Pierre Cour, Joe Dassin, Jacques Datin, Pierre Delanoë, Jean Dréjac, Alain Goraguer, Hubert Giraud, Georges Liferman, Guy Magenta, Eddy Marnay, Jean-Michel Rivat, Jean-Max Rivière, Frank Thomas, Maurice Vidalin, André Popp, Gilles Thibaut, Jean Wiener.

As the first child-woman of the French music world, Gall was often given stereotyped lyrics of a teenager as seen by adults. However it was Serge Gainsbourg who would most dubiously promote her as the "French Lolita". The elaborate orchestrations of Alain Goraguer blended styles, permitting her to navigate between jazz, children's songs and anything in between: Witness Jazz à gogo (lyrics by Robert Gall and music by Goraguer), Mes premières vraies vacances, by Datin-Vidalin.

The Gainsbourg-Gall association was hot during summer of 1964 with the hit song Laisse tomber les filles ("Forget the girls") followed by Christiansen by Datin-Vidalin.

1965, the year of all the hits

Having previously resisted, Gall gave in to the demands of her managers at the end of 1964, and reluctantly recorded a single intended for children. The song Sacré Charlemagne, whose lyrics were penned by her father to the music of George Liferman, was an enormous hit in 1965, selling more than 2 million copies around the world. It sold across Europe to Africa and Japan, but passed the United States by.

Eurovision

Gall was then selected to represent Luxembourg for the Eurovision Song Contest. Out of the 10 songs proposed to her, she chose the Gainsbourg penned Poupée de cire, poupée de son. March 20, 1965, the 3 G's (Gainsbourg-Gall-Goraguer) attended the Contest in Naples, where the song was booed during rehearsals. Although she delivered the song with a wobbly voice, the singularity of the song astonished the jury, and she was elected Grand Prize-winner. Success carried her fame past European borders and Gall recorded the song in no less than 5 languages, including Japanese. The French public retrospectively reproached Gall and Gainsbourg for having represented Luxembourg and not for their own country.

Summer tour

France Gall left for a tour of France for several months with "the Circus of France" in the summer of 1965 while she continuously garnered hits written by Gainsbourg, including Attends ou va-t'en ("Wait for me, or get lost") and, at the end of the year, Nous ne sommes pas des anges ("We are not Angels"). She also charted the hit song Amérique by Eddy Marnay and Guy Magenta.

Cinematic false-starts

After a TV film directed by Jean-Christophe Averty and dedicated to the songs of Gall was distributed in the United States in 1965, Gall was sought by Walt Disney to appear as Alice in a musical film version of Alice in Wonderland, after having already made Alice into a cartoon in 1951. Although Gall had insisted she did not want to be in cinema, this was the only film project which appealed to her. The project was cancelled after Disney's death in 1966.

Gall once again considered appearing in 1993 for a cinematographic collaboration with her best friend, the screenplay writer Telsche Boorman, this one also disappeared with the death from Boorman in 1996.

In 1996, she solicited Jean-Luc Godard, whose film Nouvelle vague (1990) she particularly liked, and asked him to produce the video clip of her song "Plus haut" following the release of her album " France". Godard, who had initially refused, agreed to film a dreamy, picturesque video entitled "Plus Oh!" near his residence in Rolle (Switzerland). It was given its first and only airing on April 20 1996 on M6 Metropolis. It was only shown once, due to copyright issues.

1966, pops, lollipops and flops

At the beginning of 1966 Gall released Baby pop, another song written by Gainsbourg, the text of which Gall once described as "brutal" but whose dark undertones are not easily heard when sung by this 18 year-old girl. However, her next song would start a wind of scandal which would grow by the month: Gainsbourg had deliberately written the song les Sucettes ("Lollipops"), with double-meanings and strong sexual innuendos, and the public furore would throw Gall’s career off-track for years. This song, although a big hit, sat in stark contrast to the innocent songs on the same album such as Je me marie en blanc ("White Wedding") and Ça me fait rire ("It makes me laugh").

At the same time, Gall appeared in the television film Viva Morandi, made in the same psychoanalytical mould as the (1965) Federico Fellini film Juliet of the Spirits. Gall played "La Grâce" alongside Christine Lebail who plays "La Pureté", both singing Les Sucettes (prominently labeled "Fantasy"). These contradictory interpretations of les Sucettes caused considerable unease. Gall was not left unscathed: she belatedly understood that she had been used: the song was deliberately conceived with the aim of attracting publicity. All her records which followed, even expunged of the Gainsbourg signature, would be suspiciously viewed as having crass commercial motivations. Her song dedicated to John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr., Bonsoir John John would be tarred with accusations of necrophilia. Sullied by her association with Gainsbourg, her songs failed to chart for a long time afterwards.

Even some of her children’s songs recorded in 1966, for example, Les Leçons particulières ("private lessons"), have not been spared pernicious assumptions. It was not helpful when Jean-Christophe Averty corrosively choreographed a troupe of men on all fours to illustrate her children's song J'ai retrouvé mon chien ("I’ve found my dog") on his television program Les Raisins verts ("Green grapes").

Baby shark, LSD and decline

At the beginning of the year 1967, she sang a duet with Maurice Biraud. La Petite, which evokes a young girl coveted by a friend of her father, dragged her to new lows that eclipsed Gainsbourg’s poetic Néfertiti.

Her next single would be recorded with the orchestration of English composer David Whitaker. New authors, Frank Thomas and Jean-Michel Rivat, were brought in. They wrote Bébé requin (Baby shark), a song which met with some success for Gall. This was followed by Teenie Weenie Boppie, an anti-LSD song by Gainsbourg, which was a huge flop. Gainsbourg then sang anti-capital punishment song in tandem with Gall, Qui se souvient de Caryl Chessman? ("Anyone remember Caryl Chessman?"), after the death row prisoner, but this song never saw the light of day. Her next record Toi que je veux, again with Whitaker, also stalls.

German career

Although struggling in her home country, Gall regularly recorded in Germany from 1966 to 1972, in particular with the composer and orchestrator Werner Müller. She had a successful German career with songs by Horst Buchholz and Giorgio Moroder: Love, l'amour und liebe (1967), Hippie, hippie (1968), Ich liebe dich, so wie du bist (1969) and Mein Herz kann man nicht kaufen (1970). Some of her other German hits included: Haifischbaby (Bébé requin) , Die schönste Musik, die es gibt (Music to Watch Girls By), Was will ein Boy (1967), A Banda (Zwei Apfelsinen im Haar), Der Computer Nr. 3 (1968), Ein bisschen Goethe, ein bisschen Bonaparte, I like Mozart (1969), Dann schon eher der Piano player (1970), Komm mit mir nach Bahia, Miguel (1972).

New label, new beginnings

Gall had several other releases in France in 1968, none of which aroused any great interest. At the end of 1968, on attaining the age of 21, Gall separated from Denis Bourgeois and stretched her wings upon the expiration of her contract with Philips.

She moved to a new record label, "La Compagnie", born from the association of artists Hugues Aufray, Nicole Croisille and Michel Colombier. At "La Compagnie", Gall made a number of recordings, but she never succeeded in finding a coherent style with Norbert Saada as Artistic Director. She went her own way in 1969 with two adaptations: one Italian and the other British: L'Orage / La Pioggia) ("The Storm") which she sang with Gigliola Cinquetti at the 1969 San Remo Music Festival, and Les Années folles ("Gentlemen Please"), created by Barbara Ruskin. Her songs Gens bien élevés, La Manille et la révolution, Zozoï and Éléphants were largely ignored. Moreover, "La Compagnie" went bankrupt.

The early seventies continued to be a barren period for Gall. Although she was the first artist to be recorded in France for Atlantic Records in 1971, despite prestigious authors C'est cela l'amour (1971) and Chasse neige (1971), faltered in the charts. In 1972, Gall returned to see Gainsbourg, who wrote Frankenstein and Les Petits ballons, which she recorded for the label EMI-Pathé, but these also failed. Teaming up with Jean-Michel Rivat as artistic director, 5 minutes d'amour (1972) and Par plaisir or Plus haut que moi (1973) all disappointed.

Beginning in the 1970s, Gall started regularly visiting Senegal, which she loved. There, she built her "hideaway" on the island of N'Gor, close to Dakar in 1990.

Berger (the Shepherd)

France Gall was seduced by Michel Berger’s music when she heard his song Attends-moi ("Wait for Me") one day in 1973. During a later radio broadcast, she asked him for his opinion on songs which her then producer wanted her to record. Although he was disconcerted by the quality of the songs, there would be no question of collaboration.

Only 6 months later, in 1974, after she sang vocals on the song Mon fils rira du rock'n'roll on Berger's new album, Gall's publisher asked him, at her behest, to write for her. Gall had already made her mind up that "It will be him or else it will be nobody" (documentary France 3 France Gall by France Gall). Thus, in 1974, La Déclaration d'amour was to be the first in a long line of hits which marked a turning point in Gall’s career.

Meanwhile, the two artists, whose affinities became more than musical, married on June 22 1976. France Gall shared years of work and family life with Michel Berger. The couple had two children.

Musicals

In 1978, pushed by Berger, she once again trod the boards of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées where she had auditioned 15 years earlier, for a show entitled "Made in France". The most novel aspect of this show was that, except for the Brazilian duo drag act Les Étoiles, the members of the orchestra, choir and the dance troupe were exclusively female. In this show, France sang Maria vai com as outrasa Brazilian (Portuguese) the original version of Plus haut que moi.

In 1979, Gall took part in a new show which remains memorable for many. Composed by Michel Berger and written by the Québécois author Luc Plamondon, the rock opera Starmania enjoyed success not typically reserved for musicals in France. The show played for one month at Palais des congrès de Paris.

In 1982, Gall rehearsed in the Palais des Sports of Paris to present Tout pour la musique, an innovative spectacle without spangles but with lots of bright colours and electric music. The songs Résiste, Il jouait du piano debout ("He played the upright piano") quickly became French pop standards.

1980s and the Humanitarian projects

Musicians were involved in a great humanitarian actions in the 1980s, lead by Bob Geldof and Band Aid. In 1985, France Gall joined Chanteurs Sans Frontières, on the initiative of Valerie Lagrange. She also worked for S.O.S Ethiopie for the benefit of Ethiopia under the aegis of Renaud Séchan ("Renaud").

In parallel, taking over from Renaud at the new Zénith of Paris, she gave a successful series of concerts lasting three weeks, where she sang, increasingly accompanied by her public, new songs like Débranche ("Loosen-up"), Hong-Kong Star, and gave solid acoustic performances of Plus haut, Diego libre dans sa tête and Cézanne peint.

Action Écoles is an organisation of schoolboy volunteers which collect essential food products in France for African countries where famine and drought prevail. In 1985 and 1986, Gall worked with Berger, Richard Berry, Daniel Balavoine and Lionel Rotcage for the benefit of the organisation, in particular in Mali. The organization distributed water pumps and tons of food. On January 14 1986, during a trip to Africa, Balavoine tragically perished in a helicopter crash. In 1987, the song Évidemment, written by Berger and sung by Gall, was a moving homage to their lost friend. The song is a track on the album Babacar.

A new show Tour de France ’88 produced by Berger, was launched. Starting from Le Zénith, its Parisian launchpad, the dazzling production toured all France.

In 1988 Gall topped the pop charts in many countries with Ella, elle l'a ("Ella has it"), a Berger tribute to Ella Fitzgerald.

The Star loses its Shepherd

France Gall wanted to take a break and did not record any more for several years to come. She agreed to a project with Berger: with two voices, but not exactly a duet. She gave herself totally to this project, and Double Jeu surprised when it appeared in 1992.

Gall and Berger announced a series of concerts in various Parisian rooms like the Cicada and Bercy. The project was interrupted by the untimely death of her husband from a heart attack, on August 2 1992.

Gall was strongly affected by his death, and also by the serious health problems and subsequent death of their elder daughter in 1997. Eight months after Berger's death, Gall was diagnosed with breast cancer, which was successfully treated.

Since that time, Gall made some appearances on the musical scene, but Gall has never been the same as when her husband was still alive.

Trivia

• Gainsbourg secretly recorded Gall's laughter to use on Pauvre Lola, a track on his 1964 album Gainsbourg Percussions. Her laughter is not credited.
• Poupée de cire, poupée de son ("Wax doll, bran doll") was the first non-ballad to win the contest, and was later nominated as one the 14 finalists in a vote for the most popular Eurovision song of all time at a special 50th anniversary contest in Copenhagen, Denmark, 2005.

Discography

Singles

• October 1963 - Ne sois pas si bête, adaptation by Pierre Delanoë of "Stand a little closer", original words and music by Jack Wolf and Maurice "Bugs" Bower
• 1964 - N'écoute pas les idoles, words and music by Gainsbourg
• 1964 - Jazz à gogo, words by Robert Gall music by Alain Goraguer
• 1964 - Laisse tomber les filles, words and music by Gainsbourg
• 1964 - Sacré Charlemagne, words by Robert Gall and music by Georges Liferman
• 1965 - Poupée de cire, poupée de son, words and music by Gainsbourg
• 1965 - Attends ou va-t'en, words and music by Gainsbourg
• 1965 - Nous ne sommes pas des anges, words and music by Gainsbourg
• 1966 - Baby pop, words and music by Gainsbourg
• 1966 - Les Sucettes, words and music by Gainsbourg
• 1967 - Néfertiti, words and music by Gainsbourg
• 1967 - Bébé requin, words by Jean-Michel Rivat and Frank Thomas, music by Joe Dassin
• 1967 - Toi que je veux, words by Jean-Michel Rivat and Frank Thomas, music by Joe Dassin
• 1968 - Le Temps du tempo, words by Robert Gall and music by Alain Goraguer
• 1968 - Y'a du soleil à vendre, words by Robert Gall and musique d'Hubert Giraud
• 1968 - 24 / 36, words by Jean-Michel Rivat and Frank Thomas, music by Joe Dassin
• 1969 - Homme tout petit, words by Jean-Michel Rivat and Frank Thomas, music by Jean-Pierre Bourtayre
• 1969 - Les Années folles, adaptation by Boris Bergman of the British song Gentlemen Please, original words and music by Barbara Ruskin
• 1969 - Baci, baci, baci, adaptation by Eddy Marnay from Italian lyrics by Sergio Bardotti and Claudio Tallino and music by Franco and Giorgio Bracardi
• 1970 - Zozoï, words by Robert Gall and music by Nelson Angelo
• 1970 - Les Éléphants, words by Jean Schmitt and music by Jean Géral
• 1971 - C'est cela l'amour, words by Jacques Lanzmann and music by Paul-Jean Borowsky
• 1971 - Chasse neige, words by Étienne Roda-Gil and music by Julien Clerc
• 1972 - Frankenstein, words and music by Gainsbourg
• 1972 - 5 minutes d'amour, words by Jean-Michel Rivat and Frank Thomas, music by Roland Vincent
• 1973 - Plus haut que moi, adaptation by Yves Dessca and Jean-Michel Rivat of « Maria vai com as outras » by Toquinho and Vinicius de Moraes
• May 1974 - La Déclaration d'amour, words and music by Berger
• October 1974 - Mais, aime la, words and music by Berger
• 1975 - Comment lui dire, words and music by Berger
• April 1976 - "Ce soir je ne dors pas"
• June 1976 - Ça balance pas mal à Paris (duet with Michel Berger), words and music by Berger
• May 1977 - Musique, words and music by Berger
• October 1977 - "Si, maman si"
• January 1978 - "Le meilleur de soi-même"
• March 1978 - Viens je t'emmène, words and music by Berger
• January 1979 - Besoin d'amour, words by Luc Plamondon and music by Berger
• June 1980 - Il jouait du piano debout, words and music by Berger
• October 1980 - Bébé, comme la vie, words and music by Berger
• October 1980 - Donner pour donner (duet with Elton John), words by Michel Berger and Bernie Taupin, music by Michel Berger - Archives INA : Reportage Antenne 2, 1981
• 1981 - Tout pour la musique, words and music by Berger
• 1981 - Résiste, words and music by Berger
• May 1981 - Amor También, words and music by Berger
• April 6, 1984 - Débranche, words and music by Berger
• September 17, 1984 - Hong Kong Star, words and music by Berger - Archives INA : Extrait de Hong Kong Star, Antenne 2, 1984
• February 4, 1984 - Calypso, words and music by Berger
• May 20, 1984 - Cézanne peint, words and music by Berger
• April 3, 1987 - Babacar, words and music by Berger
• August 24, 1987 - Ella, elle l'a, words and music by Berger
• March 7, 1988 - Évidemment, words and music by Berger
• September 12, 1988 - "Papillon de nuit", words and music by Berger
• 20 March, 1989 - "La chanson d'Azima"
• May 29, 1992 - Laissez passez les rêves, words and music by Berger, duet with Michel Berger
• 12 October 1992 - "Superficiel et léger"
• January 15, 1993 - "Les élans du coeur"
• May 6, 1993 - "Mademoiselle Chang (live)"
• November 5, 1993 - "Si, maman si (live)"
• December 1993 - "Il jouait du piano debout (live)"
• February 2, 1994 - "La négresse blonde (live)"
• March 15, 1994 - "Paradis Blanc (live)"
• November 14, 1994 - "Les princes des villes"
• March 15, 1996 - "Plus haut"
• November 5, 1996 - "Privée d'amour"
• October 25, 1996 - "Message personnel"
• February 14, 1997 - "Résiste (remix)"
• May 15, 1997 - "Attends ou va-t'en (live)"
• 2004 - Zozoï - Reissue of 1970 single
• August 20, 2004 - "La seule chose qui compte"

Albums

• Les Sucettes (1965)
• Baby Pop (1966)
• 1968 (1967)
• France Gall (6 January 1976)
• Dancing disco (27 April 1977)
• France Gall Live (live album, 9 November 1978)
• Starmania (various artists) (16 October 1978)
• Paris, France (19 May 1980)
• Tout pour la musique (10 December 1981)
• Palais des Sports (live album, 4 November 1982)
• Débranche (2 April 1984)
• France Gall au Zénith (live album, 4 February 1985)
• Babacar (19 February 1987)
• Le Tour de France 88 (live album, 7 November 1988)
• Double jeu (with Michel Berger, 12 June 1992)
• Simple je (Débranchée à Bercy 93) (live album, 29 October 1993)
• Simple je (Rebranchée à Bercy 93) (live album, 28 January 1994)
• Pleyel (live album, concert recorded in 1994, published in December 2005)
• France (29 March 1996)
• Concert public (live, Olympia 1996) & Concert privé (Concert acoustique TV M6 1997) (24 April 1997)
• Best of France Gall (compilation, 15 June 2004)
• Évidemment (compilation, 7 October 2004)

Audio sample

External links

• Clips from INA archives
• Official website managed by WEA Music
• Website managed by Universal
• Non-official website
• France Gall biography on RFI
• A Tribute to Gainsbourg: France Gall
• French forum of France Gall & Michel Berger

1. France GALL, Serge GAINSBOURG & Alain GORAGUER (28/03/1965). à propos du Grand Prix de l'Eurovision. ORTF/Institut National de l'Audiovisuel. {{cite AV media}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. France GALL, Serge GAINSBOURG & Alain GORAGUER (20/03/1965). à propos du Grand Prix de l'Eurovision. ORTF/Institut National de l'Audiovisuel. {{cite AV media}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |Gainsbourg,%20Serge&num_notice= ignored (help)
3. Bouvier, Y.-F. (2005). L'Integral et cætera. Éditions Bartillat. ISBN 2-84100-341-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
4. France GALL (09/04/1978). France GALL sur son concert au Théâtre des Champs Elysées. ORTF/Institut National de l'Audiovisuel. {{cite AV media}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

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• 1947 births
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• People from Paris
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