49 years ago - on 21 November in 1965 - Mireille Mathieu performed for the VERY first time in front of French TV-audience, singing «Jezebel». Mireille was invited to Paris by the impresario Régis Durcourt to sing on the Song Parade television program, on 19 November 1965. The truth has never been revealed how, but Mireille was suddenly moved-up to compete live on the Sunday 21 November 1965 episode of Jeu de la Chance, a talent segment of the popular French program Télé-Dimanche. She explained that Song Parade offered only one chance to sing, while Jeu de la Chance offered many chances to sing, but only if she won, and she intended to win. Both the studio audience and telephone voters gave her a slight lead over five-time winner Georgette Lemaire, so the producers called it a tie. Johnny Stark officially became her manager that night, and with his longtime assistant Nadine Joubert, helped prepare Mireille to win the contest the following week. In a short film called La guerre des Piaf (War of the Sparrows) Georgette and Mireille are interviewed separately, both are small and the same height. Mireille is surrounded by her sisters Monique and Christiane, with Johnny hovering in the background as she is interviewed for the first time on camera. She appears to be uncomfortable, staring at the floor during many of the questions, even looking dumbfounded once, like a deer in the headlights. Johnny finally comes to her rescue. In a later interview, she underscored the importance of the event, stating, For me, Paris was the end of the world. I never took a train or saw a camera before. I did not know what the outcome of the adventure would be. In the middle of her seven consecutive performances on Télé-Dimanche she performed a concert at the Paris Olympia, which propelled her to stardom. She signed with Bruno Coquatrix, the owner of the Olympia, on 20 December, and performed the only three Piaf songs she had memorized, two days later. She was hailed in the press, in France and abroad, as the Piaf dAvignon (Sparrow from Avignon), in reference to Piafs nickname Sparrow of the Streets. The Olympia performance convinced a skeptical Paul Mauriat to work with Mireille, and song writer André Pascal joined forces to develop her into a successful act. Pascal wrote Mon crédo, Viens dans ma rue, La première étoile and many other hit songs for her. Her first album En Direct de LOlympia, on the Barclay label, was released in 1966. Highly acclaimed, along with the singles and EPs from it, the album made her a star outside of France. A regular early contributor of material was Francis Lai, who wrote two songs: Cest ton nom, and Un homme et une femme for her first album, and often accompanied her with his accordion on television. Her first record was recorded in the EMI studios, with Paul Mauriats band. Mathieus success led her record company, Barclay, to claim that they controlled 40% of the French pop disk market. Mireille spent all of 1966 and 1967 touring. It was then, during a car ride to another concert, that Stark advised Mireille that she was finally debt free, and worth more than a million francs ($200k USD in 1967). She had always prayed that she could get her family out of poverty, but the touring and singing were much more important at the time. In her autobiography, she stated her first major purchases were a vehicle for her fathers business and a large home for her parents and siblings. Most importantly, she had a telephone installed for the family, so her parents no longer had to go to the pharmacy to talk to her while she was in Paris. Her one regret, was that she was unable to see her grandmother Germaine in the hospital before she died because of all the tour contracts. Mireille arrived in Paris with two dresses and a change of underwear, and Johnny set her up in style, sent for Mireilles two oldest sisters, and let them go shopping for a week. He then rented her a home and a maid in upscale Neuilly after she had won, and made sure she only had her singing to worry about. Johnny recorded all the expenses though, and he was fully compensated before a franc was ever put in Mireilles account. Mireille has only sung twice at the London Palladium during royal performances (before the Queen and her family). Once in 1967, and again in 1969. Following her second performance, her French cover of Engelbert Humperdincks The Last Waltz (La dernière valse) generated much publicity in Great Britain and became a hit record even though the original had been number one only a few months previously. She also toured Canada and the United States, where she appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and the Danny Kaye Show. While on a visit to Hollywood, she met ELVIS PRESLEY, and in Las Vegas, Nevada sang with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. *** 49 лет назад - 21 ноября 1965 года - Мирей Матьё впервые появилась перед французскими телезрителями, исполнив песню «Jezebel». Её выступление вызвало фурор. Многим казалось, что на сцене вновь выступает Эдит Пиаф, — так похож был голос Мирей на голос певицы, ушедшей из жизни всего за два года до этого выступления. А через день профессиональный продюсер Джонни Старк подписал контракт с отцом Мирей. C этого дня для Мирей началась работа профессиональной певицы. Её учили всему, что составляет ремесло певца: вокалу, нотной грамоте, умению держаться на сцене, правильной речи, этикету и многому другому, чему Мирей не могла научиться в детстве. Накануне Рождества 1966 года Мирей выступила на сцене престижнейшего концертного зала Франции — «Олимпия». На её премьере присутствовали многие звёзды французской эстрады. После выступления Мирей зрителям раздали листочки с вопросами: Понравилась ли вам Мирей Матьё? Мешает ли вам её сходство с Пиаф? Присутствовали вы когда-нибудь на каком-либо гала-концерте Пиаф? Многим зрителям Мирей понравилась, но при этом отмечалось её сходство с Эдит Пиаф. Поэтому Джонни Старк запретил ей слушать записи Пиаф и пытаться подражать ей, объяснив, что в этом случае Мирей Матьё станет лишь бледной тенью великой певицы. В подтверждение этого он показал ей газеты, в которых утверждалось то же самое. С этого момента Мирей и её продюсер принялись искать тот стиль пения, который позволил бы певице занять достойное место на эстраде. Вскоре состоялась встреча Мирей с патриархом французского шансона Морисом Шевалье, который приветствовал её словами: — Вот вы какая, милая малышка! И заметьте, я не добавлю «Пиаф». Потому что между вами обеими большая разница. Малышка Пиаф шла по теневой стороне жизни, а вы, Мирей, пойдёте по солнечной стороне. Этой фразой он определил её дальнейший путь. Первый же диск Матьё с песней Mon credo композитора Поля Мориа за полгода разошёлся во Франции тиражом в миллион экземпляров.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 07:50:07 +0000
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