France Gall

France Gall, 1965

France Gall, 1968

France Gall (* 9. October 1947 as Isabelle Genevieve Marie Anne Gall in Paris ; † 7. January 2018 in Neuilly-sur-Seine ) was a French pop and pop singer . After a successful career start in France, she won the Grand Prix Eurovision for Luxembourg in 1965 with the title Poupée de cire, poupée de son . From 1966 to 1972 she sang in German, among other things . In 1988 she had a number one hit in Germany with Ella, elle l'a .

Career

Her family was deeply rooted in music; her father Robert Gall wrote chansons for Charles Aznavour and Édith Piaf , among others . Supported by her parents, she dropped out of school at the age of 15 and recorded her first songs. For this she gave herself the name France Gall . She chose this name on the advice of her manager, because her first name Isabelle was already known by another French singer, Isabelle Aubret . Her first single Ne sois pas si bête (Don't be so stupid) was a great success. Her early career was particularly encouraged by acquaintance with the singer and songwriter Serge Gainsbourg .

Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson

France Gall was selected in 1965 to participate in the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson (the international music competition later renamed the Eurovision Song Contest ) in Naples for Luxembourg . She was presented with a selection of ten songs from which she chose and interpreted her favorite song - Poupée de cire, poupée de son by Serge Gainsbourg . With that she won the competition. The song Les sucettes also comes from Gainsbourg . It is about a sugary lollipop and is considered ambiguous : the text can also be understood as a description of oral sex . France Gall later asserted that she would never have sung the song at the time if she had known about it.

At that time she had a relationship with the singer Claude François (1939–1978).

Career in the Federal Republic of Germany

France Gall congratulates Udo Jürgens in Luxembourg on winning the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne in 1966

France Gall left France in 1966, went to the Federal Republic of Germany and recorded records sung in German there until 1972. She worked with Werner Müller on this. For Zwei Orfelsinen im Haar (her German version of A Banda , originally by Chico Buarque ) she received a gold record in 1968 . In 1968 she took part in the German Schlager competition with Der Computer Nr. 3 and took third place. In 1969 she was again third in the German Schlager Competition : Her title Ein bit Goethe, ein bit Bonaparte also reached number 14 in the charts and was thus her highest German-language hit parade rating up to that point. At the German Schlager Competition in 1970 , with Dann , she was more likely to play the piano and landed on the penultimate place. She interpreted pieces by Heinz Buchholz and Giorgio Moroder , among others .

The most famous songs in German include Zwei Verliebte move through Europe , Unga Katunga , Kilimanjaro , You can't buy my heart , Ali Baba and the 40 thieves , A little cheating in love , I sing my song , I have ' a friend in Munich , I'm sweet as sugar , Aquarius and Fish , Left of the Rhine and right of the Rhine , That was a nice party , We are not angels or I love you just the way you are . Because of her popularity, she received the bronze in 1969 and 1971 and the silver Bravo Otto in 1970 from the youth magazine Bravo .

In retrospect, France Gall said that the time of her career in Germany was not the best of her life. Because of her degree of popularity and the constant appearances, she had no normal youth. Her German hits are stylistically in stark contrast to her later career in France.

She was in a relationship with the singer Julien Clerc (* 1947) from 1969 to 1974 .

A second time in France

In 1973, France Gall heard a song by Michel Berger on the radio while driving a car . She later said that she stopped and let this text sink in. At that time France Gall was in a somewhat unclear phase of life; she no longer wanted to be presented as “the little girl”, but as the woman she was now. She said that she would never have sung if Berger had not written the following songs for her.

In 1974 Michel Berger suggested that she record the song Mon Fils Rira Du Rock'n Roll with her . The two fell in love. In the same year Berger wrote the song La déclaration (d'amour) for France Gall . In 1976 they married in Paris and had two children (Pauline Isabelle and Raphaël Michel). Berger wrote many hits tailored to Gall; her career reached new heights. In the 1980s she had other top 10 successes in France with songs like Hong Kong Star or Débranche . The title song of their 1987 album Babacar was inspired by an incident during a trip to Senegal . There she met a young, destitute mother and her baby, a boy named Babacar. France Gall stayed in contact with the family until the early 1990s and supported them financially.

On August 2, 1992, at the age of 44, her husband died unexpectedly of a heart attack while playing tennis. In 1993 she developed breast cancer .

In 1988 France Gall celebrated its biggest hit in Germany after 15 years of radio silence: The title Ella elle l'a ('Ella, she has it'), a homage to the jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald , was number one for four weeks was the fifth best-selling single in Germany this year and thus a little more successful than in France. After that she didn't have a hit like that again. Cover versions of Ella elle l'a , u. a. by Alizée and Kate Ryan , were also hits.

After the release of her last studio album France (1995), in which she reinterpreted a number of hits and (including those by Berger), it became quiet around her. Her daughter Pauline died in 1997 at the age of 19 of the metabolic disease cystic fibrosis .

France Gall largely withdrew from the public eye and lived again in Paris after a few stays in Senegal.

In 1994 she was made a Knight of the French Legion of Honor (Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur).

In June 2013, the French singer Jenifer Bartoli released the album Ma déclaration , which she wanted to be understood as a homage to France Gall and in which she covered twelve tracks by France Gall. The latter reacted angrily and arguments broke out.

On January 7, 2018, she succumbed to breast cancer that had broken out again two years earlier . She was honored in obituaries by, among others, French President Emmanuel Macron and former President Nicolas Sarkozy . She was buried on the Cimetière de Montmartre (Division 29) in the family grave next to her husband Michel Berger and her daughter Pauline.

My way

The French composer and chansonnier Claude François wrote a ballad with the English title For You at the end of 1966 , in which he musically processed his failed relationship with France Gall. In collaboration with his composer colleague Jacques Revaux , who at that time mainly worked for Michel Sardou , and the trumpeter and lyricist Gilles Thibault, the song Comme d'habitude was created in 1967 in François' country house in Dannemois, with a slight alteration of the melody , the under the title My Way became famous as the world success of Frank Sinatra .

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks	[↑]: treated together with the previous entry; [←]: placed in both charts
		DE	CH	FR	BE W	BE F
1964	N'écoute pas les idoles	-	-	-	-[BE F : ↑]
	Mes premières vraies vacances	-	-	FR50 gold (1 week)FR	-[BE F : ↑]
	Sacré Charlemagne	-	-	-	-[BE F : ↑]
1965	Poupée de cire, poupée de son	-	-	-	-[BE F : ↑]
1966	Baby pop	-	-	-	-[BE F : ↑]
	Les sucettes	-	-	FR55 (1 week) FR	-[BE F : ↑]
1968	1968	-	-	-	-[BE F : ↑]
1976	France Gall	-	-	FR4th platinum (48 weeks)FR	-[BE F : ↑]
1977	Dancing disco	-	-	FR2 platinum (103 weeks)FR	-[BE F : ↑]
1980	Paris, France	-	-	FR1 platinum (68 weeks)FR	-[BE F : ↑]
1981	Tout pour la musique	-	-	FR2 platinum (72 weeks)FR	-[BE F : ↑]
1984	Débranche!	-	-	FR1 × 2 Double platinum (39 weeks)FR	-[BE F : ↑]
1987	Babacar	DE7 (17 weeks) DE	CH25 (5 weeks) CH	FR2 diamond (68 weeks)FR	-[BE F : ↑]
1992	Double jeu	-	CH- gold CH	FR1 × 2 Double platinum (62 weeks)FR	-[BE F : ↑]		with Michel Berger
1996	France	-	-	FR2 platinum (25 weeks)FR	BE W11 (21 weeks) BE W	-

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Live albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks	[↑]: treated together with the previous entry; [←]: placed in both charts
		DE	CH	FR	BE W	BE F
1982	France Gall / Palais des sports	-	-	FR21st gold (8 weeks)FR	-[BE F : ↑]
1988	Le Tour de France 88	-	-	FR7th platinum (14 weeks)FR	-[BE F : ↑]
1993	Simple je - Débranchée à Bercy	-	-	FR18th × 2 Double gold (9 weeks)FR	BE W56 (4 weeks) BE W	BE F153 (1 week) BE F	placed in Belgium only with combined re-release 2012 ( Simple je - L'Intégrale Bercy )
1994	Simple je - Rebranchée à Bercy	-	-	FR10 × 2 Double gold (8 weeks)FR[BE W : ↑][BE F : ↑]
1997	Concert public Olympia / Concert acoustique M6	-	-	FR16 (7 weeks) FR	-	-
2004	Best of Live	-	-	-	BE W87 (7 weeks) BE W	-	only placed in Belgium in 2012

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More live albums

• 1978: France Gall / Live Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
• 1985: France Gall au Zénith (FR:gold)
• 2005: Pleyel

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks	[↑]: treated together with the previous entry; [←]: placed in both charts
		DE	CH	FR	BE W	BE F
1968	Le disque d'or de France Gall	-	-	FR15 (1 week) FR	-[BE F : ↑]
1990	Les années musique	-	-	FR- a × 2 Double platinum FR	-[BE F : ↑]		1990 5th place in the compilation charts in France (placed for 24 weeks)
2004	Evidemment	-	CH15 (13 weeks) CH	FR41 a platinum (84 weeks)FR	BE W1 (... week) BE W	BE F14 (... weeks) BE F	in FR only placed in 2011 2004 number 1 in the compilation charts in France (placed 29 weeks)
2005	Quand on est ensemble	-	-	FR90 a (4 weeks) FR	BE W64 (11 weeks) BE W	-	with Michel Berger in FR only placed in 2015 in 12th place in the compilation charts in France in 2005 (placed 12 weeks)
2011	Intégrale des albums studio + Palais des Sports, le Tour de France et Pleyel	-	-	-	BE W118 (1 week) BE W	-

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

^aCompilations could not place in France at times in the album charts. Therefore the placement in the compilation charts is given in the notes.

More compilations

• 1968: The great successes (DE only)
• 1969: Vive la France Gall (only DE)
• 1970: The great successes 2 (only DE)
• 1972: Portrait in Music (only DE)
• 1973: France Gall
• 1976: Cinq minutes d'amour
• 1981: France Gall 75 - Comment lui dire (FR:gold)
• 1988: Les plus belles chansons de France Gall (FR:gold)
• 1990: Best of (FR:gold)
• 1998: En Allemand - The best in German
• 2006: Opération Premium Toupargel (FR:gold)

Soundtracks

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	CH	FR	BE W	BE F
2004	Résiste	-	-	FR13 (17 weeks) FR	BE W21 (27 weeks) BE W	-	Soundtrack to the musical of the same name by France Gall and Bruck Dawit

Singles

The chart data for France for the period up to 1983 are currently only available for a fee.

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks	[↑]: treated together with the previous entry; [←]: placed in both charts
		DE	AT	CH	FR	BE W	BE F
1964	Ne sois pas si bête N'écoute pas les idoles	-	-	-	-	BE W24 (12 weeks) BE W	-
	N'écoute pas les idoles N'écoute pas les idoles	-	-	-	-	BE W14 (20 weeks) BE W	-
	Les rubans et la fleur N'écoute pas les idoles	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	Ne dis pas aux copains N'écoute pas les idoles	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	Mes premières vraies vacances Mes premières vraies vacances	-	-	-	-	BE W28 (12 weeks) BE W	-
	La cloche Mes premières vraies vacances	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	Jazz à gogo Mes premières vraies vacances	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	Laisse tomber les filles Sacré Charlemagne	-	-	-	-	BE W9 (28 weeks) BE W	-
	Christiansen Sacré Charlemagne	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	Sacré Charlemagne Sacré Charlemagne	-	-	-	-	BE W4 (28 weeks) BE W	-	France Gall et ses petits amis
1965	Poupée de cire, poupée de son b Poupée de cire, poupée de son	DE2 (20 weeks) DE	AT10 (4 weeks) AT	-	FR174 (1 week) FR	BE W3 (24 weeks) BE W	BE F4 (8 weeks) BE F	in FR only placed in 2018
	Dis à ton capitaine Poupée de cire, poupée de son	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	Le coeur qui jazze Poupée de cire, poupée de son	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	Un prince charming Poupée de cire, poupée de son	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	Attends ou va-t-en Baby pop	-	-	-	-	BE W24 (12 weeks) BE W	-
	Et des meringue Baby Pop	DE34 (1 week) DE	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
1966	L'Amérique Baby pop	-	-	-	-	BE W32 (8 weeks) BE W	-
	Le temps de la rentrée Baby Pop	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	Nous ne sommes pas des Anges Baby Pop	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	On se ressemble toi et moi Baby Pop	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	Baby pop baby pop	-	-	-	-	BE W23 (12 weeks) BE W	-
	Faut-il que je t'aime Baby Pop	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	Les Sucettes Les Sucettes	-	-	-	-	BE W14 (12 weeks) BE W	-
	Quand on est ensemble Les Sucettes	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	Je me marie en blanc Les Sucettes	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	Bonsoir John-John Les Sucettes	-	-	-	-	BE W15 (11 weeks) BE W	-
	La rose des vents Les Sucettes	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	La guerre des chansons Les Sucettes	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
1967	Tu n'as pas le droit Les Sucettes	-	-	-	-	BE W41 (3 weeks) BE W	-
	Il neige Les Sucettes	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	Polichinelle	-	-	-	-	BE W48 (1 week) BE W	-
	La petite 1968	-	-	-	FR22 (13 weeks) FR[BE W : ↑]		-	with Maurice Biraud
	Bébé requin 1968	-	-	-	-	BE W15 (12 weeks) BE W	-
	Teenie Weenie Boppie 1968	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	Chanson pour que tu m'aimes un peu 1968	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
1968	Toi que je veux 1968	-	-	-	-	BE W36 (5 weeks) BE W	-
	La fille d'un garçon 1968	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	A banda	DE16 gold (6 weeks)DE	-	-	-	-	-
	Computer # 3	DE24 (3 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	-
	Y'a du soleil à vendre	-	-	-	-	BE W48 (1 week) BE W	-
	Mon p'tit soldier	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	24/36	-	-	-	FR49 (1 week) FR	-	-
	Merci, Mr. Marquis	DE39 (1 week) DE	-	-	-	-	-
1969	L'orage	-	-	-	-	BE W3 (21 weeks) BE W	BE F17 (3 weeks) BE F
	La pioggia	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	Homme tout Petit	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	Les gens bien élevés	-	-	-	-[BE W : ↑]		-
	A little Goethe, a little Bonaparte	DE14 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	-
	Left of the Rhine and right of the Rhine	DE32 (1 week) DE	-	-	-	-	-
1974	La déclaration d'amour France Gall	-	-	-	FR124 (1 week) FR	-	-	in FR only placed in 2018
1977	Musique Dancing Disco	-	-	-	FR152 (1 week) FR	-	-	in FR only placed in 2018
	Si, maman si Dancing Disco	-	-	-	FR99 (1 week) FR	-	-	in FR only placed in 2018
1978	Ca balance pas times à Paris	-	-	-	FR25 (12 weeks) FR	-	-	with Michel Berger
1980	Il jouait du piano debout Paris, France	-	-	CH77 (1 week) CH	FR57 gold (3 weeks)FR	-	-	in CH and FR only placed in 2018
1981	Les aveux	-	-	-	FR2 (15 weeks) FR	-	BE F37 (1 week) BE F	with Elton John
	Thunder pour thunder	-	-	-	FR4 (17 weeks) FR	-	-	with Elton John
	Résiste Tout pour la musique	-	-	CH93 (1 week) CH	FR34 (4 weeks) FR	-	-	in CH and FR only placed in 2018
1984	Débranche! Débranche!	-	-	-	FR44 (2 weeks) FR	-	-
	Hong Kong Star Débranche!	-	-	-	FR6 (14 weeks) FR	-	-
1985	Calypso Débranche!	-	-	-	FR36 (6 weeks) FR	-	-
1987	Babacar Babacar	DE14 (11 weeks) DE	-	CH27 (2 weeks) CH	FR11 (17 weeks) FR	-	-	in DE and CH only placed in 1988
	Ella, elle l'a Babacar	DE1 gold (20 weeks)DE	AT1 (16 weeks) AT	CH5 (16 weeks) CH	FR2 silver (22 weeks)FR	-	-
1988	Evidemment Babacar	-	-	CH89 (1 week) CH	FR6 (19 weeks) FR	-	-	in CH only placed in 2018
	Papillon de nuit Babacar	-	-	-	FR23 (13 weeks) FR	-	-
1989	La chanson d'Azima Babacar	-	-	-	FR29 (8 weeks) FR	-	-
1992	Laissez passer les rêves Double jeu	-	-	-	FR37 (4 weeks) FR	-	-	with Michel Berger
	Superficiel et léger Double jeu	-	-	-	FR42 (5 weeks) FR	-	-	with Michel Berger
1993	Mademoiselle Chang (live) Simple je - Débranchée à Bercy	-	-	-	FR23 (3 weeks) FR	-	-

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

^bAlso in Italian under the title Io sì, tu no and in German under the title That was a beautiful party recorded and published.

More singles

• We Are Not Angels (1966)
• Zozoi (1970)
• Unga Katunga (1971)
• Ali Baba and the 40 thieves (1971, B-side)
• Two lovers roam Europe (1971)
• For Thirty Centimes (1972)
• Dear Leo (1972, B-side)
• A Little Cheat In Love (1972)
• Come to Bahia with me (1972, B-side)
• I'm Sugar Sweet (1972)
• Will you come to me? (1972, B-side)
• Mais, aime la (1974)
• Comment lui dire? (1975)
• Musique (1977)
• Viens je t'emmène (1978)
• Besoin d'amour (1978)
• Tout pour la musique (1981) (FR:gold)
• Laissez passer les rêves (1992)
• Paradis blanc (1994)
• Les princes des villes (1994)
• Privée d'amour (1996)
• Message personnel (1996)

Video albums

• Bercy 93 (1994, FR:gold)

Web links

Commons : France Gall  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Works by France Gall in the catalog of the German National Library
• France Gall at Discogs (English)
• France Gall in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ France Gall a rejoint Michel Berger on “Paradis blanc” . Le Point , January 7, 2018, accessed January 7, 2018 (French).
2. ↑ ^{a b} Fabienne Hurst: Ambiguous lyrics: The thing with the permanent lollipop . a day in Spiegel Online , Nov. 15, 2012, accessed on 7 January 2018, sucette 'a synonym for "When you France Gall, explained what it be with lollipops actually was all about, and that the French word fellatio is, was, the song has long been a hit. "
3. ↑ Hit balance sheet. German chart singles 1956–1980 . Taurus Press , 1987, ISBN 3-922542-24-7 .
4. ^ Rino Gallo: M6 a retrouvé Babacar. Le Figaro, February 6, 2018 (French).
5. ^ France Gall - Biography. LetsSingIt, February 9, 2012, archived from the original on September 5, 2012 ; accessed on January 7, 2018 (English). 
6. ^ France Gall: "Ces hommages, c'est comme si j'étais morte" , Galls interview with Delphine Perez and Emmanuel Marolle, Le Parisien , June 11, 2013.
7. ↑ France Gall rabibochée avec Jenifer: "Je n'ai aucun problème avec elle lui Je garde mon amitié." , Programme-tv.net, December 10, 2014.
8. ↑ La chanteuse France Gall est morte . lemonde.fr , January 7, 2018, accessed January 7, 2018 (French).
   Esther Widmann: France Gall is dead . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , January 7, 2018, accessed on January 7, 2018.
9. ↑ Décès de France Gall: une pluie d'hommages d'artistes et du monde politique lemonde.fr , 7 January 2018, accessed on 9 January 2018 (French).
10. ↑ knerger.de: The grave of France Gall.
11. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Chart sources: DE AT CH Singles FR to 1984 Albums FR to 1996 Albums FR 1996 to 2011, Singles FR 1984 to 09/2014 BEW BEF
12. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Awards: DE CH FR
13. ^ Günter Ehnert: Hit balance sheet - German chart singles 1956-1980 . 1st edition. Verlag popular music-literature, Norderstedt 2000, ISBN 3-922542-24-7 , p. 444 .