Juliette Gréco

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Juliette Gréco (2006)

Juliette Gréco (born February 7, 1927 in Montpellier , † September 23, 2020 in Ramatuelle ) was a French chanson singer and actress . She was known as the "grande dame de la chanson" and was considered the muse of the French existentialists .

Life

About her mother, who was active in the French Resistance during the Second World War , Gréco said: “My mother was never a real mother to me. She was a soldier all her life. Countless awards and medals from the French resistance fighters hung on her chest ... she was a woman to be respected but not loved. I've never had a real family. ”Or: Your father was a Corsican police officer. Before moving to Paris, she lived with her grandmother in Bordeaux for some time .

Gréco made her first public appearance in 1937 at the age of ten at an in-school talent competition. She was arrested by the Gestapo in 1943 with her mother and older sister . She was first sent to a camp and then to Fresnes Prison, from which she was released after three weeks. Her mother and sister survived the Ravensbrück concentration camp . Gréco's relationship with Germany remained distant. It was not until 1959 that she appeared in the Federal Republic.

After the war she stayed in Paris . She stayed afloat with smaller vocal interludes and soon became one of the bohemians of the capital. During this time she came into contact with communist ideas. In 1946 she opened the “ Tabou ” basement disco in the Parisian bohemian district of Saint-Germain des Prés , which became a legendary meeting place for existentialists . Boris Vian played the trumpet here, and her regular guests included Jean-Paul Sartre , Orson Welles and Marlene Dietrich . She was discovered and encouraged by Jean-Paul Sartre in the basement: one night, after a theater performance, she climbed on a table in the tabou and sang chansons to the artists and writers. The next day the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre ordered her into his apartment and confessed to her that he was convinced that she would soon be one of the great chanson singers. Juliette Gréco was allowed to choose two Sartre poems, which the poet then had the composer Joseph Kosma set to music. A little later, in June 1949, she sang the Sartre Chansons and four other texts selected by the sponsor in the existentialist cellar La rose rouge, which is owned by the state electricity company .

Ron Kroon : Juliette Gréco (1966)

Her chansons like Si tu t'imagines or L'Éternel féminin became hits at the end of the 1940s. Writers such as Sartre, Françoise Sagan , Jacques Prévert , Francois Mauriac and Albert Camus wrote texts for them. At the same time she became known as an actress. She took on various roles in the theater and was active in a poetry program on the radio. In 1952, she toured the United States and Brazil with the April Revue in Paris . Her followers celebrated her as the “Queen of Existentialists” or “ Muse of Saint-Germain-des-Prés”.

Shortly after starting his singing career, the first smaller film roles came from 1948, and in 1953 the first leading role in Jean-Pierre Melville's film noir Quand tu liras cette lettre . In 1957 Darryl F. Zanuck brought her to Hollywood for the first time for the Hemingway film The Sun Also Rises with Tyrone Power , Ava Gardner , Mel Ferrer and Errol Flynn . Other major roles in films produced by Zanuck would follow (1958 The Roots of Heaven directed by John Huston , 1960 Crack in the Mirror with Orson Welles directed by Richard Fleischer , 1961 The Big Gamble ), as well as roles in European film productions. In 1965, Gréco played a leading role in the TV miniseries Belphégor or The Secret of the Louvre ; In the remake of Arthur Bernède's 2001 novel with Sophie Marceau , Belphégor , she had a cameo after she had not worked as an actor since 1975.

Despite its success, the Gréco never achieved a popularity such as Édith Piaf . Her songs were considered too political and intellectual for that. Her career went up and down, but she always made a comeback . In the German-speaking countries she last performed sporadically with her husband on November 13, 2007 in Berlin ( Admiralspalast ), on November 16, 2007 in Munich ( Prinzregententheater ), on June 19, 2010 in Pirmasens (Festhalle) and on July 1, 2010 as part of the Jazz Festival in Vienna (State Opera). On February 5, 2012, on the occasion of her 85th birthday, an interview was broadcast on ARTE, followed by recordings of a performance at the 2004 Paris Olympics . On April 14, 2012, she performed in front of a sold-out theater at the Theaterhaus in Stuttgart.

Juliette Gréco (2009)

In private life, too, the Gréco's life was not always smooth. A first marriage (1953 to 1956) with the actor Philippe Lemaire , from which daughter Laurence Marie emerged, failed. From 1966 to 1977 she was married to the French actor Michel Piccoli , and in 1989 she performed in front of the altar with the pianist Gérard Jouannest , who composed numerous chansons for Gréco. In an interview for the weekly newspaper Die Zeit , the artist frankly admitted that she had also had sexual contacts with women. Regarding this, she said: “After all, I didn't want to die an idiot… Why shouldn't one be able to feel the same sensual and intellectual love for a woman as for a man? Since ancient times, since the beginning of the world, women have loved women. So where is the problem? ”From 1959 to 1969 she devoted herself to French chanson, discovering and promoting new talents such as Serge Gainsbourg and Leo Ferré . Her autobiography, Jujube , was published in 1982 .

Gréco suffered a stroke in 1989 and temporarily withdrew from the stage.

She suffered a minor heart attack while performing in Montpellier in May 2001 . She lived with her husband, Gérard Jouannest, on a farm near Paris and, from 2004 on, performed again at home and abroad. A concert she was supposed to give as part of her farewell tour in January 2017 at the Zurich Opera was canceled for health reasons. Jouannest died on May 16, 2018 in Ramatuelle on the Côte d'Azur .

Gréco last lived withdrawn and did not appear again. She died on September 23, 2020, also in Ramatuelle.

Filmography (selection)

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
FR FR MOVE BE W
2003 Aimez-vous les uns les autres ou bien disparaissez ... FR34 (13 weeks)
FR 		-
Polydor / Universal
2006 Le Temps d'une chanson FR39 (15 weeks)
FR 		-
Polydor / Universal
2009 Je me souviens de tout FR40 (8 weeks)
FR 		BE W70 (1 week)
BE W
2012 Ça se traverse et c'est beau FR34 (6 weeks)
FR 		-
2013 Gréco chante Brel FR57 (5 weeks)
FR 		BE W125 (5 weeks)
BE W
2015 Merci FR189 (1 week)
FR 		BE W186 (2 weeks)
BE W

More studio albums

  • 1964: Gréco chante Mac Orlan (new edition 2001 Mercury / Universal)
  • 1967: La Femme (Réédition 1998 Mercury / Universal )
  • 1991: Juliette Gréco chante Maurice Fanon (new edition 2002 Mercury / Universal)
  • 1993: Vivre dans l'avenir (Réédition 2002 Universal)
  • 1998: Un jour d'été et quelques nuits (Disques Meys)

Live albums

  • 1965: Juliette Gréco à la Philharmonie de Berlin (LP: Philips)
  • 1966: Juliette Gréco in Germany (LP: Philips)
  • 1992: Juliette Gréco à l ' Olympia (double CD, new edition 2004 Mercury / Universal)
  • 1999: Juliette Gréco Odéon 1999 (double CD, Disques Meys)
  • 2004: Juliette Gréco Olympia 1955 - Olympia 1966 (Mercury / Universal )
  • 2004: Juliette Gréco Olympia 2004 (double CD, Polydor / Universal )

Compilations

  • 1990: Je suis comme je suis (double CD, new edition 2002 Mercury / Universal)
  • 1991: Déshabillez-moi (double CD, new edition 2003 Mercury / Universal)
  • 2003: L'Éternel féminin - complete recording on 21 CD (Mercury / Universal )

Singles

  • Accordéon
  • A la belle étoile
  • Ça va (Le diable)
  • C'est à aimer que le temps passe
  • Chanson pour l'Auvergnat
  • Coin de rue
  • Daphénéo
  • Déshabillez-moi
  • Dieu est Nègre
  • Embrasse-moi
  • Il y avait
  • Je hais les Dimanches
  • Je suis comme je suis
  • La belle vie
  • La Chanson de Barbara
  • La Chanson de Margaret
  • La fiancée du pirate
  • La fourmi
  • La rue
  • La Rue des Blancs Manteaux
  • Les cloches (& La Tzigane)
  • Les croix
  • Les dames de la poste
  • Les enfants qui s'aiment
  • Les feuilles mortes
  • L'Éternel féminin
  • L'ombre
  • Paris Canaille
  • Parlez-moi d'amour
  • Romance
  • Sir Jack l'eventreur
  • Si tu t'imagines
  • Sous le ciel de Paris

German lyrics (album Abendlied ):

  • The ant (La fourmi)
  • My child, sing! (Mon fils, chante)
  • The bum (La rôdeuse)
  • Put out the lamp (free translation from Déshabillez-moi)
  • The dead tree (sur l'arbre mort)
  • That's what I'm scared of (J'en tremble)
  • Evening song (Et le pays s'endort)

Video albums

  • 2004: Juliette Gréco Olympia 2004 (Polydor / Universal).

Awards

literature

  • Régine Deforges (text), Irmeli Jung (photos): Juliette Gréco . Imprimerie Nationale, Paris 1990
  • Bertrand Dicale: Juliette Gréco. Les vies d'une chanteuse . Edition Lattès, Paris 2001, ISBN 2-7096-2102-9
  • Juliette Gréco: That's how I am. Memories of an Indomitable (from the French by Herbert Fell, original title Je suis faite comme ça , Flammarion). C. Bertelsmann Verlag, Edition Elke Heidenreich , Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-570-58038-7 (also as e-book)
  • Michel Grisolio: Juliette Gréco Edition Seghers, Paris 1975
  • Josyaune Savigneau: Juliette Gréco . Actes Sud, Arles 1998, ISBN 2-7427-2059-6
  • I am a terrible old lady . In: Die Zeit , No. 38/2012; Interview with Juliette Gréco.
  • Rita Kohlmaier: Juliette Gréco . In: Women 70+ Cool. Rebellious. Wise. Elisabeth Sandmann Verlag, Munich 2020, ISBN 978-3-945543-76-4 , pp. 16-21.

Web links

Commons : Juliette Gréco  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Juliette Gréco  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bertrand Dicale: Juliette Greco . JC Lattès, October 17, 2001, ISBN 978-2-7096-3181-5 , p. 357.
  2. ↑ a b Quoted from the back of the LP Juliette Gréco in Germany .
  3. ↑ Petra Reski: Chanson: Take me off! In: The time . 46/2007, November 8, 2007, accessed February 7, 2017.
  4. ↑ 1927–2020: Juliette Greco is dead orf.at, September 23, 2020, accessed September 24, 2020.
  5. ↑ Véronique Mortaigne: La chanteuse Juliette Gréco est morte lemonde.fr, 23 September 2020, accessed on 23 September 2020
  6. ↑ Chart sources: FR BEW CH
personal data
SURNAME Gréco, Juliette
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French chanson singer and actress
DATE OF BIRTH February 7, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Montpellier
DATE OF DEATH 23 September 2020
Place of death Ramatuelle