Formidable | ||||
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Soundtrack album by | ||||
Released | 1992 | |||
Label | WMD | |||
La Toya Jackson chronology | ||||
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Formidable is the soundtrack to the show performed at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, France by American singer La Toya Jackson. Only 3,000 copies were created and it has become one of the most sought-after albums by her fans.
To promote the show, Jackson paid homage to La Goulue by visiting her grave in Montmartre Cemetery. Jackson also cited Josephine Baker as an influence. L'Express hailed Jackson as "the new Josephine Baker." [1] According to academic Bennetta Jules-Rosette, "Through careful planning, she was able to model a successful part of her career abroad on the master tropes of a Baker-like image. Jackson exemplifies Baudrillard's notion that neither the message nor the content count as much as the referentiality of the signifier in postmodern performative discourse." [2]
Jackson was the main attraction at the Moulin Rouge for four months, at which point she broke her contract and was ordered by the French courts to pay $550,000 in damages to the owners of Moulin Rouge. [3]
Note
Moulin Rouge is a cabaret in Paris, on Boulevard de Clichy, at Place Blanche, the intersection of, and terminus of Rue Blanche.
Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois, known professionally as Mistinguett, was a French actress and singer. She was at one time the highest-paid female entertainer in the world.
Édith Giovanna Gassion, known as Édith Piaf, was a French entertainer best known for performing songs in the cabaret and modern chanson genres. She is widely regarded as France's greatest popular singer and one of the most celebrated performers of the 20th century.
La Toya Yvonne Jackson is an American singer and television personality. The fifth child and middle daughter of the Jackson family, Jackson first gained recognition on the family's variety television series, The Jacksons, on CBS between 1976 and 1977. Thereafter, she saw success as a solo recording artist under multiple record labels in the 1980s and 1990s, including Polydor, Sony Music and RCA, where she released nine studio albums over the course of 15 years. Her most successful releases in the United States were her self-titled debut album (1980) and the 1984 single "Heart Don't Lie". Jackson's other songs include "If You Feel the Funk", "Bet'cha Gonna Need My Lovin'", "Hot Potato", "You're Gonna Get Rocked!", and "Sexbox". Another one of Jackson's songs, "Just Say No" from her fifth album was composed for US first lady Nancy Reagan and Reagan administration's anti-drug campaign.
Freda Josephine Baker, naturalized as Joséphine Baker, was an American-born French dancer, singer, and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She was the first black woman to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 French silent film Siren of the Tropics, directed by Mario Nalpas and Henri Étiévant.
Pigalle is an area in Paris, France, around the Place Pigalle, on the border between the 9th and the 18th arrondissements. It is named after the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (1714–1785).
Danielle Frida Hélène Boccara was a French singer of Italian descent, who performed and recorded in a number of languages, including French, Spanish, English, Italian, German, Dutch and Russian.
Richard Bohringer is a French actor, singer, writer, and film director. He is the father of actresses Romane Bohringer and Lou Bohringer.
Emmanuelle Cinquin, NDS, widely known just as Sœur Emmanuelle, was a religious sister of both Belgian and French origins, noted for her involvement in working for the plight of the poor in Turkey and Egypt. She was honoured with Egyptian citizenship in 1991.
Jules Léopold Gravereaux was a French rosarian. He was a top executive at the department store Le Bon Marché and in 1892 purchased land at the village of L'Haÿ about 8 km south of Paris. There, he built the first ever complete garden devoted exclusively to roses, the Roseraie de L'Haÿ. It became so popular that a few years later the village changed its name to L'Haÿ-les-Roses.
"Non, je ne regrette rien" is a French song composed in 1956 by Charles Dumont, with lyrics by Michel Vaucaire. Édith Piaf's 1960 recording spent seven weeks atop the French Singles & Airplay Reviews chart.
Raymond Berthiaume was a Canadian jazz singer, musician, producer and composer from Quebec, Canada.
Noël Roquevert was a French stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1932 and 1972. Roquevert was born in Doué-la-Fontaine and was married to stage and film actress Paulette Noizeux. He died in Douarnenez, France, aged 80.
Henri Étiévant was a French actor and film director.
Henri Betti, born Ange Betti, was a French composer and a pianist.
The Années folles was the decade of the 1920s in France. It was coined to describe the social, artistic, and cultural collaborations of the period. The same period is also referred to as the Roaring Twenties or the Jazz Age in the United States. In Germany, it is sometimes referred to as the Golden Twenties because of the economic boom that followed World War I.
Gabriel Charles Bouillon was a French classical violinist and music pedagogue.
Le pompier des Folies Bergères, also known as Un pompier qui prend feu and Les Hallucinations d'un pompier is a 1928 French silent film featuring Josephine Baker. The director is unknown. The film is about seven-and-a-half minutes long.
False Alarm is a 1940 romantic comedy drama film directed by Jacques de Baroncelli and starring Lucien Baroux, Micheline Presle, Josephine Baker and Saturnin Fabre The film's sets were designed by the art director Émile Duquesne and Eugène Lourié. It was filmed during the Phony War before the German Invasion. Delays to its release meant it was not given a full French premiere until 1945. It is also known as The French Way the alternative title it was later released under in the United States in 1952, with advertising heavily featuring American-born star Baker.