Brigitte Fontaine, is a singer of avant-garde music. She has employed numerous unusual musical styles, melding rock and roll, folk, jazz, electronica, spoken word poetry, and world. She has collaborated with Stereolab, Michel Colombier, Jean-Claude Vannier, Areski Belkacem, Gotan Project, Sonic Youth, Antoine Duhamel, Grace Jones, Noir Désir, Archie Shepp, Arno, and The Art Ensemble of Chicago. She is also a novelist, playwright, poet, and actress.
In France, music reflects a diverse array of styles. In the field of classical music, France has produced several prominent romantic composers, while folk and popular music have seen the rise of the chanson and cabaret style. The oldest playable musical recordings were made in France using the earlist known sound recording device in the world, the phonautograph, which was patented by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville in 1857. France is also the 5th largest market by value in the world, and its music industry has produced many internationally renowned artists, especially in the nouvelle chanson and electronic music.
Claude Antoine Marie François, also known by the nickname Cloclo, was a French pop singer, composer, songwriter, record producer, drummer and dancer. François co-wrote the lyrics of "Comme d'habitude", the original version of "My Way" and composed the music of "Parce que je t'aime mon enfant", the original version of "My Boy". Among his other famous songs are "Le Téléphone Pleure", "Le lundi au soleil", "Magnolias for Ever" and "Alexandrie Alexandra". He also enjoyed considerable success with French-language versions of English-language songs, including "Belles! Belles! Belles!", "Cette année là" and "Je vais à Rio".
Jacques Dutronc is a French singer, songwriter, guitarist, composer, and actor. Some of Dutronc's best-known hits include "Il est cinq heures, Paris s'éveille", "Le Responsable", and "Les Cactus".
French rock is a form of rock music produced in France, primarily with lyrics in the French language.
Alain Bashung was a French singer, songwriter and actor. Credited with reviving the French chanson in "a time of French musical turmoil", he is often regarded in his home country as the most important French rock musician after Serge Gainsbourg. He rose to prominence in the early 1980s with hit songs such as "Gaby oh Gaby" and "Vertige de l'amour", and later had a string of hit records from the 1990s onward, such as "Osez Joséphine", "Ma petite entreprise" and "La nuit je mens". He has had an influence on many later French artists, and is the most awarded artist in the Victoires de la Musique history with 12 victories obtained throughout his career.
Victoires de la Musique are an annual French award ceremony where the Victoire accolade is delivered by the French Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The classical and jazz versions are the Victoires de la musique classique and Victoires du Jazz.
Dion chante Plamondon is the tenth French-language studio album by Canadian singer Celine Dion. It was released on 4 November 1991 by Sony Music and features songs with words written by French-Canadian lyricist, Luc Plamondon. In Europe, the album was renamed Des mots qui sonnent, meaning Words That Resonate. It was promoted in Quebec by four promotional singles: "Des mots qui sonnent", "L'amour existe encore", "Je danse dans ma tête" and "Quelqu'un que j'aime, quelqu'un qui m'aime". In France, three commercial singles were released: "Je danse dans ma tête", "Un garçon pas comme les autres (Ziggy)" and "L'amour existe encore". Dion chante Plamondon won the Juno Award for Francophone Album of the Year and Félix Award for Best Selling Album of the Year. It topped the chart in Quebec and reached number four in France.
Vilain Pingouin is a rock band from Quebec, Canada.
Ariane Moffatt is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Known for working across multiple musical genres, Moffatt's music combines elements of electronica, jazz, folk, and pop. A francophone, she is bilingual and has recorded tracks in both French and English. Her 2002 debut album Aquanaute went platinum in Quebec, earning 11 nominations at the 2003 ADISQ Awards and winning three Félix awards. She is known in Quebec for two well-received singles from Aquanaute: "La barricade" and "Dans un océan".
Isabelle Boulay, is a French Canadian singer.
Pierre Delanoë, born Pierre Charles Marcel Napoléon Leroyer in Paris, France, was a French lyricist who wrote thousands of songs for dozens of singers, including Dalida, Edith Piaf, Charles Aznavour, Petula Clark, Johnny Hallyday, Joe Dassin, Michel Sardou and Mireille Mathieu. Delanoë was his grandmother's maiden name.
Maritie and GilbertCarpentier, a married couple, were artistic producers of very popular variety TV and radio shows in France and in many French-speaking countries, from the 1950s to the 1990s.
Claudine Luypaerts, better known as Maurane, was a Francophone Belgian singer and actress.
Yves Jacques OC is a Canadian film, television and stage actor.
Volume! The French Journal of Popular Music Studies is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal "dedicated to the study of contemporary popular music". It is published by the Éditions Mélanie Seteun, a publishing association specialized since 1998 in the cultural sociology of popular music.
Les Mots bleus is a 1974 album by French singer Christophe based on the ballad of the same name. Along with its groundbreaking predecessor album Les Paradis Perdus it revived the career of Christophe in the 1970s which, had taken a downturn following the initial success of "Aline" in 1965. Jean-Michel Jarre wrote the lyrics for the title track, which has been described as "outstanding" by Billboard magazine. It is considered one of the top albums and songs of French pop music. In 2010, the French edition of Rolling Stone magazine put it at number 45 in its list of the best albums of French rock.
The Éditions Mélanie Seteun are a publishing association dedicated to "taking popular music seriously, especially within the French-speaking world. They publish Volume! the French Journal of Popular Music Studies, book collections, and participate in several activities promoting their field of study in France.
Denise Benoît was a French actress and singer, active across a wide range of genres on the stage, radio and television. Other members of her family were musicians.
