Juliette Gréco

Juliette Gréco — Biography

Juliette Gréco was one of the best-known female interpreters of French chanson, who rose to fame in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district of postwar Paris. Jean-Paul Sartre said she had "millions of poems in her voice", and she was regarded as a muse of the existentialist circle, known for singing the works of lyricists close to poetry. She died in Ramatuelle on 23 September 2020, aged 93.

As a teenager she was seized by the Gestapo together with her family, who were involved in the Resistance, and was imprisoned at 16. After the war she settled in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, took acting classes and hosted a radio poetry show. She began as a cabaret singer at Le Bœuf sur le toit in 1949, and "Si tu t'imagines", with words by Raymond Queneau, was among her first big successes. In later years she sang Prévert, Boris Vian, Jacques Brel and Léo Ferré, and "La Javanaise", written for her by Serge Gainsbourg, "Paris Canaille" and "Déshabillez-moi" became her signatures. She closed a stage career of more than sixty years with the farewell tour "Merci", begun in 2015.

In cinema she debuted in 1947, appeared in Jean Cocteau's Orphée and in films by Jean-Pierre Melville, and moved into Hollywood productions with The Sun Also Rises (1957). She received many state honours, including the rank of commander of the Legion of Honour. The Beatles' song "Michelle" is said to have been inspired by the Paris culture around her.