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Gallic Pop : The Lives and After-lives of Mademoiselle Kelly...

An article-interview on French chanteuse Chantal "Kelly" Bassi, by Alex Astro Hussenet with questions by Matthew Meek and aditional questions by Alex Astro Hussenet.

Ever since I co-founded the Swingin' Mademoiselle's fan page on Facebook a coupla years ago with my friend, the actual creator of the sub-genre, mr. Sasha Monnet who launched the compilation series of the same name in the early 00's, I've had the privilege to meet some actual swingin' mademoiselles. It started with Françoise Deldick of "Hm! Hm!" fame (who happened to be living in my mother's neighborhood, in the suburbs... in my own backyard, incredibly!), then french sixties model and actress debutante, part-time singer Laura Ulmer, later Clothilde, one of the absolute Queens of the genre (the other two being Stella and Christine Pilzer...) with her two masterpiece 45 EPs (produced by Vogue DA genius Germinal Tenas, whom I also interviewed!)... and now the cute brunette of French Swing : Chantal Kelly; how lucky! If only I could start earning good money with all this digging... Well, anyway, it's a chance I'm doing this primarely out of passion. So, one day Laura Ulmer kept insisting I should come to the anti-bullfight demonstration taking place in front of the National Assembly in Paris which none other than Chantal was leading so I could meet her and arrange an interview that fans of the genre were waiting for on our page. It all came pretty natural despite the FREEZING early February cold and they embraced me both, Chantal, Laura and family, husband & friends, as if I was now part of their own; hence the lenghty interview here...

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Posted by Astre Lemocker on March 02, 2012 in French Pop, Video, YouTube, Yé-Yé | Permalink | Comments (0)

Clothilde, the Emily Strange of French Pop... The mystery revealed in an exclusive full-encompassing interview: (by Astre Lemocker)

(On account of a forthcoming release of her full recorded output, designed by me and due sometime in 2012 on Paris based Born Bad records, here's a reissue of an exclusive interview with cult Swingin' Mademoiselle chanteuse : Clothilde... !)

(Clothilde on the banks of the river Seine, Paris ca. '67/68; photo courtesy Élisabeth Beauvais.)

Born Élisabeth Beauvais (nicknamed "Babette" by her friends...) on February 22/ 1948, Clothilde had a short but noteworthy career sprawling barely over the year 1967 with only two classic EPs and an italian only single. Nevertheless, she was the quintessence (along with Christine Pilzer) of Swingin' Mademoiselle's, all of her songs, co-authored mostly with arranger Jean-marie Di Maria and her manager, producer and all round mentor Germinal Tenas, are little masterpieces of black humor and double-entendres, making her in effect unique, sitting right on top of the French 60's Girl Pop pantheon.

She was the daughter of famous writer and journalist Robert Beauvais, an auteur and producer of numerous radio and television programs he would emcee with his wife (her mother!) Gisèle Parry. Robert Beauvais was also known for writing theater plays and works of reflection in a humoristic mode (much like Sacha Guitry!). And Babette's mother Gisèle, was another famous actress of british descent. Prestigious french actors like Michel Simon and Louis Jouvet were frequent visitors of the family house in the Paris suburbs of Montmorency...

Unbeknownst to all her fans, Clothilde recorded her very first song: "Je viens tout juste d'avoir 5 ans (I've just had 5 years old)", live in the studio at the tender age of eight (!), on the set of one of her mother's radio programs, backed by mother Gisèle on the piano. This recording was luckily saved on 78rpm disc and may reappear as a bonus track on the projected "complete recordings of Clothilde" scheduled for next year by Born Bad records.

Here's an exclusive interview made for the Swingin' Mademoiselle's Fan page where our heroine tells it all (or most!):

: : I N T E R V I E W : :

1. First, please tell us about your background, you said your parents were famous Radio and TV entertainers; notably, your mum had on a TV variety program that invited all the Pop singers of the day, which you witnessed from backstage just previously to your own singin' career...

My mother was Gisèle Parry and dad was called Robert Beauvais. Mother had, among other things, a TV program called: "Vient de Paraître (Just Released)" (View for example Ronnie Bird singing in this very TV Program on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UYX7UTZGFY ; ed.) where I saw all the new stars coming: I saw for ex. Serge Lama (famous french auteur; ed) arriving laid on a strecher after his serious car accident, with nurses helping him to sit down, Stone & Charden (Swingin' Mademoiselle Stone and Eric Charden who formed a famous duet much like Sonny & Cher; ed.) who were beginners, Hervé Vilard (of "Capri, c'est fini" fame; ed.), Michel Polnareff who had first short modish brown hair before he became famous... So, my mum would make me assist those programs where she'd greet artists who just had their first record out; I was a student in Art Deco, in 1965/66 more or less two years before I started singin' myself. I remember Polnareff who didn't wear sunglasses then and was singing on his piano, Lama and Stone & Charden who were promoting their first record...

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Posted by Astre Lemocker on January 12, 2012 in French Pop, Music, YouTube, Yé-Yé | Permalink | Comments (3)