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Véronique Sanson is not only gifted with an exceptional singing voice, she has also proved herself to be an extremely talented songwriter and composer. After a successful career spanning more than 25 years, Ms. Sanson has become one of the most popular female singers on the French music scene.
Véronique was born on April 24th 1949, two years after her sister Violaine. The girls’ parents, René and Colette, were passionate music lovers and almost as soon as their daughters could walk, they enrolled them in piano classes. Véronique displayed obvious talent from an early age, particularly wen it came to perfoming classical music. The singer still adores playing Mozart and Bach today, along with her other favourite composers such as gershwin, to keep her fingers in training.
Véronique began writing her own songs at the tender age of 13, accompanying herself on the guitar. Her interest in music soon became a veritable passion, and the young girl would devote far more time and energy to her songwriting than to her schoolwork. After a brief period in an English boarding school, Véronique discovered the Beatles, whose melodies inspired her to write more sophisticated compositions.
Véronique was struck down by a bout of meningitis in 1965, a period which remains a complete blackout in her childhood memories. While convalescing at home, she continued to write a new collection of songs. The young prodigy also composed a concerto for two flutes, two clarinets and orchestra.
Berger helps Sanson get her career off the ground
It was during their holidays in Spain that the Sanson sisters met a young musician by the name of François Bernheim (today a famous songwriter who works with the likes of Patricia Kaas). The three teenagers immediately hit it off and went on to form their own group, the Roche Martin. They even recorded two singles together, but these failed to have any commercial success and Véronique and Violaine gave up their short-lived music career and returned to their university studies.
Yet it was thanks to this first musical experience that Véronique met up with her childhood friend Michel Berger, who had gone on to become artistic director at the Pathé Marconi label. It was Berger who persuaded Véronique to give her singing career another try, getting her into the studio to record a solo single, "Le printemps est là/ Le feu du ciel". The single was released in 1969 but, despite the fact that French radio stations gave it a fair amount of airplay, record sales remained disappointingly low. Véronique’s recording contract with Pathé Marconi was promptly cancelled.
Véronique was undeterred by this setback, howvever, for she was determined to pursue her singing career at any cost. She continued working with Michel Berger, with whom she remained close friends, and the pair motivated each other in their songwriting work. It was Berger who asked Véronique to write a song for Isabelle de Funes (daugher of the famous actor Louis de Funes). This song became the Sanson classic "Les voisins" (a song which she re-recorded on her 1992 album "Sans regrets"). It was during this period in the early 70’s that Véronique invented the distinctive vibrato style which would one day make her famous. She would spend hours each day sitting at the piano, training her voice and writing a prodigious amount of songs.
In 1972, Michel Berger produced Véronique’s début album, "Amoureuse", which was released on WEA (the label to which she has remained faithful throughout her long career). This highly-accomplished first album contained a number of hit songs such as "Bahia" and "Besoin de personne" which are still popular favourites 25 years on. The following year a second album, "De l’autre coté de mon rêve", appeared, once again produced by the singer’s close friend Michel Berger. This album was highly acclaimed by the critics and proved extremely popular with the public too, but the idea of performing a live concert to promote it, absolutely terrified Véronique. The singer was still haunted by memories of her disastrous first singing engagement at the restaurant on top of the Eiffel Tower. She had performed a 4-song set, squeezed in between singer Guy Mardel and a magic act, to an audience of totally disinterested tourists who had continued chattering throughout her performance.
Stephen Stills
With her music growing increasingly popular, Véronique soon had to start appearing live however. Indeed, she was invited to perform as a support act for several major stars of the day including Julien Clerc, Claude François and Michel Polnareff.
It was in the early 70’s that Véronique met and fell in love with the American musician Stephen Stills (member and priinciple songwriter of the famous American group Crosby Stills and Nash). The couple married in England in March 1973 and then flew out to the United States where Véronique would spend the next ten years of her life. The couple’s son, Christopher, was born in Denver, Colorado, on April 19th 1974.
Véronique loved her new life in America. She learnt precious orchestration skills with her husband, Stephen, and discovered a completely new way of working with musicians in the U.S. (Even after her return to France the singer would continue to work with American musicians throughout the rest of her career).
In 1974 Véronique released her third album "Le maudit". It was extremely rare for a French artist to be working and recording abroad in those days, but Véronique felt completely at home in her new environment. Indeed, her musical talent appeared to blossom on the other side of the Atlantic. After a successful tour of Quebec, the singer made a triumphant return to her homeland where she performed two solo shows at the Olympia in Paris at the end of 74 (accompanied by her husband, Stephen, on bass).
"Vancouver"
In 1976 Véronique flew to London to record her fourth album "Vancouver", with a group of English studio musicians. By this point the singer had become a veritable superstar in France. Indeed, when she made her second appearance at the Olympia later that year fans flocked to see her through two entire weeks. Véronique's music, influenced by the best American productions of the day, was very different from the French chanson of the 70's. The singer's exquisite melodies combined with carefully-crafted lyrics and beautiful orchestrations proved a huge hit in France and the album "Vancouver" went gold shortly after its release.
Véronique was becoming increasingly comfortable with performing in front of an audience, and she agreed to a recording of her 1976 concert at the Olympia being released as her first live album.
In 1976 Bernard Saint-Paul, whom Véronique had met while he was artistic director at the Pathé-Marconi label, became the singer's manager. Véronique paid Saint-Paul a special tribute the following year, dedicating a track on her 1977 album "Hollywood" to him ("Bernard's Song"). In 1977 Véronique also embarked upon an extensive tour of France, inviting singer Michel Jonasz to support her. Although she continued to live and work in the United States, Véronique actually spent a great deal of time in Europe. She also continued to write the majority of her songs in French and her presence on the French music scene certainly remained as strong as ever.
In 1978, after completing a busy month's touring, Véronique became the very first female singer to perform at the Palais des Sports, where she gave six concerts in three days.
In 1979 Véronique was back at the forefront of the music scene with her new album "7ème", which she followed with two more weeks of successful shows at the Olympia. Sticking to her rhythm of producing a new album once every two years, Véronique was back in 1981 with a new work entitled "Laisse la vivre". This was followed by another series of concerts, this time three weeks at the Palais des Sports (which would later result in another live album). But, while Véronique's career continued to go from strength to strength, the late 70's proved to be an extremely difficult period as far as her personal life was concerned. Véronique separated from her husband and spent several months in the American law courts battling for custody of her son. After finally winning the right to take her son back to France, Véronique returned to settle in her homeland for good.
Back home in France
Her experience in America served the singer well, instilling in her a great sense of professionalism and giving her a special dynamism in her live shows. Her first years back on the French music scene (83 - 85) did prove somewhat difficult, however. She performed at the Palais des Sports again on June 28th 1983, but this time, rather than Véronique being the headlining act, the concert was a joint show with Eddy Mitchell and Michel Jonasz. Véronique's only album during this period was a compilation of love songs entitled "Exclusivement féminin".
After moving into a new home overlooking the Seine with her boyfriend, actor Etienne Chicot, Véronique released a new album in 1985. This was to be the start of a triumphant comeback. The critics showered her new album with praise and faithful Sanson fans flocked to the Olympia to see their idol live (November 5th-December 1st). The following year she embarked upon a joint tour of France with singer Alain Souchon. The pair called the tour (which lasted from November 11th until Decmber 11th 1986) "Chacun son tour" ("Your Turn, My Turn").
Two years later Véronique put the finishing touches to her 9th studio album, "Moi le venin", released in 1988. The first single release, "Allah", was to provoke a veritable storm of controversy, angering many Muslims in France. Following a series of death threats issued by a group of Islamic fundamentalists, Véronique's father eventually contacted the Home Office, demanding police protection for his daughter. This affair, coming as it did in the wake of the "fatwa" issued against Salman Rushdie, caused several record shops to remove Véronique's single from their stands and the singer herself decided not to include it in her 1989 concert at the Olympia. During this period Véronique received a great deal of support from fellow musicians on the French music scene. Singer Yves Simon, backed by a hundred French musicians, even made a public declaration "refusing to be dictated to by fundamentalism in any shape or form".
In spite of the fuss over "Allah", Véronique's 1989 concert at the Olympia was a huge success with the public and highly acclaimed by the critics. Indeed, the live album of the show won the prestigious "Académie Charles Cros" award that year.
Later in 89 Véronique embarked upon a special tour with four other French stars - Johnny Hallyday, Michel Sardou, Eddy Mitchell and Jean-Jacques Goldman - raising funds for the "Restos du Coeur"(a charity set up by the late French comedian Coluche).
"Symphonique Véronique"
In December 1989 Véronique achieved one of her lifelong dreams, performing a live concert with a full symphony orchestra. After a number of rehearsals in Czechoslovakia, the singer performed a special series of concerts with the Prague Symphony Orchestra at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris (December 26th - December 31st 1989).The music from this exceptional show was captured on the live album, "Symphonique Sanson", released in 1990.
The following year Véronique Sanson was awarded the "Grand Prix de la SACEM" (the French copyright association) for her outstanding contribution to French music.
In 1991 Véronique also recorded a special duet with her friend Catherine Lara. Lara was in the midst of recording her opera about the life of the !9th-century French novelist George Sand and invited Véronique to sing the extract "Entre elle et moi" with her.
In 1992 Véronique returned to the United States for the first time since her divorce to record "Sans regrets", her 10th studio album to date. The album, released in France on May 25th of that year, proved a huge success both with the critics and the general public. The first single, "Rien que de l'eau", rocketed staright to the top of the charts, selling over 500,000 copies.
It was largely thanks to the highly-acclaimed album "Sans regrets" that the following year the singer was voted "Best Female Artist of 92" at the "Victoires de la Musique" awards. Between the 11th and 14th of March 1993 Véronique performed a series of concerts at the Zénith in Paris which resulted in a new live album (considered by many to be the best live production of the singer's entire career). After a few dates in the provinces, Véronique returned to the capital to perform at the Olympia for a week. Here she paid a special tribute to her old friend Michel Berger, who had died unexpectedly in August 92, performing his song "Seras-tu là".
From 1992 to 1994 Véronique's career was immensely successful, thousands of faithful fans turning out to see her wherever she performed. Véronique gave a new series of shows at the Olympia (March 29th - April 3rd 94), greeted by rapturous applause from the audience. But the highlight of these years was, without a doubt, the spectacular tribute held in Véronique Sanson's honour at the "Francofolies" festival (July 12th 1994). A host of French stars (including Michel Fugain, Alain Chamfort, Yves Duteil, William Sheller, Marc Lavoine, les Innocents and the Corsican group I Muvrini) joined Véronique on the main stage at "Francofolies" to perform her greatest hits.
This unique concert, held in honour of France's top female songwriter, was recorded and released as a live album the following summer under the title "Comme ils imaginent".
In February 1995 Véronique met and fell in love with French comedian Pierre Palmade. The couple celebrated their wedding on June 27th of that year in Triel-sur-Seine (in the Yvelines region in Northern France).
1995 was also the year that Véronique made her first recording with her son, Christopher Stills (who had gone on to become a talented songwriter and composer in his own right). The mother and son team recorded the single "Run", donating the proceeds to the AIDS charity "Sol En Si" (Solidarité Enfant Sida).
By the beginning of 1997 the indefatigable Véronique was back in the studio again, working on material for a brand new album. Following the release of her new single "Un être idéal" in December, Véronique began rehearsing for a series of live concerts. The singer would end up performing ten shows at the Palais des Sports in Paris in January 98, prior to the release of her new album. These shows, performed in true rock'n'roll style, involved the blonde star bounding around the stage with impressive energy and bringing the house down with the new material from her forthcoming album.
Véronique's new album, "Indestructible" - the singer's eleventh album to date - was released in France on 17 February 1998. Véronique flew to the States to record her new album as usual (revisiting her second 'homeland' where she still had many friends and acquaintances). The only major difference between "Indestructible" and the singer's previous albums was the fact that Véronique invited another songwriter to work on the album rather than composing all her own material as she usually did. The singer's collaboration with Bernard Swell (who contributed four songs to "Indestructible") proved highly successful, Swell's material managing to capture Sanson's romantic/rock'n'roll persona perfectly.
A Trip Down Memory Lane
In the summer of '99, just before she went into the studio to put the finishing touches to her new album, Véronique put in an appearance on the summer festival circuit. She played at several popular festivals including 'Les Vieilles Charrues' in Brittany (18 July) where she performed in front of a huge crowd of committed fans, belting out a string of her greatest hits. Véronique also returned to the recording studio later that year to prepare a tribute album to her late friend and ex-lover Michel Berger. The album, entitled "D'un papillon à une étoile" (From A Butterfly To A Star) featured covers of Berger's greatest hits including "Diego, libre dans sa tête" and "Paradis blanc" as well as lesser-known numbers such as "L'Amour est là". Véronique's famous vibrato vocals received guest star backing from Etienne Daho and Alain Chamfort. The album, which many considered an over-ambitious venture, encountered sceptical reactions from committed Berger fans but was enjoyed by most of the Véronique Sanson fan club.
In December '99 "D'un papillon à une étoile" went platinum, sales topping the 300,000 mark without the slightest difficulty. Following this success, Véronique kicked off a new tour in the French provinces on 13 January 2000 and went on to bring the house down when she performed at the Olympia in Paris (18 January - 6 February 2000). This was Véronique's seventh appearance at the legendary French music-hall and she put on a superb show, performing an entire set made up of Berger classics. The Olympia concerts were very much a high point in the singer's career and she marked the special occasion by inviting the famous French couturier Yves Saint-Laurent to design her stage costumes. Véronique was joined on stage by her faithful team of musicians (most of whom are American) as well as a classical ensemble from Prague. Following her triumph at the Olympia, Véronique immediately set off on a new tour, playing to her Parisian fans again when she appeared at Le Zénith in March 2000.
In Autumn 2002, Véronique Sanson had to postpone a series of concerts. The singer had been extremely tired following a long hospitalization in May due to some blood disease.
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Renowned for her incredible energy and her enthusiastic dedication to her work, Véronique Sanson remains as popular with fellow singers and musicians today as she is with thousands of French music fans. One thing's for sure, Sanson, who is considered by many to be the most important female songwriter of her generation, has given the French music world some of its most enduring hits.
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