Sophie was born in Thionville (Moselle) on 18 July 1969. She grew up in Port-de-Bouc, a small seaside town near Marseilles. There was little for a young girl to do by way of entertainment in Port-de-Bouc and Sophie’s parents (her father was employed at the local steel works, her mother was a nurse and both happened to be fervent Beatles fans), encouraged their daughter to take up music at an early age. By the age of 9, Sophie had mastered the rudiments of the guitar and by 13 she had formed an alternative rock group with her brother and a friend. The group, called Entrée interdite, established something of a reputation for themselves on the local scene. Meanwhile, Sophie also honed her vocal skills starring in a stage musical organised by the Ramona Lulu Company.

Sophie goes to Paris

After completing her studies at the local ‘lycée’, Sophie went on to enrol at the ‘Beaux-arts’ art school in Marseilles, signing up for a course in sculpture. But this failed to satisfy her artistic urges and, two years later, Sophie turned her attention back to music again. The budding young singer began busking her own compositions on café terraces. But her career moved up a notch in 1994 thanks to a fortuitous meeting with Julien Bassouls, the entrepreneur behind ‘Life, Live in the Bar’ (an association which arranged gigs and tours for young, up-and-coming artists in a network of small music venues).

In an effort to boost her career even further, Sophie moved up to Paris in 1995 and rapidly gained a reputation for her impressive on-stage charisma and her lively songs which delved into a wide variety of styles (hardly surprising, given Sophie’s thoroughly mixed bag of musical influences which ranged from Jacques Dutronc to Chrissie Hynde!) Over the next few years, Sophie hung out on the squat circuit and also frequented ‘underground’ venues such as La Flèche d'Or, L'Erotika and Le Palace. Around this same period, Sophie’s early work began getting radio airplay on Férarock, a network of independent rock stations.

A major turning-point in Sophie’s career came in 1996 when her talent was spotted by Jean-Louis Foulquier, the man who created the “FrancoFolies de la Rochelle” festival. Foulquier included a song by Sophie on the compilation Le Son de Paris and invited his young discovery to perform at the “Francofolies” in July of that year. A few weeks earlier, Sophie had already put in an acclaimed performance at another major French music festival, the “Printemps de Bourges.”

Meanwhile, La Grande Sophie spent much of her time in Paris hanging out at La Liberté, a bar which had become the general headquarters of the ‘Life, Live in the Bar’ association. Here she regularly came into contact with groups such as Les Têtes Raides, La Tordue and Louise Attaque. Sophie went on to record her debut album, "La Grande Sophie s'agrandit" (La Grande Sophie grows up) which was released in January 1997 on the now-defunct label Les Compagnons de la Têtedemort. Sophie described her home-made style as "Kitchen Music" and her DIY efforts certainly appeared to appeal to the French public for she went on to sell 5,000 copies of "La Grande Sophie s'agrandit."

2001: La Grande Sophie’s second CD

In 2000, nearly ten years after her official début, La Grande Sophie scored a deal with a major record label, signing to Sony Music France. A few months later, she went into the ICP studios in Brussels to begin work on her second album, “Le Porte-bonheur.” The album, produced by Phil Délire (famous for his work with the likes of Noir Désir and Bashung) was released on 13 March 2001. Boosted by the success of the single "Martin" (still a cult song in La Grande Sophie’s repertoire) went on to sell 30,000 copies.

Following the release of her second album, Sophie hit the road again for a series of concerts organised by ‘Life, Live in the Bar.’ On 11 January 2001, Sophie brought the house down when she performed at Glaz'Art in Paris. Then, in February, she joined Jean-Jacques Nyssen, Clarika and Daniel Hélin on stage for a tribute to Henri Salvador. On 5 and 6 April 2001, Sophie topped the bill at the Café de la Danse in Paris.

“Et si c’était moi” makes it three

On 15 March 2002, La Grande Sophie celebrated the tenth anniversary of her career with a concert at Glaz'Art. On 29 April she took a political stand, taking part in a collective concert at Le Zénith, organised as a protest against the far-right party Le Front National (who had just finished in second place in the first round of the French presidential elections). At the end of that year, Sophie featured on a new cover of the group Pigalle’s classic "Dans la salle du bar-tabac de la rue des Martyrs" (alongside the group’s former lead singer François Hadji-Lazaro, Sanseverino and William Sheller).

Sophie devoted most of 2003 to preparing new material for her third album, "Et si c'était moi." Recorded in the +XXX studios in Paris and produced by Jean-Philippe Verdin (better known as DJ Readymade), the album was released on Universal’s AZ label on 7 October 2003. The album, which proved to be a hit with the critics and the record-buying public, featured 14 tracks with a strong Beatles influence. (Little surprise then, that the opening track on the album should be a tribute to Ringo Starr!) Shot through with Sophie’s famous wit and bantering style, not to mention her superb sense of melody, the album spawned two singles, the rock-fuelled "Du courage" and "On savait (devenir grand).” On 14 November 2003, Sophie supported the group Mickey 3D at Le Zénith and then embarked upon an extensive tour which ended with a grand finale at the Elysée-Montmartre on 5 December.

By the spring of 2004, Sophie was back on the road again, assuring two Paris dates at La Cigale (31 March and 1 April). In July the singer was inundated with requests to appear at major music festivals and she caused a big stir at the ‘Francofolies’ festivals staged in La Rochelle, Montreal and Spa, Belgium. Sophie devoted the winter of 2004-2005 to another long tour, on which she headlined part of the time and also supported fellow French rock’n’ pop star Calogero.

Top Award

In March 2005, La Grande Sophie triumphed at the annual "Victoires de la musique" awards, where she was voted "Best Live Newcomer of the Year."

In September 2005, Sophie made a comeback on the recording front, releasing a new album entitled "La suite." The album, produced by Philippe Uminski, featured a healthy dose of 70s-style folk-rock and catchy lyrics. Sophie also experimented with a typical French 'yéyé' sound on "Les bonnes résolutions" and reworked Martha & the Muffins' 80s pop classic "Echo Beach", making the song her own in French ("Egoïste").

La Grande Sophie brought the house down when she performed at Le Zénith, in Paris, on 26 January 2007. The next day the singer boarded a flight bound for Canada, heading off to play her first tour there. La Grande Sophie turned herself into a one-woman band on this occasion, accompanying herself on stage on guitar and big drum and manipulating a special sound-effects pedal with her foot. The singer continued her back-to-music-basics drive the following year, embarking upon another solo tour entitled "Toute seule comme une grande." Throughout the spring and early summer of 2008, La Grande Sophie played dates across Switzerland, Belgium and France (including a concert at Les Bouffes du Nord, in Paris, on 22 June 2008.) These intimate-style concerts based on limited use of instruments did not stop the singer putting on a series of dynamic performances. This tour gave La Grande Sophie the chance to try out new songs from her forthcoming album as well as revisit old favourites from her back catalogue.

2009: "Des vagues et des ruisseaux"
 

La Grande Sophie made a comeback on the recording front with "Des vagues et des ruisseaux", released on 26 January 2009. The first single release from the album was "Quelqu'un d'autre." Sophie called in Edith Fambuena (formerly of Les Valentins) to work as producer on the album and the latter concocted a series of rich and complex arrangements involving strings, drums, piano and tinkling bells. "Des vagues et des ruisseaux" was a more classic, acoustic-style offering than Sophie's previous albums which had mixed feisty rock chick guitar riffs and humour. The singer even tried her hand at traditional French chanson on her new album, covering the Barbara classic "Dis quand reviendras-tu?"

La Grande Sophie's fans did not appear to be destabilised by the singer's new musical direction. Tickets for two concerts at L'Alhambra, in Paris (27 & 28 January 2009) sold out well in advance. And future tour dates (which include a concert at Le Casino de Paris on 13 May) are also packing out.

In March 2009, La Grande Sophie put in a guest appearance on Régine's celebrity duet album, joining Régine on "Les lumières de Belleville."

March 2009

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