Isabelle Aubret was born in Lille on July 27, 1938. Her real name is Thérèse Coquerelle and she is fifth in a family of eleven children. She was raised in a poor working class region by a mother of Ukrainian origin and a French father who was a foreman in one of the many mills in the region. It was in this factory that Isabelle was employed to thread bobbins at the age of fourteen. At the same time, she assiduously did gymnastics. She even won the title of French champion 1952.

First steps

Endowed with a beautiful voice, the young woman enrolled in several local conpetitions. Spotted by the director of a radio station in Lille, the young woman had the chance to go on stage. One thing led to another, she became an orchestra singer and at eighteen, she was taken on for two years with an orchestra from Le Havre. At the very beginning of the Sixties, she won a new contest whose distinctive feature was to be held at the Olympia, the prestigious Parisian Hall. This is how she was noticed by the director of the hall, Bruno Coquatrix, an eminent person in the music business. He enabled her to get a contract at a cabaret in Pigalle (famous cabaret district of Paris).

Isabelle Aubret now had a foot in the door of the music business. In 1961, she met Jacques Canetti, the famous artistic agent of the moment and talent scout. He had her record her first 45rpm, two songs written by Maurice Vidalin, one of which was "nous les amoureux". The following year, the singer Jean-Claude Pascal won the Eurovision Contest with the same song.

Isabelle would herself become a champion of titles and prizes beginning with the Grand Prix of the Festival of Enghien(near Paris) in 1961. The following year, it was her turn to win the Eurovision Contest with the song "Un premier amour".

The main event of 1962 was when she met the singer Jean Ferrat. The two artists hit it off immediately. Ferrat wrote "Deux enfants au soleil" for her, which remains one of her major songs and offered her the chance to open for him on his tour that he was about to start upon.

In 1963, she played at the ABC with Sacha Distel. But above all, she opened for Jacques Brel at the Olympia from the 1st to the 9th of March. Brel, along with Ferrat became one of the important people in her professional life and one of those whom she would sing the most.

Mandatory break

In the following months, while she was envisaged by director Jacques Demy and musician Michel Legrand for the leading role in the film "les Parapluies de Cherbourg" (Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1964), Isabelle Aubret was the victim of a very serious car accident. Overnight she had to stop everything. She had to undergo fourteen operations over several years. Her physical therapy afterwards would take many years.

Right after her accident, Jacques Brel gave her the lifetime rights to the song "la Fanette". In 1964, Jean Ferrat wrote "C'est beau la vie" for her. Made strong by an exceptional tenacity, Isabelle Aubret decided to record it and gained enormous popular success. It was in 1965, still in the middle of her convalescence, that the young woman went on stage at the Olympia to open for Adamo.

But her real comeback was in 1968. She once again took part in the Eurovision contest with the song "La Source" and came away with 3rd place. Then in May, she went on at Bobino with the Quebecois Felix Leclerc. But at that time Paris was ablaze with the socio-political events of May '68. A police station across the street from the hall exploded and the concerts were cancelled. As a result, Isabelle set off on tour in France and abroad. She visited more than 70 towns in 1969.

That same year, Isabelle changed producers. It was Gerard Meys, editor and owner of the Meys label as well as Jean Ferrat and Juliette Greco's producer, who took over the professional destiny of the singer. They had met at the beginning of the Sixties because Gerard Meys was present when Aubret met Jacques Canetti. At the beginning of the Seventies, the singer continued to tour from Canada to Algeria, from Cuba to Poland. In France her success of yesteryear was no longer as evident. She released a record in 1969, "The Partisan" and another in 1971 "Casa Forte". But we never saw her on television and her relations within the extreme left made her an artist boycotted by the media and in particular by the producers of the television variety shows that were the most popular at the moment.

After many years of absence from the French stages, Isabelle came back to Bobino in 1973. That year, she released a new album "le Soleil est dans une orange" on which we find a song written by Alain Bashung, unknown at the moment.

The World's Best Singer

In 1976, Isabelle Aubret received the Best Singer Award at the Tokyo Musical Festival. The French singer had always had enormous success with the Japanese and in 1980, they didn't hesitate to name her the World's Best Singer. After two albums, "Berceuse pour une femme" in '77 and "Une vie" in '79, Isabelle Aubret left on a long international tour in 1981 (USSR, Germany, Finland, Japan, Canada, Morocco).

A new ordeal put a halt to Isabelle Aubret's career at the end of 1981. While she was practising a trapeze act with the boxer Jean-Claude Bouttier for the annual Artists Gala, she fell and broke her legs. It took two years of physical therapy before she could start back to work. The doctors who were fairly pessimistic at the beginning were surprised to see with what persistence the singer regained use of her legs. Her convalescence didn't prevent her however from recording a 45rpm in 1983 ("France France"), an album in 1984("le Monde Chante") and a single that worked pretty well in 1985 "1789", written by Claude Lemesle and Alice Dona.

Contrary to the 1970's, Isabelle Aubret had real media support in the 1980's. Francois Mitterrand's France seemed more favourable. Her records were played on the radio and we saw her on television shows. She took up long tours again in 1986(USSR, Canada, Tunisia) before encountering great success in 1987 with her album "Vague a l'homme" which has songs written by young composers like Romain Didier, Allain Leprest and Danielle Messia. For this she received the Grand Prix of records, the Prix Charles-Cros and the Prix du President de la Republique. After fourteen years of absense from the Parisian stages, she was at the Olympia from the 18th to the 22nd of March with Allain Leprest opening.

In 1989, the year of the Bicentennial of the French Revolution, Isabelle released an album called..."1989". A tour followed during which she was awarded the Prix de la critique as the Best artist at a festival in Berlin.

Lyrics, lyrics,lyrics

On the occasion of a new album ("Vivre en flèche"), Isabelle Aubret returned to the Olympia with success. But besides the original lyrics, it is to literary texts, poets, and to cover songs that she devoted these years.

First of all, in 1991, she released an album of jazz standards entirely in English called "In Love". This record earned her several show dates at the Petit Journal Montparnasse, the Parisian Jazz club. Then, after her record devoted entirely to Brel "Isabelle Aubret Chante Jacques Brel" in 1984, the singer decided in '92 to dedicate an entire record to the poems of Louis Aragon(French poet 1897-1982). A great admirer of this literary man and travelling companion of the communist party, she didn't wait until 1992 to sing his lycrics put to music by Léo Ferré and especially by Jean Ferrat. But here she wanted to pay genuine tribute to the poet.

Also in 1992, came the album "Coups de Coeur", a compilation in which Isabelle Aubret does French songs especially dear to her. This is how on the same album we find songs by Serge Gainsbourg, Guy Béart, Jean-Jacques Goldman, Francis Cabrel, Henri Salvador and Charles Trenet and of course, her lifelong friends Jean Ferrat and Jacques Brel.

Finally, 1992 was the opportunity for Isabelle Aubret to receive the Légion d'Honneur award from Président Mitterrand personally.

In the wave of renewed success, came the album "C'est le Bonheur" in 1993. The Olympia from May 4-9 and several dates abroad completed the artist's schedule. When she returned to France for a long tour in 1996, it was with a show, again dedicated to Louis Aragon, and the release of a three CD set called "Aragon/Brel/Ferrat".

Two years later, she dedicated an entire show to Jacques Brel which she took all over France and to Quebec. At the same time she released the 45rpm "Changer le monde".

Paris was the main theme of the album that Isabelle released in September 1999, "Parisabelle", on which she performed 18 classics about the capital. She left again in the autumn and gave several concerts, notably in Greece, Italy and at the fashionable hotel "Le Paris" in Las Vegas at the end of December.

2001: "Le paradis des musiciens"

To celebrate forty years in the music business, Isabelle Aubret took up residence at Bonino, Paris from 16 January to 24 February where she performed for over a month. At the same time she brought out a new album "Le paradis des musiciens" (musicians’ paradise). It was written by an incredible array of talented artists, including Anne Sylvestre, Etienne Roda-Gil, Daniel Lavoie, Gilles Vigneault and Marie-Paule Belle. The themes of this album tend towards the sombre, with subject matter such as romantic break-ups, immigration, expulsion and unemployment.

A recording of the show came out that same year, and Aubret continued to perform across France.

From 4 April to 2 July 2006, she performed in Eve Ensler’s “Vagina Monologues” with two other actresses, Astrid Veillon and Sara Giraudeau.

The singer returned with a new set of songs that same year, releasing an album simply titled “2006”. As usual, she called on the talents of a number of musicians and lyricists, such as Jean-Loup Dabadie, Michel Legrand, Claude Lemesle and Catherine Lara, among others. Despite the quality of its lyrics and melodies, “2006” didn’t make much of a splash in the media, with  Isabelle Aubret regretting that it wasn’t promoted as much as it could have been.

2009: "Âge tendre et têtes de bois"

Isabelle Aubret spent 2009 on the road in France, Switzerland and Belgium, kicking off the “Young and Stubborn” tour (named after a 60s TV programme "Âge tendre et têtes de bois") in March. Over the year she gave 140 concerts, performing with the likes of Sheila, Marcel Amont, Patrick Juvet and Fabienne Thibeault, covering songs by Ferrat, Aragon and Jacques Brel.

With Isabelle back performing, her longtime manager Gérard Meys chose this moment to release in September 2009 a new compilation, "Ses plus belles chansons" (her most beautiful songs). It comprises 24 of her hits, some re-recorded in 2009, others dating from 1973 to 1993.

In 2010 she continued the "Âge tendre et tête de bois" tour.

January 2010

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