Born in Nantes in 1978, Jeanne Cherhal and her two sisters grew up in the French countryside. Their father worked as a plumber and their mother was a teacher. From an early age, Jeanne displayed a certain talent for artistic activities and her great dream at the time was to be accepted at the Paris Opera ballet school. She auditioned for the ballet but failed to gain a place, then turned her attention to music instead, learning to play the piano around the age of 12. By 14, the young keyboard prodigy was already performing at local venues in the Nantes region with a variety of different rock groups. Her formative musical influences at that time ranged from Björk and Tori Amos to Sonic Youth.

Two plaits at the piano

After gaining her 'baccalauréat,' Jeanne went on to study philosophy, writing an MA thesis on "the place of the prose poem in the work of Max Jacob." Meanwhile, music still took up most of her time outside her studies. The young pianist-'chanteuse' was gradually beginning to extend her repertoire and make a name for herself. One of the highlights of Jeanne's early career was when she was invited to support the famous French 'chanson' star Georges Moustaki when he performed at the TNT in Nantes in November 1999. Jeanne made a big impact on the audience that night, her two brown plaits swinging behind her as she played. This cheeky young schoolgirl image went on to become her signature look at the start of her career.

Jeanne's career got off the ground in earnest in 2000. In the summer of that year, she won the "Truffe d’argent de Périgueux," an award given to the most talented newcomer of the year. Jeanne also went down a storm at the "Tremplin des Vieilles Charrues," the new talent section of the famous music festival held in Brittany. But, most importantly, Jeanne signed up for an extensive tour schedule with Le Chaînon Manquant (a network designed to help up-and-coming artists). Between 2000 and 2001, Jeanne went on to play some 80 dates up and down the country.

Live success

Given Jeanne's increasing success on the concert circuit, it was only natural that her first album should be a live recording (of a concert she performed at L’Olympic in Nantes on 20 December 2001). The album was released on 16 April 2002 on Tôt ou Tard, the label responsible for producing the work of Jeanne's personal music idols, Les Têtes Raides and Jacques Higelin. Following the release of her live début, Jeanne went on to win the "Attention Talent" award at the Printemps de Bourges festival later that month.

But it was Jeanne's tour the following year that really catapulted her onto the French mainstream. The young pianist-'chanteuse' performed a month's run at the Européen in Paris in May 2000 with Vincent Delerm (another hotly tipped young talent from the Tôt ou Tard label). The pair then set off on a major tour together. Jeanne's quirky comic songs, her cheeky on-stage charisma and her remarkable vocal skills proved a big hit with audiences up and down the country and also earned her rave reviews in the press. Jeanne's natural persona and her presence behind the piano evoked comparisons with the late great Barbara.

Jeanne went on to hone her simple piano-and-vocals show, performing 300 concert dates between 2002 and 2003. After a series of shows in Quebec, she supported Thomas Fersen when he appeared at La Cigale in Paris in November 2003.

2004: "Douze fois par an" 

After a long period of being alone on stage with her piano, Jeanne decided to branch out in a new direction on her second album and work with other instruments. Her album "Douze fois par an" (Twelve Times a Year), was released on 17 February 2004. Jeanne, who had by this point abandoned her cheeky schoolgirl plaits for a new image, presented the CD as her first proper album. She was surrounded by a top team of musicians in the studio, including Eric Lohrer (on guitar), Jeff Boudreaux (on drums) and Ibrahim Maalouf (on trumpet).

The production side of things was taken care of by Vincent Segal (famous for his work as cellist with M, Jacques Higelin and half of the duo Bumcello). Alternative French pop star M also dropped into the studio to sing backing vocals on the song "La station," as did Jeanne's sister (who had also gone on to become a professional singer). And Jacques Higelin, whom Jeanne had supported live on several occasions, teamed up with her for a duet on the song "Je voudrais dormir."

The release of "Douze fois par an" was followed by a new series of concerts. Indeed, Jeanne currently has such a hectic live schedule that there is not a month between now and the spring of 2005 where she does not have dates of some kind lined up. In February 2004, Jeanne brought down the house at L’Européen (where this time round she appeared as headlining star). The young singer got an equally enthusiastic reception from the crowd when she performed at another major Paris venue, La Cigale, on 12 and 13 November 2004. 

A live recording was made of Jeanne’s concert on 13 November and released as the DVD, "Jeanne Cherhal à la Cigale", in March 2005. Meanwhile, Jeanne continued to enjoy increasing popularity, walking off with the prize for Best Newcomer of the Year (voted on by the general public) at the 20th edition of the “Victoires de la Musique” awards. 

Between January and August 2005, Jeanne kept up a hectic schedule on the road, playing over sixty concerts across France. The young singer took a well-earned break from touring after that, but threw her energy into another kind of stage show, appearing in the theatre in a French adaptation of "The Vagina Monologues", by the American Eve Ensler, at the end of 2005.

Jeanne went on to team up with JP Nataf, former lead singer of Les Innocents, after that and formed the group RedLegs. The group - which featured Jeanne on bass and JP on guitar – had no ambitions to make an album or perform any kind of major tour together. Their aim was simply to play their own versions of a series of French and international hits for fun. The pair ended up playing a few concerts together and put in an appearance at the Francofolies music festival in La Rochelle in July 2006.

Jeanne turned her attention back to her own solo career after that, working on a third album, "L'eau" (Water), released in October. This was produced by French singer and musician Albin de la Simone. Jeanne put in a lot of preliminary work on the album on her own, making a series of demos with music software on her computer that allowed her to experiment with several different sounds before going into the studio. "L'eau" found Jeanne experimenting with more of a pop vein and extending her vocal register. Meanwhile, her lyrics moved away from detailing the minutiae of everyday life and entered a more abstract realm. This did not stop Jeanne from tackling serious topical issues such as female circumcision on  "On dirait que c'est normal." "Voila" was chosen as the first single release from the album.

The young artist embarked on a very long tour in France and overseas. In April 2007, she even performed at the Olympia in Paris.

The album didn’t get the success she had hoped for, and the singer broke away from her label.

2010: “Charade”

She signed up with Barclay records and spent a year in the recording studio up until November 2009. She worked on her own with a sound engineer, Yann Arnaud, playing all the instruments. She seemed to be looking for change, and this was rapidly audible on the record released in March 2010, entitled “Charade”, which marked a personal and creative transformation. The new songs were linked by a thread in the form of the four-part charade that gave the album its name.

Only Benjamin Biolay added his personal touch, by co-authoring “J’ai pas peur” with Cherhal. Another track, “Mon corps est une cage”, is a French adaptation of “My body is a cage” by the Canadian group Arcade Fire, and it focuses all of the themes of the album – the body, desire and relationships with men.

She played live at the Bataclan in Paris on 9 March and swiftly set off on a tour that saw the thirty-something singer metamorphosed on stage, a long way from the good girl image of her beginnings.

July 2010

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