Mireille Mathieu: In love with song

  • 2014-02-05
  • By TBT staff

FAIRY TALE: French chanteuse Mireille Mathieu has enchanted listeners for decades.

RIGA - One of the most charming and popular French woman, the legendary singer Mireille Mathieu, will visit Riga to present her special program in her only concert in the Baltics. The concert will feature a selection of wonderful songs that always award listeners with positive energy, such as “Ciao Bambino Sorry,” “Non Je Ne Regrette Rien,” “La Paloma Adieu,” “Der Pariser Tango,” “Santa Maria De La Mer” and many others.

The life-story of this acclaimed French singer has often been compared to a fairy-tale. Mathieu was born in 1946 in Avignon. The eldest daughter in a 14-child family, she had to leave school at the age of 13 in order to work. Yet despite all the hardships Mireille managed to preserve her passion for music. After winning a song contest, the 19-year old Mireille was invited to take part in a famous TV show, which changed her life.
The whole of France took an instant liking to the young singer, whose voice and fervor were so reminiscent of the much worshipped Edith Piaf.

Within months Mireille reached the dizzying heights of nation-wide popularity.
Her first songs, “C’est ton nom” and “Mon credo,” hit the music chart top not only in France, but also in many other European countries.
The 20-year old Mireille had become a symbol and an ambassador of France worldwide, touring with great success in Japan, China, the US and even the Soviet Union.

Her popularity is phenomenal – no other French musician has received so many gold and platinum disks outside France as Mireille Mathieu.
Her most devoted fans have always included some of the world’s most influential people, such as John Paul II, the US President Ronald Reagan and even the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. On May 9 2009, Vladimir Putin personally invited Mireille to perform at a Red Square concert in Moscow.

Mathieu’s image, including her hairstyle and style of her songs, has not changed since the beginning of her career.
She is famous for her very sound and specific trill pronunciation of “err” in her songs - the French do pronounce it in another way. She does it ‘pour la musique,’ i.e. “for the music.”

Another element of her style is singing the words’ endings, where she tries to hold a note for a long duration, though those endings, although written, are not pronounced in the usual spoken French.
The French words are short and French singers, especially the older generation, used to prolong them to produce a melody.

During her long musical career, Mireille Mathieu has released more than 70 successful albums. She has recorded over 1200 songs in 11 languages, with 122 million albums (as of November 2005) and more than 50 million singles sold worldwide.

“When I’m recording a disk or going out on the stage, I’m agitated just the same, like for the first time. I arrive at the theater four hours before the beginning of the performance. I must get accustomed to the hall even if I know it well. The most remarkable moment is when you go out on the stage and you hear the applause of the audience!” said Mathieu in one of her interviews.

After a longer period of break, she resumed active concert sessions in 2008. Starting from the very first performances it was clear that people all over Europe remember the bright singer and is truly in love with what she does. And still, all of her concerts are special events and each and every song is a legend.
So gentlemen, hurry up and get your lady a perfect present for International Women’s Day!


March 8, 19:00
Arena Riga.
Tickets can be purchased at www.bilesuserviss.lv