Michèle Torr

Our pick of the pops

Michèle Torr shot to fame in 1964 but struggled to keep the momentum, despite recording top-quality material by Serge Gainsbourg and Petula Clark and taking part in the Eurovision song contest. The French singer had to wait until the mid-1970s until she really hit it big.

She was born on 7 April 1947 in Pertuis in south-east France and grew up in nearby Courthézon. She began singing at the age of six and took part in regional singing contests. At 14, she came first in a radio competition and won the chance to sing at a Jacques Brel recital in Avignon.

In 1963 she headed for Paris to further her singing career and was offered a recording contract with the Mercury label. Her first release, an EP containing Dans ma rue and C’est dur d’avoir 16 ans, was issued in January 1964.

It was her second EP, however, that really made her name. Dans mes bras oublie ta peine  – a version of a little-known US release by Ginny Arnell, Let me make you smile again – became a sizeable hit upon its release in May that year. The EP also contained the highly charming Je me demande.

The catchy S’il m’aime was chosen as the lead track of her third EP, issued later in 1964, though it failed to repeat the success of its predecessor.

In 1965 she submitted the rather

Christmassy-sounding Un enfant viendra to

the French selection for a Eurovision song

contest entry, but it wasn't chosen.

Both her 1965 EPs, the French original On se

quitte (which also included Toi l’orgueilleux,

a cover of British singer Cilla Black’s Love of the

loved) and Dis-moi maintenant (which

included the Petula Clark-penned Nous

sommes faits l’un pour l’autre), didn’t sell

as well as expected.

Desperate measures were called for. Serge

Gainsbourg was roped in to write the excellent

Non, à tous les garçons, in which Michèle

rejects the advances of boys but relents

(“Yes, yes, to all the boys”). Inexplicably, the

song ended up being tucked away behind the

disappointing La grande chanson on her

first EP of 1966. The other two tracks on the EP – As-tu quelquefois pensé? and Tout doucement (a cover of the Phil Spector-penned To know him is to love him) – were also better than the lead track.

With an eye on the international success France Gall had enjoyed a year earlier with Poupée de cire, poupée de son in the Eurovision song contest, Michèle, rather cheekily, submitted entries to both the French and Luxembourg selections for the 1966 contest. Her emotional French entry, J’ai brûlé ta

lettre, wasn’t selected (possibly it sounded just too, well, French, for an international contest), though she was picked to represent the tiny neighbouring principality of Luxembourg with Ce soir je t’attendais. However, the song failed to win over jurors and finished a surprisingly low tenth.

Nevertheless, Michèle released an EP and an album in France on the back of her participation, and recorded the song in a number of other languages, including English, German and Spanish.

In 1970, she reached the semi-final of the French selection for the Eurovision song contest with On s'aimera un peu, beaucoup.

After switching labels in 1972, she finally found her niche and went on to become a big star of the 1970s and early 1980s, with huge hits including 1977’s Une petite française (her Eurovision entry for Monaco), 1978’s Emmene-moi danser ce soir, which sold over 3 million copies, and 1979’s Discomotion.

Non, à tous les garçons

1966

Ce soir je t'attendais

1966

Nous sommes faits l’un pour l’autre

1965

Michèle Torr on YouTube

Dans mes bras oublie ta peine

1964

As-tu quelquefois pensé?

1966

Monsieur Superman

1966

Toi l'orgueilleux

1965

Only tears are left for me

1966

She went on to issue two further EPs that year, Le film est trop long and Dandy, a version of the Kinks’ Mod-mocking song of the same name. The Dandy EP also included Monsieur Superman, a cover of Donovan’s folk hit Sunshine Superman.

The emotional Pauvre coeur was her first release of 1967, and the EP included a version of Il doit faire beau là-bas, Noëlle Cordier’s French Eurovision entry.

A string of further releases was issued over the next couple of years, including 1967’s Only you, 1968’s Mon ange, and 1969’s Notre chanson and Un homme dans ma vie.

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Michèle Torr

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