France Joli

France Joli (; née Joly; born February 2, 1963) is a Canadian singer, best known for the disco classics "Come to Me" and "Gonna Get Over You".

Teen stardom

Born France Joly in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Joli grew up in Dorion. Her father was a hardware merchant and her mother was a teacher.

As early as age four, Joli was performing for relatives lip-syncing to Barbra Streisand records while handling a skipping rope like a microphone; she had appeared on television by age six. At age 11, Joli left the public school system (her mother tutored her) to concentrate on her performing career by appearing regularly in television commercials and talent shows. A mutual acquaintance suggested Joli meet up with musician Tony Green whom Joli approached backstage after he had given a concert, with Joli inviting Green to be her record producer. Green did not take the 13-year-old Joli seriously: he recalled: "To get rid of her I [told] her to keep in touch." According to one source, Joli eventually visited Green's home to sing for him; it is also reported that Green first heard Joli sing from the audience of an "end-of-school-year show" in which she performed in the fall of 1978. Both accounts concur that Green first heard Joli singing along with a Streisand record. Green had written the song "Come to Me" for Joli by the next day.

"Come to Me" began a three-week reign atop the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play on September 22, 1979, and the France Joli album rose to No. 26. On the Billboard Hot 100. "Come to Me" peaked at No. 15 on November 17, 1979. However Joli, as evidenced by her opening for the Commodores during their American tour of 1981, was still viewed as having star potential: she departed the dance music-oriented Prelude label for Epic Records. 1The track: "Your Good Lovin'" was arranged and produced by Prelude regulars Eric Matthew and Darryl Payne. 2"Gonna Get Over You" reached No. 43 on the French Pop chart.

Epic albums

Joli's Epic debut Attitude (1983), (2003), a documentary detailing the 50-year history of the Fire Island Pines community. The film – which had its television premiere on June 10, 2006 – includes much previously unseen archival footage, but Joli's July 1979 performance of "Come to Me" is presented only in still photographs with musical background, suggesting no footage of that event exists. The sequence included interviews with those who recall Joli's 1979 performance on Fire Island. When Ocean Meets Sky is seen occasionally on the Logo channel. In addition, it was also featured in the 1998 movie 54, depicting the events at Studio 54 in New York.

Discography

Albums