Marie Laforêt

Marie Laforêt (born Maïtena Marie Brigitte Douménach; 5 October 1939 – 2 November 2019 ) was a French singer and actress, particularly well known for her work during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1978, she moved to Geneva, and acquired Swiss citizenship.

Birth name Her first name Maïtena, which is of Basque origin, means "beloved" and is sometimes used by the inhabitants of Languedoc, especially in the Pyrénées.

Douménach, her last name, is Catalan in origin – Domènec in Catalan. Her birth name and her repertoire, which included pieces inspired from world folklore, have led to speculation of an Armenian origin of her parents. The singer herself used to define herself sometimes as "ariégeoise", i.e. from the region of Ariège in the south of France.

Early life and education Marie Laforêt was born on 5 October 1939 at Soulac-sur-Mer, in the Médoc region of France, to Jean Doumenach and Marie-Louise (née Saint Guily). Her father's family were originally from Olette, a village in the Pyrénées Orientales on the border of Têt. Her father was an industrialist and served in the military in World War II. Her paternal great-grandfather, Louis Doumenach, headed a textile factory at Lavelanet in Ariège and her uncle, Charles-Joseph Doumenach, was a colonel and municipal counsellor. During the Second World War, Laforêt's father was a prisoner of war in Germany until the end of the war. At the age of three, Laforêt suffered a sexual trauma which affected her for a long time. During the war, the Doumenachs found shelter at Cahors and in Lavelanet. After the war, the family moved to Valenciennes where the father led a factory for railway utensils. Later they settled in Paris. After becoming more religious and having considered becoming a nun, Laforêt continued her secondary studies at the Lycee La Fontaine and Cours Raymond Rouleau in Paris. There she began to show interest for the dramatic arts and her first experiences in this domain proved to be therapeutically useful for her through their cathartic effect.

Career 1960s Alain Delon (as Tom Ripley) and Marie Laforêt (as Marge Duval) on the terrace of a café in Italy, during the shooting of the film Purple Noon by René Clément, in August 1959. Her career began accidentally in 1959 when she replaced her sister at the last minute in the French radio talent contest Naissance d'une étoile (Birth of A Star) and won. Noticed then by Raymond Rouleau, she attended his theater classes as Director Louis Malle cast the young starlet in Liberté, the film he was shooting at the time but which he finally abandoned. Therefore, Laforêt first notably appeared onscreen opposite actor Alain Delon in René Clément's 1960 drama Plein Soleil (Purple Noon).

After this opportunities came to her rapidly. The original soundtrack of her second film, 1961's Saint Tropez Blues, where she sang the title song accompanied by her childhood friend Jacques Higelin at the guitar was released in 1960. Her first musical hit was 1963's Les Vendanges de l'Amour.

In 1961 her new husband, director Jean-Gabriel Albicocco, cast her in La Fille aux Yeux d'Or (The Girl with the Golden Eyes) based on the Balzac story, the source of her nickname,

1970s By the end of the 1960s Laforêt had become a rather distinctive figure in the French pop scene. Her songs offered a more mature, poetic, tender alternative to the light, teenage yé-yé tunes charting in France at the time. Her melodies borrowed more from exotic folk music, especially South American and Eastern European, than from contemporary American and British pop acts. Her music stood out, perhaps too much for her new label CBS Records, which favored upbeat, simple songs. She was interested in making more personal records but finally gave in. Although her most financially successful singles ("Viens, Viens", a cover of the German hit ″Rain Rain Rain″, and "Il a neigé sur Yesterday", a ballad about the break-up of the Beatles) were released in the 1970s, LaForêt and Jean-Gabriel Albicocco present La Fille Au Yeux D'Or at the Venice Festiva, 1961.

Personal life

Laforêt married director Jean-Gabriel Albicoco on 9 November 1961, and the couple divorced, in 1963. She next was romantically linked with Judas Azuelos beginning in 1965, the same year their daughter Élise (Lisa) was born. Lisa Azuelos would later become a French director, writer, and producer who made a film about another famous French singer, Dalida, in 2016. Lisa's brother Jean-Mehdi was born in 1967, the year their parents parted ways. LaForêt next married Alain Kahn-Sriber in 1971 and her third child, Eve-Marie-Deborah, was born in 1974. The couple divorced two years later. After being disillusioned by the music industry at the time, Laforêt moved to Switzerland where she was married to Swiss doctor Pierre Meyer in 1981 for a year. On 7 September 1990, she married Eric de Lavandeyra, a stockbroker, for two years. This last marriage ended in a publicly contentious divorce.

Death Marie Laforêt died on 2 November 2019 in Genolier, Switzerland, a small town in the Nyon district near Geneva, from the consequences of a primary bone cancer. She was 80 years old. Her funeral took place in Paris, at the church on Saint-Eustache, on 24 November; followed by the burial in the family crypt at the Père-Lachaise Cemetery.

Other music The quiet, bittersweet and minimally arranged ballad Je voudrais tant que tu comprennes (1966), composed by Francis Lai, is Laforêt's favorite. Homage was paid to the song in the 1980s, when French pop superstar Mylène Farmer added it to her own concert repertoire.

The 1973 hit "Viens, viens" was a cover version of a German song "Rain, Rain, Rain" performed by Simon Butterfly.

Laforêt's 1977 hit "Il a neigé sur Yesterday", perhaps her most well-known recording, was penned by musician Jean-Claude Petit, and lyricist Michel Jourdan, (famous for his work with Dalida, Nana Mouskouri, Michel Fugain and Mike Brant) and who had written the words for earlier Laforêt songs, such as "Les vendanges de l'amour" and "L'orage".

Dramatic roles Theater

Cinema

Television

Discography Studio Albums 1964 : Viens sur la montagne 1965 : La Fleur sans nom 1967 : Manchester et Liverpool 1968 : Le Lit de Lola 1968 : Que calor la vida 1969 : Le Vin de l'été 1970 : Portrait 1972 : Ay tu me plais 1973 : Pourquoi les Hommes pleurent ? 1974 : Noé 1976 : La Vérité 1977 : Il reviendra 1979 : Moi je voyage 1993 : Reconnaissances (Une Musique)

Live Albums 1970 : Récital 1998 : Voyage au long cours

Spanish Albums 1964 : Y Volvamos al Amor 1965 : Entre Tú y Yo 1968 : Qué Calor la Vida 1969 : Mon amour, mon ami

Italian Albums 1964 : La Cantante Dagli Occhi d'Oro

Portuguese Albums 1967 : Sôbre a Montanha

1960s singles and EPs 1960 : Saint-Tropez Blues / Tumbleweed 1963 : Tu fais semblant – Les vendanges de l'amour / Mary Ann – Les jeunes filles 1963 : Blowin' in the Wind – Flora / House of the Rising Sun – Banks on the Ohio 1963 : Au coeur de l'automne – L'amour en fleurs / Qu'est-ce qui fait pleurer les filles – Mais si loin de moi 1963 : La vendemmia dell'amore – E giusto / Una noia senza fine – Che male c'e 1964 : Viens sur la montagne – Les noces de campagne / Un amour qui s'éteint – L'amour qu'il fera demain 1964 : La tendresse – La plage / Après toi qui sait – L'arbre qui pleure 1965 : Katy cruelle – Entre toi et moi / La bague au doigt – Ma chanson faite pour toi 1965 : Ah ! Dites, dites – Julie Crèvecoeur / Viens – À demain my darling 1965 : La plage / Après toi, qui sait 1966 : La voix du silence (The Sound of Silence) – Siffle, siffle ma fille / Je t'attends – L'orage 1966 : Marie-douceur, Marie-colère (Paint It Black) – Toi qui dors / Je voudrais tant que tu comprennes – La moisson 1966 : Manchester et Liverpool – Pourquoi ces nuages / Prenons le temps – Sur les chemins des Andes 1966 : Mon amour, mon ami – Sébastien / Je suis folle de vous – Mon village au fond de l'eau 1967 : Ivan, Boris et moi – Je ne peux rien promettre / Pour celui qui viendra – Tom 1968 : Le lit de Lola – Qu'y-a-t-il de changé / Et si je t'aime – A la gare de Manhattan 1968 : El polo – L'air que tu jouais pour moi / Le tengo rabia al silencio – House of the rising sun 1968 : Que calor la vida – Mais mon coeur est vide / La valse des petits chiens blancs – Requiem pour trois 1969 : Au printemps – Roselyne / Feuilles d'or – D'être à vous 1969 : Pour une étoile – Ton coeur sauvage / Vin de l'été – En plus de l'amour 1969 : Ah ! Si mon moine – On n'oublie jamais / Tourne, tourne – La fleur sans nom 1969 : Tu es laide / Toi, nos enfants et moi

1960s LPs 1964 : Marie Laforêt 1965 : Marie Laforêt Vol. 2 1967 : Marie Laforêt Vol. 3 1968 : Marie Laforêt Vol. 4 1968 : Que calor la vida 1969 : Marie Laforêt Vol. 6 1970 : Marie Laforêt Vol. 7

Publications 1981 : Contes et légendes de ma vie privée 2001 : Mes petites magies, livre de recettes pour devenir jeune 2008 : Sous le pseudonyme d'Erna Huili-Collins. Ouvrage collectif intempestives : à la folie... pas du tout, Triartis 2020 : Nous n'avons pas d'autre choix que de croire