Olivier Jauffrit of radio station Paris Chanson says of Lucienne Boyer’s performance of ‘Parlez-moi d’Amour’ “… it is one of the best French love songs ever made. More than a classic, it is an essential. A song that HAS to be part of the soundtrack of your life if you like French music. Lucienne Boyer [...]
Cora Vaucaire was born Genevieve Collin on 22 July 1918 in Marseille and enjoyed a successful singing career in France particularly in the 1950s. The 1950s in France seems to have been a time of great richness musically with many great artists finding their niche during this decade – Jeanne Moreau, Dario Mareno and [...]
Every week Paris Chanson, the French radio show and music experts Paris Chanson choose a singer, group or musical excerpt that represents French music and this week they’ve chosen the French girl band “Les Parisiennes”. Olivier Jauffrit of Paris Chanson says “Nobody remembers them I think nowadays in France but they represent exactly what popular [...]
Jeanne Moreau is best known as an actress but is also a singer, screenwriter and director. Born in Paris 23 January 1928 to an English Folies Bergère dancer and French restaurateur, on leaving school at 16 she decided to be an actress and later studied at the Conservatoire de Paris. She debuted at the [...]
Born David Arugete 3rd April, 1921 to Jewish parents in Turkey, Dario Moreno as he became, was an actor, composer and singer who had a remarkable life and career in France. When his father was tragically killed he spent time in an orphanage in Turkey until becoming reunited with his mother at the age [...]
Each week radio Paris Chanson chooses for us a French music star and this week they have gone for Jean Ferrat. Born Jean Tenenbaum in Hauts-de-Seine 26 December 1930, Jean Ferrat (as he became) did not have an easy upbringing. His father, a Russian died at Auschwitz and the young boy gave up school to [...]
Françoise Hardy was born in Paris 17 January 1944. She began her career at 18 in 1962 and became one of the most successful singers of the time in France. On the release of her first recording, she was immediately successful and became an icon of the “yéyé” music period in France. She had many [...]
“The French are true romantics. They feel the only difference between a man of forty and one of seventy is thirty years of experience.” So said Maurice Chevalier (September 12, 1888 – January 1, 1972, celebrated French musician, singer and actor. Born in Paris, Maurice Chevalier began a career in singing and dancing at a [...]
Born 7 February 1927 in Montpelier, South of France, Juliette Gréco has had the sort of life that you think only exists in books and films. After an austere upbringing with her grandparent and at a strict convent school, the 16 year old moved to Paris with her mother and sister and took up dance [...]
Yves Montand was born 13 October 1921 in Italy. His parents gave him the name Ivo Livi. His father, a broom maker held strong communist beliefs and when Ivo was 2 years old, the family left Italy for Marseilles France to avoid the fascist regime and Ivo took French citizenship at the age of [...]
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The papers are currently full of news about proposals to mount wind turbines on the beaches of Normandy – including at least one of the D-Day landing beaches. Some newspapers are calling it an “invasion” – emotional words, and this is a very provocative subject. The proposal is to erect 75 of the huge [...]
The Good Life France talks to Roger St Pierre – an award-winning writer who has visited every one of France’s 94 metropolitan departments as a cyclist, journalist, author and Francophile… Roger, who The Good Life France is honoured to include amongst its very talented group of writers, tells me he taught himself French by [...]
Well, it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that the sheep across the road has gone to the great pasture in the sky. When I bought my house nine years ago it came with a sheep! The lady who owned the house before me had let the man across the road [...]
The allure of the good life in France and the charms of the beautiful town of Beziers ensnared British expat Mark Binmore who runs the highly successful Maison de l’Orb, a beautiful B&B. Mark told us that he lived in London since the early 1990s, worked as a pub landlord for several breweries, is the [...]
Expats in France Donna and Dave Faulkner fell in love with Deux-Sevres in the Poitou-Charentes region when they visited friends who lived there. When Dave was unexpectedly offered a job – they said goodbye to Britain and jumped head first into life in France in their new home which needed a bit of renovation as [...]
British expat Sue Aitken lives in south west France and runs Blackhen Education – a business that she set up after planning to move to Spain to be a teacher. She and her partner travelled through France on their way to jobs and a life in Spain but they fell in love with [...]
How two Brits met and changed their lives with a move to France… Chris was a veteran of 30 years in the Metropolitan police, running his own outdoor activity business specializing in mountain biking, walking and climbing, father to three grown-up children and mentor to many more. Charlotte was a classic single “Social Butterfly”, [...]
I was recently asked to write about expats in France, people who leave their homes in all areas of the world to go to France to live. I thought back over the years about the many expats I’ve met, interviewed (I am a journalist not just a crazy person going round firing questions at [...]
