Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Juliette Greco

Artist: Juliette Greco
LP: Juliette
Song: "Java Partout"
[ listen ]
Song: "La Valse des Si"
[ listen ]

Born in Montpellier in February of 1927, Juliette Greco was active in the French Résistance during WWII. At one point she was captured, but avoided being deported because she was so young, and probably because she was so pretty too. After the war, Greco became a fixture in the Bohemian art scene of Paris, performing in cafes and befriending people like Miles Davis and Jean Cocteau, who cast her in his 1949 film, ORPHEUS. Greco went on to appear in other films, such as Otto Preminger's BONJOUR TRISTESSE, where she appears briefly as a nightclub singer (that's where I first discovered her), and in John Huston's 1958 adventure film THE ROOTS OF HEAVEN with Errol Flynn, Orson Welles, Trevor Howard and Eddie Albert. 


Greco was married to actor Michel Piccoli from 1966 to 1977, she released a new album called "Je Me Souviens De Tout" in 2009 and last month she celebrated her 83rd birthday. You can read more about Juliette Greco here, and LP liner notes and song lyrics for the two tracks posted above are included here:

[ Juliette Greco ]

2 comments:

bitter69uk said...

Nice! Juliette Greco is great alright: the grand dame of chanson with such a deep and sensual voice and morbidly beautiful image. And she's still active. In fact she's performing in London in November 2010 for the first time in ten years (and I was at that previous gig!). Should be incredible. Anyone who's a fan of Serge Gainsbourg or Edith Piaf should check Greco out. Great blog, by the way.

Alex said...

why thanks, you lucky dog! sure wish I could join you at the Juliette Greco show.