Around the period when Brigette Fontaine began issuing albums that fused classic French chanteuse approaches with bolder, avant-garde musical directions, Catherine Ribeiro pursued a parallel path, though she stayed even less visible outside France than Fontaine. Where Fontaine typically sang in gentle and melodic tones, Ribeiro often delivered in a tougher register with deeper pitch, evoking Nico yet charged with greater intensity, supported by exploratory arrangements that ranged across folk-rock, progressive rock, free improvisation, and additional styles. That singular vocal quality reflected her difficult early years. Born in France in 1941 to Portuguese immigrant parents, Ribeiro endured severe childhood disturbances; frequent wartime explosions prompted her mother to confine her repeatedly to a pitch-black cellar, her infant brother perished at six months, and as she matured she spent repeated stretches inside psychiatric institutions. Entering her early twenties, she took up acting and appeared in the 1962 spaghetti Western Buffalo Bill before featuring the following year in Jean Luc Godard’s French New Wave film Les Carabiniers, also released as The Mercenaries or The Soldiers.
By the middle of the 1960s Ribeiro began treating singing as a serious pursuit, recording two Barclay Records singles in 1966, one of them a cover of Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue.” In 1969 she assembled the band 2Bis, directed by Patrice Moullet, to accompany her debut album, issued simply as Catherine Ribeiro + 2 Bis on the Festival label. For her follow-up LP, likewise titled No. 2 and also released by Festival in 1970, 2Bis had evolved into Alpes, the ensemble that would support her on the ensuing series of recordings. In addition to Moullet, who supplied guitars, organ, electronics, and vocals, the core lineup included only Denis Cohen on percussion and organ, though Portuguese guitarists Pires Moliceiro and Isaac Robles Monteiro contributed as guests on a single track of No. 2. On later Philips albums that appeared roughly annually, Alpes underwent frequent personnel shifts from one release to the next, Moullet remaining the sole steady presence; these discs—Ame Debout (“Upright Soul”), Paix (“Peace”), Le Rat Debile et l’Homme des Champs (“The Weak Rat and the Man of the Fields”), and Libertes?—rank among Ribeiro’s most inventive, their music composed principally by Moullet.
While continuing to record with Alpes, Ribeiro also issued solo projects consisting of interpretations rather than original songs, paying homage to earlier figures. The first was 1977’s Le Blues de Piaf, devoted to Edith Piaf repertoire, followed in 1978 by Jacqueries, featuring compositions by Jacques Prévert and Sebastien Maroto. She further collaborated with artists such as Peter Gabriel on the 1982 album Soleil Dans l’Ombre (“Sun in the Shade”). Her release pace diminished by the early 1990s. In 1999 she published the memoir L’Enfance with L’Archipel, recounting her formative years, and she mounted occasional concert tours. Ribeiro died on August 23, 2024, at the age of 82.
