Born Thérèse Coquerelle on July 27, 1938, in Lille, Isabelle Aubret secured victory for France at the 1962 Eurovision Song Contest. As a child she showed early promise in gymnastics, capturing the national title in 1952, yet by her late teens she had shifted focus entirely to vocal performance. A local radio music director spotted her talent and placed her as lead singer with an orchestra based in Le Havre; in 1960 she triumphed at a competition held inside the Paris Olympia. Hall director Bruno Coquatrix took her under his guidance and arranged a cabaret engagement in Pigalle. Her first single, “Nous les Amoureux,” appeared in 1961, the same number with which Jean-Claude Pascal would later win Eurovision for Luxembourg. That same year Aubret placed second in France’s national selection; the following year “Un Premier Amour” carried her to victory both at home and on the international stage.
Further exposure arrived through a tour alongside Jean Ferrat, composer of her hit “Deux Enfants au Soleil,” and through prominent appearances with Sacha Distel. She also served as opening act for Jacques Brel’s celebrated Olympia residency in March 1963. A severe automobile accident abruptly ended her momentum, confining her to recovery for most of the next three years. Ferrat supplied the new song “C’Est Beau la Vie,” which she recorded while immobilized, and Brel transferred lifetime performance rights to “La Fanette.” Still healing, she returned to the Olympia stage in 1965 to support Salvatore Adamo; full activity resumed only in 1968, when “La Source” earned third place at Eurovision.
She maintained an active touring schedule through the rest of the decade. In 1970 she partnered with Daniel Bératta on the domestic qualifier “Olivier Olivia,” which finished second, yet shifting tastes and her outspoken left-wing views steadily reduced her visibility. “The Partisan” and “Casa Forte” received minimal promotion, and national television effectively excluded her. The 1973 album Le Soleil Est dans une Orange signaled the start of renewed recognition; in 1976 she again entered the French selection with “Je Te Connais Déjà,” which failed to advance, but she earned the Best Singer prize at that year’s Tokyo Musical Festival. Four years afterward Japanese audiences named her the world’s finest vocalist. Berceuse pour une Femme (1977) and Une Vie (1979) both achieved strong commercial results.
Another setback occurred in 1981 when Aubret fractured both legs during trapeze rehearsals with boxer Jean-Claude Bouttier. Sporadic recording continued, and she made one final Eurovision qualifier appearance with “France France” in 1983. Le Monde Chante arrived in 1984; she resumed live work in 1986. Around this period the compilation Isabelle Aubret Chante Jacques Brel was issued. With her political history no longer an obstacle, French media welcomed her once more. The 1985 single “1789” performed well, while Vague à l’Homme drew praise for championing emerging writers Romain Didier, Danielle Messia, and Allain Leprest. Leprest later opened her 1987 Olympia dates, the first Paris concerts she had given since the early 1970s.
She marked the French Revolution bicentenary with the album 1989. The 1990s began with the well-received English-language jazz collection In Love. Many consider her 1992 tribute to poet Louis Aragon her strongest work; also that year Coup de Coeur gathered her readings of songs by Brel, Ferrat, Serge Gainsbourg, Francis Cabrel, Charles Trenet, Jean-Jacques Goldman, Henri Salvador, and Guy Béart. President Mitterrand presented her with the Légion d’Honneur at year’s end. C’Est le Bonheur followed in 1993, and a 1996 live program again centered on Aragon. A boxed set uniting her Aragon, Brel, and Ferrat recordings preceded a 1998 tour of France and Quebec built solely around Brel material. She closed the century with a new collection devoted to songs about Paris.
