Maurane

Belgium's Claude Maurane stood apart from the conventional image of a jazz singer by rejecting the turbulent lifestyle and adversity often tied to that tradition, instead embracing the pleasures of motherhood and everyday household routines. Born Claudine Luypaerts in Ixelles on November 12, 1960, she grew up as the daughter of professional musicians. Immersed from childhood in the music of Bach and Debussy, she took up the violin at age eight before adding piano and guitar to her skills. Cinematic musicals such as West Side Story and Les Demoiselles de Rochefort supplied her strongest creative spark, leading her to appear alongside others in the 1979 stage show Brel en Mille Temps. That role drew the notice of producer Pierre Barouh, who had her record her first single, "J'me Roule en Boule," on his well-known Saravah imprint in 1980. Follow-up releases like "Fais Soleil," "T'as Pas la Pêche," and "Moi l'Argent, Toi Jeune" drew scant attention, so she kept performing in clubs and cabarets while contributing to recordings led by Jo Lemaire and Philippe Lafontaine. Maurane earned the "Prix de la Meilleure Chanson" in 1985, and later the same year she joined saxophonist Steve Houben and pianist Charles Loos for the album HLM. The project earned strong critical praise and paved the way for her full solo debut, Danser, issued in 1986; its success stemmed partly from her soulful delivery and focus on storytelling, especially the family themes that ran through her body of work. The next album, Maurane, arrived in 1989 and moved more than 500,000 units in France while also attracting dedicated listeners in Canada and Switzerland. Ami ou Ennemi came out two years afterward, followed in 1994 by her initial concert recording, Une Fille Très Scène. On 1995's Différente she fully asserted herself as a songwriter by writing lyrics to five tracks and music for three more, and she later shared production duties on 2000's Toi du Monde. During the intervening period she took a role in Sophie Tatischeff's 1998 comedy feature Le Comptoir; Tatischeff is the daughter of filmmaker Jacques Tati. Beyond the duet "Tu es Mon Autre" with pop singer Lara Fabian, Maurane stayed off record until releasing Quand l'Humain Danse in 2003. The live set L'Heureux Tour appeared the next year, and she appeared in the 2005 film Palais Royal. Un Ange Passe, another collaboration with Houben and Loos, came before the 2007 album Si Aujourd'hui.