Sylvie Vartan

Sylvie Vartan stands as a celebrated Bulgarian-French figure in pop music and film, an award recipient whose defining recordings such as "La Plus Belle Pour Aller Danser," "Si Je Chante," "Zoom Zoom Zoom," and "Irresistiblement" rank among the enduring classics of European popular song from the previous century. She first rose as a yé-yé figure before evolving during the 1970s into a commanding stage performer who adapted British and American rock numbers into French, later proving herself an accomplished interpreter of material from composers ranging from Alain Goraguer and Jacques Brel through Serge Gainsbourg, Pierre Barouh, and Charles Aznavour to her former spouse Johnny Hallyday. Long regarded in France as a cultural mainstay simply called "Sylvie," she earned acclaim for her meticulously produced live spectacles, glittering attire, inventive movement sequences, and straightforward dedication to craft. Her status matches that of Edith Piaf, with the heartfelt depth of her clear contralto conveying total dedication as she inhabits each lyric as though the events unfold in real time. That approach remains forceful and commanding yet open, whether on collections of lighthearted pop such as the 1964 release À Nashville or intimate ballads like the 1971 set Sympathie, show numbers from the 1974 album Je Chante Pour Swanee, refined jazz-inflected pop on the 2004 effort Sylvie, or rock-oriented work on 2018’s Avec Toi....

Born Sylvie Georges Vartanian in Iskretz, Bulgaria, amid World War II, she arrived seven years after her brother Eddie. Her family traced roots to Georgia and held positions at the French embassy. Following the Soviet occupation of Bulgaria in September 1944, just a month after her arrival, authorities seized the Vartan home, leading the household to shift to Sofia, the nation’s capital and largest urban center. Shifting national conditions prompted their departure for Paris, France, where they reached the city in December 1952 following a three-day rail journey. The newcomers marveled at the ready supply of food, presents, and consumer goods. Georges Vartan secured employment as a night porter, and the family resided in a hotel for years within a single room. The children, initially unable to communicate in French, struggled to adjust, yet through persistent effort Sylvie succeeded in clearing the admissions test for the Lycée Victor Hugo.

The Vartans secured an apartment in 1960, and Sylvie began studies at the Hélène Boucher Lycée for Girls. Her mother recommended focusing on foreign languages, an area where she showed aptitude—an approach that later proved advantageous. Around then she developed a taste for rock & roll from artists including Bill Haley and Elvis Presley along with jazz, spurred by her brother’s emerging career as a professional trumpeter. That year Eddie abandoned legal studies to serve first as artistic director for RCA France and subsequently as a record producer. He soon convinced his sister to record the duet "Panne d’essence" with Frankie Jordan, issued as the B-side of one of his releases. The flip side unexpectedly succeeded, granting the uncredited Vartan her initial television singing slot. Critics responded favorably, labeling her "la collégienne du twist." By autumn 1961 she secured a contract with Decca and issued her debut EP that December, led by the hit "Quand Le Film Est Triste," her rendition of Sue Thompson’s "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)." The label quickly followed with her take on Ray Charles’ "What’d I Say" and booked her as opener for Vince Taylor at L'Olympia that month. In July 1962 she joined Gilbert Bécaud for a national tour and appeared in a second L'Olympia concert alongside Johnny Hallyday. That fall she released her version of "The Loco-Motion," after which her first LP, titled simply Sylvie, arrived with the single "Tous Mes Copains." She also took her initial adult film role as a singer in Un Clair de Lune à Maubeuge. In 1963 Paul Anka supplied the track "I'm Watching You," which became her breakthrough in Japan and Korea and supported the successful album Twiste et Chante. She closed the year with four television specials and emerged as a leading presence in teen publications. Of the 32 recordings issued between 1962 and 1963, six reached the European Top 20. Late in 1963 Vartan toured France with Johnny Hallyday and co-starred with him in D'où Viens-Tu, Johnny? They subsequently traveled to Nashville to work with the Jordanaires, yielding the album À Nashville. The couple became engaged in 1964 shortly before Hallyday fulfilled his military obligation, while Vartan released another self-titled album that marked her arrival in the yé-yé sphere; its single "La Plus Belle Pour Aller Danser" turned into her signature success. Eddie Vartan engaged English session players Tommy Brown on drums and Mick Jones, later of Foreigner, on guitar. The group recorded in New York, where they composed Sylvie's hit "Cette Lettre-Là," which served as her debut on the Ed Sullivan Show to promote the full-length Gift Wrapped from Paris.

Vartan and Hallyday wed in 1965 and welcomed a son in August 1966. After a brief pause she continued issuing hits in 1966 and 1967, many showcased on variety programs, among them "Dis Moi, Que Tu M'aimes" performed with male dancers and "Le Jour Qui Vient" early in 1968; both topped the French charts, as did "2'35 de Bonheur" and "Comme Un Garçon." These cuts also found success in Italy, Belgium, Japan, and Korea. In April she sustained severe injuries in a car crash yet returned swiftly to the studio, television, and L'Olympia by December. The next year she completed nine Saturday-night appearances on Italian national television that helped "Zum Zum Zum" become a hit. She then circled the globe and revisited Italy for further performances and a television special. Her refined, proto-Las Vegas presentation drew notice across Europe for its frequent wardrobe shifts and dance sequences. In 1970 she endured another serious automobile incident, this time with Hallyday. He escaped unharmed while she required extensive facial reconstruction. She recovered in New York, where she encountered Jojo Smith, Barbra Streisand’s choreographer, who shaped her subsequent American-style revues. By year’s end she resumed activity, appearing at L'Olympia and touring Japan the following spring, where audiences responded warmly to three songs she recorded in Japanese. She returned to cinema in director Harry Kumel’s Malpertuis, which also featured Orson Welles.

Her American-influenced stage production, augmented by a sizable chorus, reached L’Olympia in December 1972 and incorporated more rock material while still including Jacques Brel’s "Ne Me Quitte Pas" and "Mon Père," the latter honoring her father who had passed in 1970. In 1973 she recorded her first duet with her husband; the single "J’ai un Problème" quickly earned gold status. The pair toured that summer before Vartan undertook another Japanese trek that produced a widely praised, top-selling double-live album. From March to May 1975 she appeared on Italian television in the eight-episode series Punto e Basta, then joined a summer tour with Jean-Jacques Debout that concluded with a concert alongside Hallyday in Narbonne. In October she mounted a run at the larger Palais de Congrès in Paris, enlisting American choreographer Walter Painter to prepare her ensemble of dancers. The most glamorous of French vocalists, arrayed in elaborate costumes, triumphed in those shows and the subsequent tour. Afterward she took a sabbatical in the United States with her son. She revisited the Palais de Congrès for a fresh production in 1977, Qu’est-ce Qui Fait Pleurer Les Blondes?, drawn from her 1976 album of the same name, adding further visual flourishes to her performances.

Releases from the 1970s such as Je Chante Pour Swanee, Shang Shang A Lang, Fantaisie, and I Don't Want the Night to End all achieved chart placement in Europe and Japan.

Hallyday and Vartan ended their marriage in 1980 after fifteen years. In 1981 she founded a performance school in Paris and opened two additional schools in Japan the following year while issuing the well-received, commercially successful De Choses et D’Autres. That same year she met future husband and producer Tony Scotti, who would later co-own Scotti Brothers Records. In November, supported by American dancer and singer Gene Kelly, she performed at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas; the appearance, a decisive moment for the former “yé-yé girl next door,” concluded with a standing ovation. Although her concerts on both sides of the Atlantic and Pacific consistently sold out, record sales lagged: 1984’s Made in the USA and 1985’s Virage underperformed relative to prior work, prompting her departure from RCA after twenty-five years. Vartan married Scotti in 1984. Following a four-year hiatus she returned with 1989’s Confidanses. The opening singles "C’est Fatal" and "Il Pleut Sur London" charted, while the reimagined 1965 hit "Quand Tu Es Là," arranged by Etienne Daho, reached the top three. She also contributed to the benefit collection Urgence: 27 Artistes Pour La Recherche Contre Le Sida supporting AIDS research.

At the close of 1990 Vartan revisited Bulgaria for the first time since age eight and staged a concert. In 1991, supported by her husband and assisted by Daho, she mounted a tour revisiting earlier material under the title "Je Vous Salue Paris." Domestic response remained measured, yet the shows succeeded in Japan and Italy. She issued the album Vent d’Ouest, arranged by Claude Gaudette, in 1992; although it garnered strong critical praise, commercial results proved modest. After appearing in several films during 1993 she released the unplugged set Sessions Acoustiques late in 1994. Her subsequent Casino de Paris engagement presented the material in a stripped-down format that earned widespread critical approval, even while retaining select costume changes. In autumn 1996 she delivered Toutes Les Femmes Ont un Secret, featuring contributions from songwriters including Luc Plamondon, Richard Cocciante, Jean-Louis Murat, Marc Morgan, and Yves Simon. The mature style met with broad acceptance from critics and listeners alike. That November she returned to L’Olympia, wearing the same Yves Saint-Laurent dress from her initial appearance there and performing only hits, beginning with "La Plus Belle Pour Aller Danser" and including selections from the 1960s.

As mother to two daughters and a Bulgarian child named Darina, Vartan paused to focus on family. She released two children’s albums in 1997 and 1998, unconcerned with public reaction, while still offering fans new material. She recorded Sensible for Philips, issued that October, drawing from longtime collaborators and newcomers such as Michel Jouveaux, Jay Alanski, and the duo Marc Lavoine/Aboulker; son David Hallyday also supplied songs. In November French president Jacques Chirac awarded her the Légion D'Honneur for lifetime contributions to French culture. She resumed touring in 1999 with a program blending chanson classics from the 1930s and 1940s alongside her own hits. Remaining committed to visual spectacle, she enlisted Jean-Paul Gaultier for costumes and Painter for choreography. The production yielded the commercially successful live album Tour de Siecle. Vartan waited until age sixty to release another studio album in 2004. She published the autobiography Entre Ombre et Lumière and issued Sylvie, crafted with longtime writers including Didier Barbelivien, Michel Mallory, and David Hallyday. The set highlighted her classic pop strengths and incorporated material from emerging talents such as Daran and Florent Marchet. A double-disc greatest-hits collection and a box set of seven live albums followed. She supported the releases with two weeks of concerts at Palais des Congrès plus an extended tour encompassing Geneva, Brussels, and Tokyo. The fashion world paid tribute when Musée Galliera mounted an exhibition of her stage costumes from October 2004 through February 2005, displaying eighty outfits spanning her yé-yé era to the present. In 2006 she received the Ordre National du Mérite presented by French minister of Culture and Communications Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, who described her as "one of the most prestigious ambassadresses of French chanson and French chic" and "a woman with a big heart who has used her international fame to spearhead her campaign against poverty and misery in the world." Throughout her career she maintained strong ties to her birthplace; in 1992 she established the Sylvie Vartan Association for Bulgaria, supplying aid to children through donations and medical equipment for pediatric facilities.

In 2007 Vartan released Nouvelle Vague, a collection of covers offering her interpretations of 1960s classics by the Rolling Stones ("Ruby Tuesday"), the Beatles ("Drive My Car"), fellow yé-yé artist Françoise Hardy ("Le Temps de L'Amour"), and French-language adaptations of Leonard Cohen’s "Suzanne" and Bob Dylan’s "Blowin’ in the Wind." The tracks featured straightforward arrangements that foregrounded the richness of her voice. She also advocated for the release of five Bulgarian nurses imprisoned and sentenced to death in Libya eight years prior, submitting petitions, appealing to the French president, and appearing in media as part of a Lawyers Sans Frontiers campaign. The nurses were freed and returned to Bulgaria in July 2007.

Following an extensive international tour she prepared the album Soleil Bleu. Guided by Daho she collaborated with Keren Ann and singer Doriand, who contributed the songs "J’fais La Moue" and "Je Me Détacherai" and produced the record issued by RCA at the end of 2010. Numerous rising figures in French chanson participated in songwriting and performances. The title track was written and performed as a duet with Julien Doré; Vartan and Arthur H duetted on a version of Benjamin Biolay’s "La Vanité." She also interpreted lyrics tailored by Daho, La Grande Sophie, Frédéric Botton, and son David. To mark the launch she gave a one-time concert at the Théâtre du Châtelet in December featuring both established hits and newer material, with Doré and Arthur H joining her onstage. She then launched a sold-out European tour to present the fresh songs live.

Vartan issued the 50th-anniversary live recording Live a La Salle Pleyel: The 50th Anniversary Concert in 2011 before pausing. In 2013 she returned to a Nashville studio to commemorate the half-century mark of her earlier Music City album. Sylvie in Nashville contained tracks by Bob Seger, Kristian Bush, and Roy Orbison together with newly commissioned originals. To her surprise the album charted in France and across Europe. In 2015 BMG/Sony Legacy released Une Vie en Musique, a limited retrospective collecting material linked to Sofia, Bulgaria, Paris, and Los Angeles. She delivered the new studio album Avec Toi... in 2018, produced and arranged by Michael Lloyd and recorded by Rob Kearney. The fifteen-song set included works by former husband Johnny Hallyday and their son David, along with pieces by Aznavour, Gilles Thibaut, and Lennon & McCartney.