Frida Boccara
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Frida Boccara | |
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![]() Frida Boccara in 1970 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Danielle Frida Hélène Boccara |
Born | Casablanca, French Morocco (Today Kingdom of Morocco) | 29 October 1940
Died | 1 August 1996 Paris, France | (aged 55)
Genres | Chanson, French jazz, Folk music |
Occupation(s) | Singer |
Years active | 1959–1996 |
Labels | Universal-Philips-Polydor, Disques Yvon Chateigner, Edina Music – Nocturne |
Danielle Frida Hélène Boccara (29 October 1940 – 1 August 1996) was a French singer of Italian descent and born in Casablanca, who performed and recorded in a number of languages, including French, Spanish, English, Italian, German, Dutch and Russian.
Early life[]
Boccara was born in Casablanca, Morocco, into a Jewish family of Italian origin that lived in Tunisia before they settled in Morocco. When she was 17, she moved from Casablanca to Paris, France, where she eventually started her artistic career as a singer. Boccara also had a brother and a sister in show business, composers Jean-Michel Braque (born Roger Boccara) and Lina Boccara. Her son, Tristan Boccara, was born in the mid-1970s and also became a singer (he is also a composer, pianist and arranger).
Career[]
In 1964, Boccara had submitted the song Autrefois to the French Eurovision Song Contest selection panel, but she was unsuccessful. Five years later, at the Eurovision Song Contest 1969, held in Madrid, Spain, she represented France performing "Un jour, un enfant" (A Day, a Child) – music by Émile Stern and text by Eddy Marnay. Her song shared first place along with the entries from the Netherlands, the UK, and Spain.
Songwriter Eddy Marnay was her professional partner (most of the songs performed by Boccara were written by him), but she also performed songs composed by Jacques Brel, Georges Brassens, Charles Aznavour, Émile Stern, Michel Legrand, Michel Magne, Nino Rota and Mikis Theodorakis.
Cent mille chansons was recorded in 1968 and earned her a Gold disc, while Un jour, un enfant (1969) earned her a Platinum disc and Pour vivre ensemble (1971) earned her another Gold disc. Other of her famous songs include "Cherbourg avait raison" (1961), "Aujourd'hui" (1965), "Le moulins de mon coeur" (1969), "L'enfant aux cymbales" (1969), "Belle du Luxembourg" (1969), "La croix, l'étoile et le croissant" (1970), "Venise va mourir" (1970), "Trop jeune ou trop vieux" (1971), "Valdemosa" (1976), "L'année où Piccolli... (Jouait Le choses de la vie)" (1978), "Un monde en sarabande" (1979) and "La prière" (1979). In the late 1960s, she also recorded "Un pays pour nous", a song that was a French version of "Somewhere" (from the musical West Side Story). Leonard Bernstein, who composed the original melody, declared that Boccara's version was his favorite.
Later years / death[]
Boccara renewed her links with Eurovision by participating in the French national finals of 1980 – performing "Un enfant de France" – and 1981 – with "Voilà comment je t'aime". However, neither song won. She died in 1996 in Paris, France, aged 55, from a pulmonary infection, after some health problems.
Discography[]
- 1959: "Baccara 9" n° 17 (VA compilation, EP)—Mes Frères/La Chanson d'Orphée
- 1960: L'Orgue des amoureux/Le Doux Caboulot (super 45 tours Festival)
- 1960: Verte Campagne/Quand la valse est là/Le Grand Amour/Depuis ce temps-là (super 45 tours Festival)
- 1961: La Seine à Paris/Les Amours du samedi/Les Bohémiens/Jenny (super 45 tours Festival)
- 1961: On n'a pas tous les jours 20 ans/Berceuse tendre/Les Nuits/Les Yeux de maman (super 45 tours Totem)
- 1961: Cherbourg avait raison/Comme un feu/Un jeu dangereux/Tiens, c'est Paris (super 45 tours Festival)
- 1962: Les Trois Mots/Aujourd'hui je fais la fête/Je veux chanter/Je ne peux plus attendre (super 45 tours Festival)
- 1962: Le Ciel du port/Les Portes de l'amour/Ballade pour un poète/D'abord je n'ai vu (super 45 tours Festival)
- 1962: Un premier amour/Bruxelles/L'Homme de lumière/Les Pas (super 45 tours Festival)
- 1962: Java des beaux dimanches/Les Javas/Rose de sang/Quien sabe (Qui peut savoir) (super 45 tours Festival)
- 1963: Moi je n'avais pas compris/J'ai peur de trop t'aimer/On les a attendus/Rien a changé (super 45 tours Festival)
- 1963: Souviens-toi des Noëls de là-bas/Donna/Johnny Guitar/Ballade pour notre amour (super 45 tours Festival)
- 1964: Autrefois/Chaud dans mon cœur/Le Souffle de ma vie/Je suis perdue (super 45 tours Festival)
- 1965: Tous les enfants/Aujourd'hui/Plus jamais/Un jour (super 45 tours Festival)
- 1967: Frida Boccara (33 tours MusiDisc, compilation des années 1961–1965)
- 1969: Un jour, un enfant (33 tours Philips)
- 1969: Les Vertes Collines (33 tours Philips, paru au Brésil seulement)
- 1970: Au pays de l'arbre blanc (33 tours Philips)
- 1971: Pour vivre ensemble (33 tours Philips)
- 1971: Place des Arts 71 (live à Montréal, double 33 tours Philips, réédité en CD en 2006 au Canada seulement)
- 1971: So ist das Leben/Er wird Dir dankbar sein (45 tours Polydor, paru en Allemagne seulement)
- 1972: Rossini et Beaumarchais (33 tours Philips)
- 1972: Greatest Hits (compilation 33 tours Philips, disque paru aux Pays-Bas seulement)
- 1974: Je me souviens (Mia Malinconia et Je me souviens, version instrumentale, du film Amarcord de Federico Fellini, 45 tours Deram)
- 1975: Oriundi (33 tours London)
- 1976: Valdemosa – Oublier (33 tours Philips)
- 1978: An Evening With Frida Boccara (Live at Dallas Brooks Hall, Melbourne – 2 LP Philips)
- 1978: L'Année où Piccoli Jouait "Les Choses de la Vie" (33 tours Philips)
- 1979: Un monde en sarabande (33 tours Philips)
- 1980: Un enfant de France/Écrit dans la pierre (45 tours Philips)
- 1983: Dis-leur/Aime-moi (45 tours Kébec-Disc au Canada et Ariola en France)
- 1984: Cent mille chansons, " Série grandes vedettes " (compilation 33 tours Philips)
- 1988: Témoin de mon amour (33 tours Productions Guy Cloutier, paru au Canada seulement)
- 1989: Expression (compilation CD Polygram, 23 titres)
- 1993: Master Série (compilation CD Polygram, 16 titres, disque paru au Québec seulement)
- 1994: Un jour, un enfant (compilation CD Spectrum Music, Karussell France)
- 1997: Frida Boccara (compilation CD Podis, Polygram France, 23 titres)
- 1999: Un jour on vit (CD Disques Yvon Chateigner)
- 1999: Ses premiers succès (compilation CD Disques Yvon Chateigner)
- 2003: Canta en espanol (compilation CD Divucsa Music SA, disque paru en Espagne seulement)
- 2005: Live Place-des-Arts de Montréal (CD XXI-21/Universal Canada, disque paru au Canada seulement)
- 2006: Un sourire au-delà du ciel (CD Édina Music – Nocturne)
- 2007: La Grande Frida Boccara, l'ultime compilation (compilation CD 25 titres XXI-21/Universal Canada, disque paru au Canada seulement)
- 2008: Un enfant de France (CD Édina Music – Nocturne)
- 2010: Les grandes années – 1972–1988 (coffret de trois CD Marianne Mélodie)
- 2010: Collection Chanson Française (compilation CD Disques Mercury)
External links[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Frida Boccara. |
- Frida Boccara at IMDb
- The Biography of Frida Boccara at "Blog Officiel de Frida Boccara" (in French)
- Blog Officiel de Frida Boccara (in French)
- The Discography of Frida Boccara at Encyclopédisque (in French)
- The Discography of Frida Boccara (in French)
- The Discography of Frida Boccara at Discogs.com
- Spanish Discography of Frida Boccara[permanent dead link]
- The Grave of Frida Boccara: Cimetière parisien de Bagneux – 63ème division (in French)
- Site officiel d'Eddy Marnay
- La Fabuleuse Historie de La "Rose d'Or" (in French)
- 1940 births
- 1996 deaths
- 20th-century French singers
- Burials at the Cimetière parisien de Bagneux
- Deaths from lung disease
- Disease-related deaths in France
- Dutch-language singers
- English-language singers from France
- Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1969
- Eurovision Song Contest winners
- Eurovision Song Contest entrants for France
- French jazz singers
- French people of Italian-Jewish descent
- French-language singers
- German-language singers
- Italian-language singers
- People from Casablanca
- People of Tuscan descent
- Philips Records artists
- Pieds-Noirs
- Russian-language singers
- Spanish-language singers of France
- UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors
- 20th-century French women singers
- Jewish jazz musicians