THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,382) Christie Laume — “Rouge Rouge”/“Red Red”
Chryssanti Lambroukas, I mean Christie Laume, gave us “fabulous fuzz-guitar-heavy” (Gordon Skeen, https://pastdaily.com/2018/05/13/4-by-christie-laume-past-daily-nights-at-the-round-table-rock-without-borders/#google_vignette) yé-yé about a girl who blushes when boys come to talk to her. “Music will never again convey this spirit, this carefreeness, this magic”. (brunoblum7653 (courtesy of Google Translate), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpSdomxhlpI) Indeed!
Laume writes that:
I was born to a Greek orthodox family during World War II . . . in Paris, France. . . . I began singing at a very early age with my brother. I was only three years old and loved to perform for my family and friends. At seven years old I sang on the radio in a children’s show. I continued to sing for pleasure throughout my adolescence. . . . When I was seventeen, with the encouragement of my parents, I went to a beauty salon school in Paris. My parents were very conservative, very loving and protective. I wanted to be a beautician on the ship, Le France, which sailed from Le Havre to New York. This desire frightened my parents. They talked to my brother and [famed French singer] Edith [Piaf] and shared their concerns about me. After my brother married Edith Piaf, much to my delight and surprise, my brother and Edith invited me to live with them in their spacious apartment across from the Bois de Boulogne. That event, without realizing it, brought a rapid and dramatic change in my life. Suddenly because of them, I was living a life of a celebrity without being one. It was at that point that Edith wanted to hear my voice and asked me if I wanted to sing. Edith asked me to sing in the opening act of several of her concerts and would have me introduce her to the crowd. She gave me the name Christie Laume. I began to live the life of a professional singer: rehearsing, touring, and recording. I had a very good relationship with her and I became her friend and spent a lot of time alone with her. It was only a year after Theo married Edith that she died. I continued to sing and record under the guidance and encouragement of my brother. At that time, the Ye Ye style songs became popular and I recorded several singles and also made several television appearances. In 1969, during a summer trip to Greece, I met and later married my husband who was serving in the United States Air Force. It was then that I left the life I had in France and began a new one. I moved to the United States with my husband and we had two children within two years. They brought us great joy. We traveled a lot within the United States as well as in Europe due to my husband’s military career. After nine years of marriage, my husband and I divorced. I devoted my life to raising my children.
Gordon Skeen adds:
In 1966, [Christie] was offered a recording contract with the Barclay label. . . . [H]er debut EP . . . . failed to attract much attention and she switched labels, to Odeon, in 1967. Her first release for the new label was issued shortly afterwards. The title track of the EP was the exuberant “La musique et la danse”, which Christie had co-written. She also helped pen “Agathe ou Christie”, whose lyrics were packed with rather clever jeux de mots [puns]. “L’adorable femme des neiges”, also featured on the EP, has also gone on to find favour with fans of French femme pop. “Pas de nouvelles” was chosen as the lead track of her follow-up EP, though . . . “Rouge-rouge” is considered the standout track of the four on the release.
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