THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,511) Arlette Zola — “Lula Lula”
This ’67 yé-yé* A-side by Swiss singer Arlette Zola, released on the French label Disc’ AZ, is a lulu!
The Swiss Disco blog page (“your ultimate source for the latest and most exciting news from the world of the Swiss club and disco scene!”) tells us about Arlette (courtesy of Google Translate):
Arlette Zola was born Arlette Jaquet in the city of Fribourg . . . . Her mother and stepfather ran the Restaurant de la Grand-Fontaine there. Still a child, she already sang for the guests, accompanying herself on the guitar. The driving force behind her career was her stepfather, René Quazzola, from whose surname Arlette’s stage name is derived. He financed Arlette Zola’s first record and built up contacts with the music industry. The immediate result was a recording contract with the Paris label, “Disc AZ”. In late 1966, the single “Elles sont coquines” . . . came out. “Elles sont coquines” constituted Arlette Zola’s commercial breakthrough. It was followed in 1967 by “Deux garçons pour une fille”, “Le marin et la sirène” and “Je n’aime que vous” which figured prominently in the radio hit parades of the French-speaking world. Arlette Zola adorned the front pages of teenie magazines, appeared in many TV programs and gave live performances at home and abroad. Her 1967 guest appearances in Brazil and in Bulgaria, where she won an international song contest, deserve special mention. She also aroused interest in Germany and made a considerable number of recordings there. But there were no more major hits. As of 1970 Arlette Zola gradually withdrew from show business. After her marriage in 1972, she and her husband went into farming for several years in canton Fribourg. Shortly after the birth of a daughter in 1979, Arlette Zola and her husband decided to separate. Thanks to support from Geneva musician and composer, Alain Morisod, Arlette Zola made a musical comeback. In 1982 she represented Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest . . . . Singing Morisod’s composition “Amour on t’aime”, Arlette Zola finished in third place, the best ranking by a Swiss contestant in many years. New records followed, as well as regular live performances, mainly in French-speaking Switzerland.
Source: Interviews with Arlette Zola, February 2004 and July 2005, https://web.archive.org/web/20080108070925/http://www.swissdisco.ch/zola/index-e.php
Swiss radio station Radio SRF Musikwelle tells us more (courtesy of Google Translate):
As a teenager, she entertained guests with her songs in her mother’s restaurant De la Grand-Fontaine. As innkeepers, the parents had little time for their children. “The guests were my family,” says the singer looking back. Serving and singing, she ensured well-being and entertainment. . . . [She] was really discovered through a TV appearance as part of a singing competition. In 1966 the successful single “Elles sont coquines” was released. A year later, the songs “Deux garçons pour une fille”, “Le marin et la sirène” and “Je n’aime que vous”, which were equally successful in Francophone countries. The Freiburg native became a star. For some she was a female Heintje, for others even a Swiss Mireille Mathieu. She toured the country with Paola and Toni Vescoli and also appeared regularly on television in France with greats such as Silvie Vartan, France Gall [see #36, 1,361] and Claude François. But you won’t find any airs and graces with her. With great modesty she still says today: “I’m not a star, just a woman who likes to sing.” Then Arlette Zola follows her heart. She gets married, becomes a mother and puts her career on hold for the sake of her family. Then the marriage falls apart. In order to make a living for herself and her daughter, she works again as a waitress. A newspaper once described this chapter of his life as “Les années noirs”. Arlette Zola sees it differently: “That time wasn’t that black – maybe a little gray.”
https://www.srf.ch/radio-srf-musikwelle/zu-gast-im-brunch-arlette-zola-ein-star-ohne-allueren
* What is yé-yé? Matt Collar explains:
Yé-yé pop showcased young, cherubic-voiced female singers framed against dance-ready beats and rock & roll hooks in songs often riddled with thinly veiled sexual innuendo. It was bubblegum pop meets softcore porn and it was massively successful in Europe from the late ’50s through the ’60s.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/sensationnel%21-y%C3%A9-y%C3%A9-bonbons-1965-1968-mw0002813954
Here is the B-side, an orchestral version by Norman Maine et son Orchestre:
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