Mireille Mathieu

Mireille from the beginning, was born to be a singer. As she would say, her professional career which began on the 21st of November 1965, has up to now for almost 40 years been "a fairy tale come true". Born in Avignon and the eldest daughter from 14 children of Roger and Marcelle Mathieu, Mireille gave her first public performance when she was four years old for Midnight Mass! Her father who was a stonecutter for the cemetery possessed the voice of a tenor and had also dreamed of being a singer. As a child, Mireille saved her money from working in a factory so she could pay for singing lessons. A voice instructor named Laure Collière, accepted Mireille as a student. In her biography "Mon Credo", during a time of distress she asked "that God please create a miracle" for her to arise out of poverty. In the early '60s, French pop vocalist Johnny Hallyday's manager Johnny Stark noticed Mireille's enchanting vocalic beauty after appearing on the TV show "Jeu de la Chance" where she won 1st place. The American impressario later built Mireille into her own star after she signed a contract with him. With lots of hard work and many nights when she was only able to sleep four hours and she needed to do a concert, Mireille performed brilliantly and was on her way to success. She was quickly hailed as the next Édith Piaf and her 1965 performance run at the Paris Olympia, sparked her recording relationship with Barclay Records where her first album sold over 1 million copies in a very short time! Mireille with much stamina, forged ahead to make her career in France, Germany, the United States, Russia, and the rest of the world. In 1974, she won the German "Bambi" Music Award, which is the equivalent to the American Grammy Award. In 1997, Mireille was nominated and given the "Chevalier de l'Ordre national du Mérite et des Arts et des Lettres" and decorated with "The Legion of Honor" for her service to the Nation of France." Of her reception by Pope John Paul II, His Holiness has said, "She is the singer of love and peace." For me, Mireille is "un cadeau d' un Dieu" as her last name literally translates.