Lucienne Boyer (born August 18, 1903 in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris – died on December 6, 1983 in Paris), was a French singer.
Born Émilienne-Henriette Boyer, she lost her soldier father in World War I and had to go to work in a munitions factory to help her family get by. Born with a melodious voice, by age 16 she began to be noticed and, while working as a part-time model, she was given a chance to sing in the cabarets of Montparnasse. An office position at a prominent Parisian theater opened the door for her and within a few years she was cast as Lucienne Boyer, singing in the major Parisian music halls.
In 1927, Boyer sang at a concert by the great star Félix Mayol where she was seen by the American impresario Lee Shubert (1873-1953) who immediately offered her a contract to come to Broadway. Boyer spent nine months in New York City, returning to perform there and to South America numerous times throughout the 1930s. By 1933 she had made a large number of recordings for Columbia Records of France including her signature song, " Parlez-moi d'amour". Written by Jean Lenoir (1891-1976), the song won the first-ever Grand Prix du Disque of the Charles Cros Academy.
In 1939, she married the cabaret singer Jacques Pills of the very popular duo Pills et Tabet. Their daughter Jacqueline, born on April 23, 1941, followed in their footsteps, becoming a very successful singer who won the 1960 Eurovision Song Contest.
Throughout World War II, Lucienne Boyer continued to perform in France, but for her Jewish husband, it was a very difficult time. Following the Allied Forces liberation of France, her cabaret career flourished and for another thirty years, she maintained a loyal following. At the age of 73, she sang with her daughter at the famous Paris Olympia and appeared on several French television shows.
Lucienne Boyer died in 1983 and was interred in the Cimetière de Bagneux in Montrouge, near Paris.
Oh my goodness..I'm on the top friends of Lucienne Boyer?!??!! Now THAT is very humbling!! I've actually opened up some sets with Parlez Moi D'amour. It's one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard...and nobody in the crowd expects it to start that way.
