Biography

Colette Magny was a French singer/songwriter with a propensity for protest songs whose musical style was informed by blues, jazz, folk, poetry, and spoken word. Born on October 31, 1926, in Paris, France, she made her recording debut in 1963 with the single "Melocoton" on CBS. The single, the closest she would ever come to a mainstream breakthrough hit, was subsequently compiled on her full-length solo album debut, Les Tuileries (1964). Her final release on CBS, Les Tuileries is comprised of musical adaptations of works by writers Victor Hugo, António Jacinto, Arthur Rimbaud, Rainer Maria Rilke, Antonio Machado, and Louis Aragon, plus a couple American traditionals and a few originals. Magny returned two years later with "Avec" Poème (1966), an experimental full-length effort informed by musique concrète on which André Almuro is credited for the music. After this experimental effort on the short-lived label Disques Mouloudji, Magny began her long association with the label Le Chant du Monde, beginning with the album Colette Magny (1967), sometimes referred to by its album-opening song, "Vietnam 67." Subsequent albums on Le Chant du Monde include Magny 68 (1969), Feu et Rythme (1970), Répression (1973), Transit (1975), Chili un Peuple Crève... (1976), Visage -- Village (1977), Je Veux Chaanter (1979), Thanakan (1981), Cahier d'une Tortue (1981), and Chansons Pour Titine (1983). In later years, Magny self-released the album Kevork (1989) on the label Colette Magny Promotion, and some of her Le Chant du Monde output was reissued in the early '90s. Her death on June 12, 1997, in Villefranche-de-Rouergue, Aveyron, France, sparked another round of reissues including Melocoton (1997), which compiled the highlights of her CBS output, and Blues (1999), which is essentially a repackaged version of her final Le Chant du Monde album, Chansons Pour Titine. ~ Jason Birchmeier, Rovi