Michèle Torr

Michelle Torr
Michelle Torr in 2006
Background information
Birth name	Michelle Cléberte Tort
Born	7 April 1947 (1947-04-07) (age 64)
Origin	Pertuis, France
Genres	Pop
Occupations	Singer, Author
Years active	1962 – Present
Labels	Mercury Records Disc'AZ Records
Website	micheletorr.com

Michèle Torr (born Michelle Cléberte Tort), 7 April 1947 in Pertuis, Vaucluse, is a French singer, and author best known in non-Francophone countries for her participation in the Eurovision Song Contests of 1966 and 1977. Since 2010, she has been using the stage name Michelle Torr.

Early career

Michèle won her first singing contest at age fifteen, in 1962, winning the first year's On Chante dans mon Quartier contest in Avignon. Michèle was a tall beautiful woman with actress-like expression, and easily wins the audience over by singing the Édith Piaf song Exodus. Mireille Mathieu was runner-up that year with another Piaf song. Then in 1963, at age sixteen, Michèle won a recording contract with the Mercury label, and opened for Jacques Brel at the Paris Olympia. She released three EP's (four songs each) throughout 1964, which were aimed at radio and juke-box play. Torr's release of Dans mes bras, oublie ta peine in 1964 was a big hit. Further releases of both original French material, and French covers of British and American hits, proved to be hit and miss. This setting the tone for Torr's career throughout the 60's, as she tried to find her niche. The Mercury contract ended in 1972.

Eurovision Song Contest appearances

In 1966, Torr was invited to perform the Luxembourgian entry, Ce soir je t'attendais, at the eleventh Eurovision Song Contest. This was permitted as there has never been a requirement at Eurovision for the singer to be native to the country they represent; indeed Luxembourg only very rarely chose a Luxembourgian as their performer. As Luxembourg had won the 1965 contest, the 1966 contest was held in Luxembourg City on 5 March.

Ce soir je t'attendais was a very contemporary-sounding song, but could only manage a surprisingly low tenth place of the eighteen entrants. The performance shows her actress-like facial expressions; however, she stumbles with the lyrics mispronouncing "clos" in the second verse. Her voice then breaks in several places, and sadly turns into a monotone yelling at the end. Overall, the performance at age 19 shows her star quality.

Eleven years later, in 1977, Torr again took part in Eurovision, this time representing Monaco with the song Une petite française. The 1977 contest took place in London on 7 May, and Torr improved on her previous result, finishing fourth of eighteen participants.

In between her two Eurovision appearances, Torr had also taken part in the French Eurovision pre-selection in 1970 with two songs, but had not progressed beyond the semi-final stage.

Later career

Torr had continued to record and release singles during the early and mid 1970s like Une vague bleue, a big hit, but she achieved the biggest successes of her career at the end of the decade with Emmène-moi danser ce soir, La séparation and Discomotion. Through the 1980s she continued to release successful singles and albums and was a regular on television. Her career stalled in the 1990s, with much less new material being released, although compilations of earlier work kept her in the public eye. She continues to tour on the nostalgia circuit in France and her most recent album, Ces années-là, was released in 2008.

Books

• 1999 – La Cuisine (provençale) de ma mère by Michèle Torr
• 2005 – la Couleur des mots (autobiography) by Michèle Torr, and Laurent Fialaix

References

External links

• Official website
• Discography and cover art at Encyclopédisque.fr
• Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 2002

Preceded by France Gall	Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1966	Succeeded by Vicky Leandros
Preceded by Mary Christy	Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977	Succeeded by Caline & Olivier Toussaint

Persondata
Name	Torr, Michele
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	7 April 1947
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death