Anny Gould

Real name Marcelle Trillet, singer Anny Gould was born in Paris on January 8, 1920, and spent her childhood in Roubaix. A schoolteacher, she practiced her profession in Dijon during the Second World War and took part in the Resistance. During the festivities surrounding the Liberation, she went to a concert by an American jazz band looking for a singer to fill in for a defection. The young woman, with her passion for song, offered to take her place, and her success prompted her to embark on a new career. After meeting pianist, composer and conductor Morton Gould in Paris, she found an American-sounding name for herself, associating it with the first name of her identity during the Resistance, Annie Tissot, which she in turn Americanized. Hired by the Wal-Berg Orchestra, she performed French music-hall hits and adaptations of American standards live on the radio program Musique sur la ville. In 1948, with the help of conductor Raymond Legrand, she won the Prix Lucienne Boyer du Grand-Prix de la chanson française in Deauville. Noticed by artistic director Pierre Hiégel, she signed with the Pathé label and in the 1950s recorded a series of covers or original compositions by Charles Aznavour ("Sa jeunesse", "Sur ma vie"), Léo Ferré ("Monsieur mon passé"), Mouloudji ("Un jour tu verras") or Boris Vian ("Le Gars de Rochechouart"), as well as other tried-and-tested hits such as "Sous le ciel de Paris" or "Belleville-Ménilmontant". His repertoire was not confined to the realist style, drawing on The Platters' fashionable slow song, "Only You", adapted in 1958 as "Loin de vous", or exotic Latin tunes. This broad catalog, appreciated abroad, enabled her to launch an international career with extensive touring. Somewhat forgotten in the early 2000s, Pascal Sevran invited her to appear on his shows La Chance aux chansons and Chanter la vie. Following this recognition, Anny Gould regained her audience and attracted a new generation with Parisian concerts at the Trianon in 2008 and again in 2010, at the age of 90. After another appearance with her son at the piano, she died three years later, aged 93, on November 14, 2013.

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