Colette Renard

Known best for her starring role as the titular character from the French musical Irma la Douce, the late Colette Renard was an actor and famed singer of French chanson who maintained a successful career over nearly five decades. Born Colette Lucie Raget on 1 November 1924 in Ermont, Val d'Oise, France, she learned to play cello and had singing lessons before getting her break as Irma La Douce in 1956, and released her first studio album, Chante Paris, the following year. Over the years, she continued to release music at a consistent rate, often recording traditional French songs as collected and adapted by Guy Breton, with some of her highlights including L'arbre et l'homme / Les jouets / L'homme et l'araignée / Mon île (1956), for which she was awarded the Grand Prix of the Charles Cros Academy. Her other notable recordings were "Zon, zon, zon" (1957), "Shut up Marseille," "That's music" and "Sa cap" (1958), "My man is a guignol (1959), "Stories" (1960), "Tender Song" (1961), "The Sailor and the Rose" (1962), and Guy Breton's "Nights of a Lady" in 1963, while she simultaneously carved out a fruitful career as a movie and TV actor. She was awarded the Grand prix of the Académie du disque français, the Grand prix of the Président de la République and was made an officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres among other accolades. Her last album Ceux qui s'aiment was released in 2002 and that same year marked her last stage appearance at the Théâtre Déjazet in Paris. Between 2004 and 2009, she played the role of Rachel Lévy in the hit television series Plus belle la vie. Colette Renard died of brain cancer on 6 October 2010 at the age of 85 in Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse.

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