Lucienne Delyle

Performer of "Mon amant de Saint-Jean", Lucienne Delyle has gone down in history with a typically Parisian repertoire. Lucienne Henriette Delache was born in Paris on April 16, 1913, and was orphaned as a child. She studied to become a pharmacy assistant and tried her luck in singing competitions when, in 1939, she came to the attention of a Radio-Cité talent contest, singing "Le Fanion de la Légion". Encouraged by the show's host and artistic director of the Polydor label, Jacques Canetti, the singer, who initially took the name Lucienne Delyne, appeared on the program Le Music-Hall des jeunes and made her first recordings with conductor Marcel Cariven, notably her first hit "Sur les quais de Paris", but also "Je n'en connais pas la fin", borrowed from Édith Piaf, before performing at the Européen and the A. B.C.B.C. In 1940, she met trumpeter and arranger Aimé Barelli, who introduced her to jazz and became her accompanist, composer and husband, sometimes singing together, as evidenced by "Tant que nous nous aimerons" and "Ça alors". After the song for the film Le Paradis perdu (1941), orchestrated by Raymond Legrand, Lucienne Delyle turned her veiled voice to what was to become the highlight of her career, "Mon amant de Saint-Jean" (1942), written by Léon Angel and composed by Émile Carrara, which reached a wide audience before being covered by numerous artists. The same year saw her perform "Nuages", based on Django Reinhardt's theme song, followed in 1943 by appearances at Bobino and "Malgré tes serments " (1944). After the war, Lucienne Delyle, who had just given birth to future singer Marie-Pierre "Minouche" Barelli (1947-2004), enjoyed further success with "Boléro " (1948) and "C'est un gars " (1949) by Charles Aznavour, "J'ai rêvé de vous" (1950), "Ça marche" (duet with her husband, 1952), "Domino" (1953), "Les Orgueilleux" and "Gelsomina " (1955), then "Java " (1956), awarded the Grand Prix de l'Académie du disque. Now with a short, blond couple and a nose job, Lucienne Delyle re-opened the Paris Olympia in 1954 with a young up-and-comer named Gilbert Bécaud, before returning to Bobino three times (1954, 1957 and 1961). Stricken with leukemia, she married Aimé Barelli in 1960 and covered Léo Marjane's "Seule ce soir". Often compared or even confused with Lucienne Boyer for style and voice, Lucienne Delyle died in Monte-Carlo, in the Principality of Monaco, on April 10, 1962 at the age of 48, and was laid to rest in Nice.

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