Mick Micheyl

Performer of the classic "Un gamin de Paris", singer Mick Micheyl went on to make a name for herself as a sculptor. Born Paulette Michey in Lyon on February 8, 1922, she studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and established herself as a painter and decorator, until she met Roger Forissier, who encouraged her to take up theater and song. She composed her first songs, and in 1949 won the ABC competition with one of them, "Le Marchand de poésie", which launched her musical career. From then on, Mick Micheyl performed in Parisian cabarets, notably at L'Échelle de Jacob, and wrote "Ma maman" for Lisette Jambel, which she later recorded. In 1951, the singer scored her biggest hit with "Un gamin de Paris", a song covered by Yves Montand, Patachou and Mouloudji, among others, and taken all the way to the USA, where it was adapted by Robert Clary. During the 1950s, she toured the Parisian stages, from the Alhambra to Bobino, where she returned several times to perform her other popular songs, including "Ni toi, ni moi", which won the Grand Prix de l'Académie Charles-Cros in 1953. After becoming a revue leader at the Casino de Paris, Mick Micheyl and Henri Varna created the show Avec Frénésies (1962), for which she composed all the songs. The singer turned to television as a producer, then in 1974 as a steel sculptor. This new activity brought her just as much notoriety, and several of her works were acquired by museums and public institutions, giving rise to exhibitions throughout the following decades. Returning to television in La Chance aux chansons, she launched the career of impersonator and humorist Laurent Gerra in 1991. Named Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 1999, Mick Micheyl died in a retirement home on May 16, 2019, at the age of 97.

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