Famous French singer France Gall has died. She was 70 years old.
She started off her long music career as a popular teen singer in the early 1960's. However, she is forever immortalized for winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965 with the Serge Gainsbourg penned song "Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son". Everything about her involvement in the contest came under attack: she and Gainsbourg were representing Luxembourg instead of their native France, the song was deemed too weird and inappropriate for the event by conservative critics, and her live performance was mocked for being off-key. Nevertheless, the song ultimately won and helped modernize Eurovision, ushering in a huge wind of change to the look and feel of the contest and led to more contemporary music stylings instead of the rote crooning that dominated in previous editions.
She continued her daring musical misadventures with Gainsbourg in tow, highlighted further with the very controversial song "Les Sucettes", until her twenties when she began to struggle with her career. She eventually found her footing again in the late 70's, coupled with her marriage to composer Michel Berger and extensive humanitarian work, and had a big hit in 1987 with her album Babacar.
When I delved head first into all things Eurovision last year, I tended to stay away from the early years of the contest due to its often stale musical offerings. But then I came into contact with "Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son", which has become one of my favorite Eurovision songs due to its vibrant music, subversive wordplay, and of course Gall's adorable voice.
She will be missed.
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