Sylvie Vartan facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sylvie Vartan
Силви Вартан
Sylvie Vartan at the 2011 Cabourg Film Festival
Born	Sylvie Georges Vartanian (1944-08-15) 15 August 1944 (age 80) Iskrets, Bulgaria
Spouse(s)	Johnny Hallyday ​ ​ (m. 1965; div. 1980)​ Tony Scotti ​ (m. 1984)​
Children	2, including David Hallyday
Relatives	Eddie Vartan (brother) Michael Vartan (nephew)
Musical career
Origin	Paris, France
Genres	Yé-yé rock and roll pop disco soul jazz
Occupation(s)	Singer actress
Years active	1952–present
Labels	Decca RCA Universal

Sylvie Vartan (born Sylvie Georges Vartanian on 15 August 1944) is a famous singer and actress from Bulgaria and France. She is known as one of the most popular yé-yé artists. Yé-yé was a style of pop music that was very popular in France in the 1960s. Sylvie's shows often had exciting dance routines, and she appeared a lot on French and Italian TV.

Her yearly concerts with her husband at the time, Johnny Hallyday, always had huge audiences in Paris during the 1960s and mid-1970s. After taking a break from performing, she started recording and giving concerts of jazz songs in French-speaking countries in 2004.

Early life

Sylvie Vartan was born in Iskrets, a town in Bulgaria, in 1944. Her father, Georges Vartanian, was born in France. He worked at the French embassy in Sofia. Her family later shortened their last name from Vartanian to Vartan. Her mother, Ilona, was from a Hungarian family.

After World War II, life in Bulgaria was difficult. In 1952, a friend of Sylvie's father, a film director named Dako Dakovski, offered her a small part in a movie called Pod igoto. It was a film about Bulgarian rebels. Being in the movie made her dream of becoming an entertainer come true.

Because of the tough times, her family moved to Paris, France, in December 1952. At first, they lived in hotels, sometimes in just one room. Young Sylvie worked hard to do well in school and fit in with her new classmates. It took her two years to learn French well.

In 1960, her family moved into an apartment. Sylvie's older brother, Eddie Vartan, was a music producer. Thanks to him, music became Sylvie's main interest. She loved jazz and rock and roll. Some of her favorite singers were Brenda Lee, Bill Haley, and Elvis Presley.

Career

The Twisting Schoolgirl

Sylvie Vartan in 1962

In 1961, Sylvie's brother Eddie gave her a chance to record a song called "Panne d'essence" with French rocker Frankie Jordan. This song became a surprise hit! Even though her name wasn't on the record cover, "Panne d'essence" was Sylvie's first time appearing on French television. Journalists started calling her la collégienne du twist, which means "the twisting schoolgirl."

After finishing high school, Sylvie signed a contract with Decca Records to record her own music. Her first record, with the song "Quand le film est triste" (a cover of Sue Thompson's "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)"), came out in December 1961.

This record was another hit, and it led to her first concert at the famous Paris Olympia Hall on 12 December 1961. She quickly released another song, "Est-ce que tu le sais?", which was her version of Ray Charles' "What'd I Say". She also opened for singer Vince Taylor at the Olympia. In July, she toured France with Gilbert Bécaud. In autumn 1962, she released her version of "The Loco-Motion" and her first full album, Sylvie. Her next big hit was "Tous mes copains" in 1962. She also had her first grown-up role in a movie, playing a singer in Un clair de lune à Maubeuge.

In 1963, singer Paul Anka gave her the song "I'm Watching You", which became her first international hit in Japan and Korea. By the end of the year, she had done four TV specials and was very popular in the teen magazine Salut les Copains. Six of her 31 songs released in 1962 and 1963 became Top-20 hits in Europe.

In late 1963, Sylvie toured France with Johnny Hallyday. They also starred together in the movie D'où viens-tu, Johnny?. Later, they announced their engagement on the radio and performed for a huge crowd of 200,000 people in Paris. At the end of the year, they traveled to Nashville, Tennessee in the USA to record an album with The Jordanaires. These recordings were very successful in France.

Sylvie Vartan in March 1966

The album Sylvie à Nashville included the hits "La plus belle pour aller danser" and "Si je chante". The song "La plus belle pour aller danser" became number one in France, sold over a million copies in Japan, and was very popular in Korea and Spain. It was also her first song released in Italy. In January 1964, she performed at the Paris Olympia as one of the opening acts for The Beatles.

Sylvie's fame grew even more with a commercial for "Renown" clothing and a role in the film Patate. She also appeared on popular American TV shows like The Ed Sullivan Show and Shindig!. She went on an international concert tour, visiting Canada, South America, and Polynesia. In Tokyo, she gave 13 concerts in just 12 days!

Yé-yé Star

Sylvie Vartan in 1966

In December 1964, while Johnny Hallyday was in the military, Sylvie's brother Eddie hired two English musicians, Tommy Brown and Mick Jones. They went to New York to record and wrote her the hit song "Cette lettre-là". On 16 January 1964, Sylvie performed with The Beatles, opening their show at the Olympia. "Cette lettre-là" was the first of Sylvie Vartan's many exciting TV variety show performances.

In 1966 and 1967, she recorded more original hits. "Dis moi, que tu m'aimes" was shown on TV on 9 July 1967, with a group of male dancers. "Le jour qui vient" was aired in color on French Television 1 in January 1968. "2'35 de bonheur" and "Comme un garçon" were other number one hits in France, Italy, Belgium, Japan, and Korea.

On 11 April 1968, Sylvie was hurt in a car accident but was back on tour by August. Her show included the song "Irrésistiblement" with amazing girl-group dancing, and "Jolie Poupée," a song where she talked to a doll version of herself.

The songs from the "Jolie poupée" show were released on the Maritza album. In Italy, she released her own version of Mina's "Zum zum zum." Sylvie's version did even better on the Italian charts than the original. Sylvie continued her one-woman shows at the Paris Olympia in December 1968, which were shown in a documentary called Sylvie à L'Olympia.

For nine Saturday nights in 1969, Sylvie starred in the Doppia coppia variety shows in Italy. She sang her hits "Irrésistiblement" and "Le jour qui vient" in Italian. In March 1969, "Irresistibilmente" quickly climbed the Italian charts. It stayed in the Top Ten for 10 weeks. Another song, "Blam blam blam," which was written just for Doppia coppia, also became very popular in Italy.

After her world tour in autumn 1969, she returned to Italy for more TV appearances. Her shows were very popular in both Italy and France. She wore a different costume for each song, often including short skirts and cool boots. Cartoonists in both countries even drew characters that looked like Sylvie Vartan!

1970–Present

Sylvie Vartan in 2009

Even after a second serious car accident in 1970, Sylvie Vartan kept performing and recording a lot of music. In 1972, she starred in the film Malpertuis. She sold millions of records for RCA, making her one of their most successful artists after Elvis Presley. Some of her most famous songs from this time include "J'ai un probleme," "L'amour au Diapason," "Parle moi de ta vie," "Petit rainbow," "Bye Bye Leroy Brown," "Disco Queen," "Nicolas," and "Caro Mozart," which was an international hit in Italian. Her yearly world tours and Italian TV shows continued to feature her biggest hits from the late 1960s.

In 1976, she recorded "Qu'est-ce qui fait pleurer les blondes?", a disco-style song that was number one in France for several weeks. Her disco period reached its peak with the Dancing star TV show on TF1 in September 1977. RCA released the show as the Dancing star album. After a week of concerts in Las Vegas in 1982, she released a duet with John Denver called "Love Again." In 1985, she released a new album in the US. In 1986, she took a break from performing, returning in 1989 with "C'est Fatal."

In 1990, Sylvie gave a concert in Sofia, Bulgaria, which was her first visit to her hometown since her family moved away. She opened and closed the show with a Bulgarian song.

In 1991, she performed for three weeks in Paris and had a hit song called "Quand tu es là." In 1995, she starred in the movie "L'ange noir." In 1996, Sylvie recorded a successful album called "Toutes les femmes ont un secret," which included the song "Je n'aime encore que toi." After her brother Eddie passed away in 2001, she took another break from public performances. In 2004, she started recording and giving concerts of jazz songs in French-speaking countries and Japan. She performed for two weeks at the Palais des congrès de Paris in 2004 and 2008, and all her concerts were sold out. In 2009, she toured many countries, including Turkey, France, Japan, and the USA.

Legacy

In 2005, Sylvie Vartan was named a World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal and Child Health in Europe. This means she helps promote health for mothers and children.

Honours

• Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre national du Mérite in 1987, and Officier (Officer) in 2006.
• Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honour in 1998, and Officier (Officer) in 2009. These are very important awards in France.

Personal life

Sylvie Vartan with her first husband Johnny Hallyday in 1965

In 1962, Sylvie Vartan met pop-rock singer Johnny Hallyday at her second concert in Paris. They got married on 12 April 1965. They had a son named David Michael Benjamin Smet, who later became known as David Hallyday. Sylvie Vartan and Johnny Hallyday were seen as the "golden couple" in France, and their marriage was very famous. They divorced on 4 November 1980.

Later, Sylvie married record producer Tony Scotti. They adopted a young girl from Bulgaria named Darina.

Sylvie Vartan is also the aunt of actor Michael Vartan, who is the son of her older brother Eddie Vartan.

Discography

• Sylvie (1962)
• Twiste et chante (1963)
• Sylvie a Nashville (1964)
• A gift wrapped from Paris (1965)
• Il y a deux filles en moi (1966)
• 2'35 de bonheur (1967)
• Comme un garçon (1967)
• La Maritza (1968)
• Aime-moi (1970)
• Sympathie (1971)
• Untitled (J'ai un problème) (1973)
• Je chante pour Swanee (1974)
• Shang shang a lang (1974)
• Qu'est-ce qui fait pleurer les blondes? (1976)
• Sylvie Vartan (Ta sorcière bien-aimée) (1976)
• Georges (1977)
• Dancing Star (1977)
• Fantaisie (1978)
• I Don't Want the Night to End (1979)
• Déraisonnable (1979)
• Bienvenue solitude (1980)
• Ça va mal (1981)
• De choses et d'autres (1982)
• Danse ta vie (1983)
• Des heures de désir (1984)
• Made in USA (1985)
• Virage (1986)
• Confidanses (1989)
• Vent d'ouest (1992)
• Sessions acoustiques (1994)
• Toutes les femmes ont un secret (1996)
• Sensible (1998)
• Sylvie (2004)
• Nouvelle vague (2007)
• Toutes peines confondues (2009)
• Soleil bleu (2010)
• Sylvie in Nashville (2013)
• Une vie en musique (2015)
• Avec toi (2018)
• Merci pour le regard (2021)

Filmography

• Pod igoto (1952), based on the novel by Ivan Vazov (Under the Yoke)
• Un clair de lune à Maubeuge (1962)
• Cherchez l'idole (1963)
• D'où viens-tu, Johnny? (1964)
• Patate (1964)
• Malpertuis (1971)
• L'ange noir (1994)
• Mausolée pour une garce (2001) (TV)
• The Missionaries (2014)

See also

In Spanish: Sylvie Vartan para niños