Mireille Mathieu: I love the atmosphere of Christmas in Prague – News

You became famous a year after the untimely death of diva singer Édith Piaf in 1963. Did you take it until you were taking over the baton after the singer, so to speak?

First, yes. I won a singing competition in Avignon with her songs La Vie En Rose and Hymne A L’Amour. Thanks to the win, I entered the TV talent show Jeu de la Chance on Télé-Dimanche, where I played Jezebel in November 1965.

In it, viewers voted on the phone who they would like to see on the screens next week. They chose me and I sang a song by Édith Piaf again, this time Soudain une vallée. I have the same voice as her, so her songs suited me, and the audience called me the new Édith Piaf right away. But my manager Johnny Stark created his own store for me.

How will you remember your first meeting with a future manager?

We met in the TV studio right after my second appearance at Télé-Dimanche. He asked me if I would like to work with him. But he immediately said that it would be very challenging, because the music industry is difficult and you have to have a lot of control.

Despite that, I felt like I was in a fairy tale. In just five weeks, I went from a TV competition to a concert at the Olympia Hall in Paris, which took place at the end of December 1965.

Did your expectations come true then?

The manager went to Avignon to see my parents, with whom he decided to transfer me to Paris. I was nineteen years old, and in France at that time coming of age did not begin until the twenty-first birthday. That’s why my aunt went with me to the capital.

I drove out and had no idea what was ahead of me. Johnny was very simple with me and it was not easy at first. I was shy, used to singing only in front of my family or at most in church.

I had to overcome my stage fright and learn how to use the microphone and headphones correctly in the studio, and very quickly. Three months after the TV shoot, I recorded my first album.

Johnny Stark is said to have made sure you thought of nothing but singing. Did he succeed?

Yes, he really took care of everything carefully and I did nothing but sing and sing. In addition, I went to voice training and lessons in English and German, because from the beginning I sang songs in those languages ​​as well.

During your career, you met Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, you performed several times in front of the British royal family. Does any meeting hold a special place in your heart?

Certainly the meeting with Pope John Paul II, with whom we met three times for private audiences, as well as my mother and my sister, who is my manager today (Johnny Stark died in 1989 – nice note.). It was something amazing. He heard the story of our family and my fate after I left Avignon.

When you published your autobiography Oui je crois (Yes, I believe) in 1988, many saw it as your swan song. Thirty six years have passed since then and you are still active. What strikes you in your work?

I love the stage and playing in front of a live audience. I draw energy from their emotions. However, at my age it is already tiring to be constantly traveling around the world.

I sing in twelve languages ​​and it is my experience that the audience is different in each country. It’s not always easy to get to. If they don’t respond warmly to my songs, I know it’s not the audience’s fault, it’s my fault. I then feel the need to improve, to train my voice more.

You return to Prague regularly. This year, as in previous years, you will be playing with us during Advent. Why at this time?

I love Prague. In the run up to Christmas, I have been returning to it on purpose for the past ten years. This city has a special feeling during the holiday season that I have not experienced anywhere else. In Prague seven years ago, I recorded the album Mes classiques with the Prague Symphonic Ensemble. We shot a music video for one song at Prague Castle and it was fantastic.

You dedicated your life to music. You haven’t started a family or you’ve never been married. Is there anything in your past that you would like to change?

I have never regretted my decisions. Singing is my whole life. In 2019, I played in front of Pope Francis for the last time and during this time I met musicians from all over the world, America, India… other cultures.