It is this Sunday January 27, 2023, at 6:40 p.m. on France 2, that singer Michèle Torr kicks off the celebration of her 60-year career alongside Laurent Ruquier in Children of TV. For Leisure TV, she looks back on her beginnings in Avignon, the 60s with Sylvie Vartan (who tackled a big movie star), Johnny Hallyday (whose house in Marnes-la-Coquette is up for sale), or Sheila (who talked about her career in a documentary on France 3)… But also about her relationship with Christophe, who didn’t write her any songs, or about her hit years in the 70s and 80s… Interview.
Télé-Loisirs: 60 years of career, what does that mean to you?
Michele Torr: It’s quite moving, since it’s my childhood dream that has come true. I couldn’t imagine my life other than in songs. And I had this chance. When I look back, I don’t regret anything, I would do everything the same.
What little girl were you?
I loved finding myself alone at night in my bed to dream of a life as a singer, of the stage, of meeting great artists like Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Charles Aznavour, Gilbert Bécaud… All these artists that I admired and who made me want to do this job. I said I was a singer, I had no doubts! (she laughs) Doubts came later…
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“I was able to sing my song in the first part of Jacques Brel! I was upset”
And in 1962, you won a singing contest in front of a certain Mireille Mathieu !
Yes, it was an important competition for the region, it took place in the districts of Avignon and I sang Exodus, a cover of Edith Piaf. I remember the grand finale on the Place du Palais des Papes. I won that year but Mireille won it two years later…
Do you remember your win?
Oh yeah ! Because I was able to sing my piece in the first part of Jacques Brel, in Avignon! There, I was no longer dreaming, I was even upset. Above all, this competition allowed me to pass an audition in Paris at Philips and to sign a contract with them very quickly.
“For me the 60s is synonymous with joy, cheerfulness”
You then returned to the profession on the same level alongside the Yé-Yé, with a first album recorded in 1963, It’s hard to be sixteen.
Yes, it’s an adaptation of the title It hurts to be sixteen, by Andrea Carroll. I was doing covers until I met Jean Albertini, who wrote me my first unreleased songs…
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What memories do you have of the 60s?
For me, the 60s are synonymous with joy and cheerfulness. It was a blessed time, easy for everyone. Everything went very quickly, with a first tour and an Olympia as a curtain raiser by Claude François who was already very perfectionist with the others and himself. He couldn’t stand the false note… He was nice to me, I was the only girl. He offered me Bordeaux! (She laughs.)
“With Christophe, we were young, we fell in love”
And you frequented the other Yé-Yé, Sylvie, Johnny, François Hardy?
We crossed paths more than we dated. We had a good relationship but we were all on tour all the time.
There was also Christophe, with whom you had a love story from 1965 to 1967! He is even the father of your son Romain…
We met on tour with Hervé Vilard. We were young, enthusiastic, a little crazy and what had to happen happened, we fell in love…
In the 70s and 80s, you chained the tubes at a crazy pace: My name is Michèle, I like, Take me dancing tonight, I appeal to tenderness, Midnight Blue…
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It’s due to my meeting with Jean Albertini. He was very talented, he was the one who wrote Aline for Christopher and kiss me for C Jerome. I was lucky to have it only for me, which made him say “I think of Torr day and night!” (She laughs.) Didier Barbelivien was also very important. I worked a lot, I did up to 250 concerts a year. I haven’t stopped for 60 years, in fact!
