The Singing Nun

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The Singing Nun was Jeanine Deckers (born Jeanne-Paule Marie Deckers; October 17, 1933 – March 29, 1985), a member (as Sister Luc Gabriel) of the Dominican Fichermont Convent in Belgium.

Popular in the convent for her music, she was encouraged by the other nuns to record an album in 1963. One song from that album, Dominique, soared to the top of the charts in the United States. Overnight, the Dominican nun was an international celebrity with the stage name of Soeur Sourire (Sister Smile). She gave concerts and appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.

In 1966, a movie called The Singing Nun was made about her, starring Debbie Reynolds in the title role — Deckers rejected the film as "fictional".

As the 1960s progressed, Deckers stopped performing in favor of a more rigorous devotional life. In 1967, she left to pursue her musical career, though most of her earnings went to the convent. Despite her renewed musical emphasis, Deckers gradually faded into obscurity, possibly because of her own disdain for fame: her second album, released in 1967, was titled I Am Not a Star.

Although she was deeply religious, she was also increasingly critical of the Roman Catholic Church's conservatism and eventually became an advocate of birth control. She also agreed with John Lennon's statements about Jesus in 1966. In 1967, she recorded a song entitled Glory Be to God for the Golden Pill — a paean to contraception — under the name Luc Dominique. It was as big a flop as Dominique had been a success.

Her musical career over, Deckers opened a school for autistic children in Belgium with her companion of ten years, Annie Pécher. In the early 1980s, the Belgian government claimed that she owed back taxes; she countered that the money was given to the convent and therefore exempt from taxes. Lacking any receipt to prove her donations to the convent and her religious order, Deckers ran into the heaviest of financial problems. One last attempt to resume her singing career failed in 1982. She and Pécher both died by an overdose of barbiturates and alcohol, and were buried together.

In 1996, "The Tragic & Horrible Life of the Singing Nun" premiered Off-Broadway at The Grove Street Playhouse. The play, which was written & directed by Blair Fell, was loosely based on the events in Jeanine Deckers life. The production, which featured several musical numbers, followed the renamed character Jeanine Fou's life from her entry into the convent until her death with Annie. The play's critical success [1] led the Catholic League to speak out publicly against the production. [2] In 2006, a revival of "The Tragic & Horrible Life of the Singing Nun" was staged during the New York Musical Theater Festival and was produced by George DeMarco and David Gerard both of whom produced the original 1996 production at the Grove Street Playhouse. The new production featured additional original music by Andy Monroe and was directed by Michael Schiralli.