Vanessa Paradis

Vanessa Paradis
Background information
Birth name	Vanessa Chantal Paradis
Born	22 December 1972 (1972-12-22) (age 38)
Origin	Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, Val-de-Marne, France
Genres	Rock, pop
Occupations	Vocalist, actress, model
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1981—present
Labels	Barclay Records (from 2000) Polydor (from 1987 to 2000)
Website	www.vanessaparadis.fr

Vanessa Chantal Paradis (born 22 December 1972) is a French singer, model and actress. She became a child star at 14 with the huge worldwide success of her single "Joe le taxi". Since then, she has accomplished a career in music, movies and modelling.

Childhood

Vanessa Paradis was born on 22 December 1972 at Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, near Paris. She has a younger sister, Alysson, born 29 May 1982. Alysson Paradis is now an actress and theater actress.

Vanessa Paradis spent her childhood in Villiers-sur-Marne with her parents, André and Corinne Paradis.

Vanessa Paradis was attracted to cinema early on. Her admiration for Marilyn Monroe led her to take dance and piano lessons.

She spent a lot of time with her uncle, Didier Pain, and his musician friends.

Career

1981–1986

Her first TV appearance was on the show L'École des fans in 1981. She recorded her first single, "La Magie des surprises-parties", in 1983 and performed it in an Italian festival in 1985 but lost the first prize.

1987–1991

Although "La Magie des surprises-parties" was not a hit, it paved the way for the song with which she would become internationally famous, "Joe le taxi", in 1987, while she was still only 14 years old.^[1] It was #1 in France for 11 weeks^[2] and, unusually for a song sung in French, was released in the United Kingdom the following year (25 January), where it reached #3. It was taken from her first album M&J (it stands for Marilyn & John) which, although it gained a number 13 placing in France, drew little attention in the UK and did not chart. In March 1989, aged 16, she decided to drop out of high school in order to pursue her career.

She then released Variations sur le même t'aime in 1990, containing a remake of the Lou Reed song "Walk on the Wild Side". The album was written by acclaimed French composer Serge Gainsbourg, whom she met when she received the best singer award at Les Victoires de la Musique, on February, 4th 1990.

In 1990, Paradis won the 1990 César Award for Most Promising Actress for her role in Noce Blanche.

In 1991, Paradis promoted a fragrance for Chanel, titled Coco. In the advertisement, she was dressed in all black and feathers, portraying a bird swinging in a cage. The advert was shot by Jean-Paul Goude. Paradis spoke of her continued admiration of Chanel in 2010 saying, "The more I know them, the more I love Chanel."^[3]

1992–1993

In 1992, she moved to the United States, to work with rock musician Lenny Kravitz. Paradis started working on a new album in English, a language in which she was now fluent. Written and produced by Kravitz, the album, titled Vanessa Paradis, topped the French chart and briefly made the UK listings (number 45). One of the singles from it was "Be My Baby", which made number 5 in France and gave her another Top 10 UK hit (number 6).

In March 1993, Paradis started her first international tour, the "Natural High Tour"; she performed in France, England and Canada. The tour was canceled before she could perform in Japan and in the United States, for health reasons.

1993–2010

In February 1994, Live was released in France.

In April 1994, Paradis filmed Élisa, under the direction of Jean Becker."Elisa" was a big success in France, and was released internationally.

In 1996, Paradis played in Un amour de sorciere with Jeanne Moreau and Jean Reno, before filming 1 chance sur 2, with Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo.

In March 1999, La fille sur le Pont, by Patrice Leconte was released. This movie was shot and released in black and white.

In 2004, she promoted Chanel's new handbags called Ligne Cambon. In 2005 she modeled for Chanel again for The New Mademoiselle handbag. In 2008 she modeled for Miu Miu.

On the musical side, she is included in the French children's album and concert Le Soldat Rose in 2006. Paradis released a new album (Divinidylle) in 2007 which was released in the UK on December 11 (September in France). There are three versions (regular, limited edition, and the Christmas edition). She started the Divinidylle tour in October. Some concerts were filmed and a DVD/CD of the tour was released. Her latest film DVD release is La Clef. Also, Vanessa won two 'Les Victoires de la Musique' awards for this album in February 2008. Some of her later projects include a greatest hits CD (Best of Vanessa Paradis) which includes the commercial jingle "I love Paris in the Springtime"; she will also star in the animated film Un monstre à Paris, due to be released in 2010.

Her latest film in theatres is the romantic comedy Heartbreaker alongside Romain Duris and Andrew Lincoln, which grossed over €30 million in France and has also been performed strongly with critics. It was released in the UK in July 2010.^[4][5]

The Young Victoria director, Jean-Marc Vallée recently cast Paradis in a starring role in his new film, Café de flore. Paradis will play a mother in the 1960s with a down syndrome child.^[6] The title is slated for release in 2011.

She is set to release an acoustic album in November entitled Vanessa Paradis - Concert acoustique à l'Opera Royal de Versailles. The album was recorded at L'Opéra of the Palace of Versailles during her Vanessa Paradis Concert Acoustique Tour.^[7]

Family

Vanessa Paradis has been in a relationship with American actor Johnny Depp since 1998. They have a daughter, Lily-Rose Melody Depp (born 27 May 1999 ), and a son, John Christopher "Jack" Depp III (born 9 April 2002^[8]).

They divide their time among houses in the Hollywood Hills and their farm in Plan-de-la-Tour, South of France, a house in the village of Timsbury, Somerset, and also own apartments in Paris, Manhattan and an island in the Bahamas. Paradis' 2000 album Bliss, another French chart topper, was dedicated to Depp and their daughter.

Paradis has a sister, actress Alysson Paradis, who is younger by 10 years and has starred in many French horror films. The actor and film producer, Didier Pain, is their uncle.

Discography

• M&J (1988)
• Variations sur le même t'aime (1990)
• Vanessa Paradis (1992)
• Live (1994)
• Bliss (2000)
• Au Zénith (2001)
• Divinidylle (2007)
• Divinidylle Tour (2008)
• Best of Vanessa Paradis (2009)
• Vanessa Paradis - Concert acoustique à l'Opera Royal de Versailles (2010)^[9]

Filmography

Awards and nominations

• 1990 : César Award of "Most Promising Actress" for Noce Blanche.
• 1990 : Victoire De La Musique: "Female Performer of the Year".
• 1990 : Prix Romy Schneider
• 1991 : Victoire De La Musique: "Video of the Year" for Tandem, directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino.
• 1999 : Nomination to César Awards for "Best Actress" for La fille sur le pont.
• 2001 : Nomination to NRJ Music Awards of "Francophone Female Artist of the Year".
• 2001 : Nomination to NRJ Music Awards of "Francophone Album of the Year" for Bliss.
• 2007 : Named "Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres".
• 2008 : Nomination to NRJ Music Awards of "French Album of the Year" for Divinidylle.
• 2008 : Nomination to Trophy Women's Gold in the category "Shows".
• 2008 : Victoire De La Musique: "Female Performer of the Year".
• 2008 : Victoire De La Musique: "Pop Album of the Year" for Divinidylle.
• 2009 : Victoire De La Musique: "Best Music DVD of the Year" for Divinidylle Tour

References

External links and audio sample

• Official website
• Vanessa Paradis at Allmusic
• Vanessa Paradis at the Internet Movie Database
• Vanessa Paradis in Translation: #1 English Fansite