| Nolwenn Leroy | |
|---|---|
Leroy performing in Paris on Bastille Day 2011 |
|
| Background information | |
| Born | 28 September 1982 |
| Origin | Saint-Renan, France |
| Genres | Pop, world |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 2000 – present |
| Labels | Universal International Mercury France |
| Website | Official Website |
Nolwenn Leroy, (born 28 September 1982 in Saint-Renan, Finistère, Brittany), is a French singer and songwriter, discovered by the French television reality show Star Academy. She is best known for her two Number One singles "Cassé" and "Nolwenn Ohwo!".[1]
Contents |
Leroy's parents left Saint-Renan, with her, when she was four years old. After living in Paris, Lille, and Guingamp, her mother Murielle Leroy and her younger sister settled with Leroy's grandparents in Saint-Yorre. Her mother had been divorced from her father, professional footballer Jean-Luc Le Magueresse, in 1992.
She studied at the "Collège des Célestins" in Vichy. When Leroy was eleven, her music teacher noticed her musical talents and encouraged her to learn the violin. At the age of thirteen she won "Les écoles du désert", a contest sponsored by the Cora supermarket chain, consequently travelling with a humanitarian mission from Gao to Timbuktu, Mali; she later claimed this had a profound influence on her.
In July 1998, she was awarded a scholarship by the Vichy Rotary Club to travel to Cincinnati, Ohio, as an exchange student. While there, she also attended the performing arts Hamilton High School. Returning to France, and speaking fluent English, she began classical singing classes at the Vichy music conservatory. From 2001 she studied law at the University of Clermont-Ferrand, for a potential alternative career to music.
Having watched the first series of Star Academy in 2001, Leroy was impressed by Armande Altaï, one of the show's judges, and decided to try to join Altaï's singing classes. In 2002, after applying, and being selected, for the second season of the show, the French public voted and made her the overall winner, ahead of her fellow finalist, Houcine.
Leroy's first album, Nolwenn, was released in March 2003 and sold more than 400,000 copies by November that year. In 2006, Universal Music claimed that more than 700,000 copies had been sold, but no official certification of this has been made by the Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique. Four songs from the album, "Cassé", "Une Femme cachée", "Suivre une étoile" and "Inévitablement" were released as singles. From December 2003, songs from the album were performed on Leroy's tours of France, Belgium and Switzerland.
Leroy's second album, Histoires Naturelles, was produced by Laurent Voulzy. Five singles were released from the album. "Nolwenn Ohwo!", written by Alain Souchon and Voulzy, topped the French music charts.[2] The second single was the title track, "Histoire Naturelle". Music videos were made for both songs; the video for "Histoire Naturelle" expressed the main theme of the album with Leroy being portrayed as natural history museum exhibits. Of the other single releases, "Mon Ange" was distributed digitally while "J'aimais tant l'aimer" and "Reste Encore" were promotional-only. Songs from Histoires Naturelles and Nolwenn were performed on Leroy's second tour entitled "Histoires Naturelles Tour", which started in September 2006. Leroy's first live album was subsequently released in late October 2007.
Le Cheshire Cat & Moi was a project that began in 2007, co-written by Leroy and Teitur Lassen, with contributions from Jonatha Brooke, Michelle Featherstone, Mike Errico and Rupert Hine. It was arranged and produced by Lassen, and recorded in Sweden and the Faroe Islands. It had a more acoustic feel than Histoires Naturelles, and gave the opportunity for Leroy to compose music for the first time. The album was released in December 2009. A tour entitled "Le Cheshire Cat & Vous" to promote the record was held in 2010.
Leroy released a fourth studio album, Bretonne, on 6 December 2010. Cover versions of traditional celtic songs such as "Mná na h-Éireann", and contemporary songs such as Christophe Miossec's "Brest" were included on the album. Most of the songs related to Brittany, the singer's birthplace, four sung in Breton. Leroy collaborated with Jon Kelly for the musical arrangements.[3] The album topped the French album charts for 7 weeks.
Leroy's music was studied for its neurological impact in geriatric populations.[4][5][6] Researchers found that Leroy's recordings might have a more beneficial effect than other music, noting that: "the music of Nolwenn Leroy was found to be significantly superior to other music tested". To describe the phenomenon they coined the term the Nolwenn Effect, saying: "the music of Nolwenn Leroy appears to have a different effect on brain-based modulation of gait and stance than other music tested to date".
Mozart and Dutch and French singers were tested; only Mozart and Leroy's music were specified. The U.S. study was completed in February 2008, but no substantial results appear to be published.[7]
| Year | Title | Chart positions[8][9] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FR | BEL | SWI | ||
| 2003 | Nolwenn | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2005 | Histoires Naturelles | 3 | 7 | 44 |
| 2009 | Le Cheshire Cat et Moi | 26 | 32 | - |
| 2010 | Bretonne | 1 | 1 | 20 |
| Year | Title | Chart positions[1][10] | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FR | BEL | SWI | |||
| 2003 | "Cassé" | 1 | 1 | 4 | Nolwenn |
| "Une Femme Cachée" | 40 | 23 | 78 | ||
| "Suivre Une Etoile" | 12 | 24 | 44 | ||
| 2004 | "Inévitablement" | 31 | 26 | - | |
| 2006 | "Nolwenn Ohwo!" | 1 | 3 | 29 | Histoires Naturelles |
| "Histoire Naturelle" | 30 | 39 | - | ||
| "Mon Ange" | 14* | 6* | - | ||
| 2007 | "J'aimais Tant L'Aimer" | - | - | - | |
| "Reste Encore" | - | - | - | ||
| 2009 | "Faut-il, Faut-il Pas ?" | - | 6* | - | Le Cheshire Cat et Moi |
| 2010 | "Suite Sudarmoricaine" | - | 26* | - | Bretonne |
| "La Jument de Michao" | 36 | 13 | - | ||
| "Tri Martolod" | 51 | 29 | - | ||
| "Brest" | - | - | - | ||
| 2011 | "Moonlight Shadow" | 48 | - | - | Bretonne (Deluxe Edition) |
* French Download Charts[11] and Belgium Ultratip[12]
- Shows that the single did not chart or was not released as it was a promotional single
| Preceded by Jenifer Bartoli |
Winner of Star Academy France 2002 |
Succeeded by Élodie Frégé |
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||