| Robert | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Myriam Roulet |
| Born | 14 October 1964 |
| Genres | Electronic, pop, baroque |
| Occupations | Singer, songwriter, composer |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Labels | DEA Trema Naïve Sony Columbia Records |
| Website | http://www.robertlesite.net/ |
Robert, or RoBERT (born Myriam Roulet in Paris on 14 October 1964), is a French singer, composer and lyricist.
An independent artist and songwriter, Robert's musical style is described as fairy-like, halfway between the tragic and the gothic, sometimes with a pinch of nonsense. Themes of death, childhood, and love regularly appear in her songs, marked by her crystalline, often fragile opera voice and the baroque (and sometimes electronic) music. Often compared to Mylène Farmer, Barbara or Marie Laforêt, she has found artistic success in France and Belgium, but also in Japan, in spite of a certain media absence. Robert's live shows are often full of hypnotic, giddy, often joyful or even dramatic performances.
Contents |
Before becoming a singer, Robert pursued a career as a classical ballet dancer as a student in the Opéra National de Paris, until bone decalcification forced her to abandon her dream when she was a teenager. After a career in acting, she began to dedicate herself to music in 1989. Since then, she has collaborated in most cases with her husband Mathieu Saladin, musician and often co-compositor.
In November 1990, Robert released her first single, "Elle se promène", produced for the most part by Neal Aston in London. The popular song aired frequently on French radio and even became a dance hit in Japan. The single, along with the cold atmosphere of its music video directed by John Lvoff, attracted the interest of Mylène Farmer, who invited the young artist to two radio shows. Robert subsequently appeared with Mylène Farmer and performed in one of the shows presented by Nagui.
Three years later, in 1993, she released her debut album Sine, which featured 16 songs and has an underground electronic sound. The song was sung in French, English and German, as covers to her featured song, Kraftwerk's "Das Modell". Robert's style was highly influenced by children's tales, a fact which is underlined by her minimalistic lyrics and the three videos made from Sine.
The same year, she accompanied Jean-François Coen on his "La Tour de Pise". The video for this song was directed by Michel Gondry, who had helmed a futuristic videoclip of Robert's "Les jupes" some months earlier. She also provided background vocals to certain tracks of Cohen's self-titled album and accompanied him in a live performance on French TV show Taratata.
In 1997, Robert released her second album, Princesse de rien, consisting of twelve songs. The album reflected a complete change in her musical style, using ancient baroque instruments mixed with electronic loops and modern choreographies. In the same year, she met a fervent admirer: the Belgian writer Amélie Nothomb. Nothomb went on to write "L'appel de la succube", interpreted by the singer on the second edition of Princesse de rien released in 2000. Around the same period, Robert gave her first concert in Paris in the Café de la Danse.
In September 2002, Robert released her third album, Celle qui tue, featuring 13 + 1 songs. The album stylistically featured more electronic songs and projected Robert's image transitioning from a princess-like style into a witch/siren image style. Amélie Nothomb wrote the lyrics for six of the songs in the album and published The Book of Proper Names, a romanticized account of Robert's biography.
Unutma (N'oublie pas) was compiled in 2004 from three of Robert's previous albums and included alternative versions of older songs as well as some new songs, notably the title track "Unutma" sung in Turkish. A track from this album, "Le Prince bleu", caught the attention of American actress Majandra Delfino, whom Robert visited in California in 2003 to record a new version of the song. This duet gave rise to a computer animated video, which received several awards worldwide. A remix of Robert's song "Nickel" was created by Romain Tranchart in 2003.
In 2005, she released her first live DVD from her 2004 performance in La Cigale.
In November 2005, Robert recorded her fourth album, Six pieds sous terre, featuring more acoustic instrumentation (harpsichord, clarinet, harp, violins, flute) and more dramatic, fairy-like atmosphere than her previous works. The album included eleven songs written by Robert, as well as a cover of Marie Laforêt's "Prière pour aller au paradis", and a duet with actor Sacha Bourdo, "Histoire du loup". French feature film director Gabriel Aghion directed his first ever music video for the album's first single, "Personne".
On 5 February 2006, Robert performed in Paris's legendary Olympia music hall, for the first time in sixteen years. Two new songs were added to the album's 2007 re-edition, including "Cold Earth", an adaptation of Henry Purcell's "Cold Song" which was popularised in 1982 by Klaus Nomi.
In November 2006, Robert signed with a new distributor, Rue Stendhal. Following the deal, all her albums were re-released in January 2007 and became available again after being out of stock for many years. Additionally in the beginning of 2007, she released Princess of Nowhere, a collection of some of her old songs plus two new re-orchestrated ones, "Mike" and "Fatal", all adapted and sung in English. A DVD of her recital Haute Couture at the Espace Pierre Cardin in Paris on 16 and 17 March was released in October 2007.
A year later, in late 2008, she recorded her new studio album under the title Sourde et aveugle, collaborating once again with her husband Mathieu Saladin and singing a duet with Austyn, a young French blues musician. Acoustic guitars blended with her feminine often chidlike ethereal voice marked the new sound of the album.
In 2009, Givenchy chose Robert to perform the soundtrack to the TV commercial for their latest perfume, Ange ou Démon le secret. The ad, directed by Mira Nair, lensed by Declan Quinn and starring Uma Thurman, aired worldwide from September 2009. The song also sountracked a video by Michelle Phan.
| Year | Title | Director(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Elle se promène | John Lvoff |
| 1992 | Les Jupes | Michel Gondry |
| 1993 | Les Clichés de l'ennui | Jean Bocheux |
| 2000 | Princesse de rien | Mathieu Saladin & Robert |
| 2001 | Nickel | Philippe Gautier |
| Colchique mon amour (two versions) | Rinri Mizuno | |
| 2002 | À la guerre comme à la guerre | ? |
| 2004 | Le Prince bleu (duet with Majandra Delfino) | Sébastien Rossignol |
| Nickel (remixed by Romain Tranchart) | Philippe Gautier | |
| 2005 | Personne | Gabriel Aghion |
| 2006 | Histoire de loup (duet with Sacha Bourdo) | Sylvain Gatelais |
| 2008 | Tout est calme | Any May |
| Le Jardin des roses (duet with Austyn) | Sylvain Gatelais | |
| 2009 | Ange & Démon | Gerlando Infuso |