Brigitte Fontaine

A free electron of French chanson, Brigitte Fontaine (born in Morlaix, Finistère, on 24 June 1939) has deliberately strayed from the well-trodden paths of success, and over the last half-century has established herself as a scathing musical icon. Between rebellious songs, poetry, rock, avant-garde jazz and spoken-sung delirium, she has carved out her own unique path in a series of daring albums, accompanied by Jacques Higelin in the early days and her partner Areski forever, from the premonitory Brigitte Fontaine Est... Folle! (1968), followed by the experimental Comme à La Radio (1969), with support from the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Driven by a constant attention to words, a keen sense of invention and new encounters, she has been able to adapt to the times, if not anticipate them with Je Ne Connais Pas Cet Homme (1973) or L'Incendie (1974), then French Corazon (1988, re-released as Le Nougât in 1999), after a hiatus in the 1980s. Since his return to the forefront with the album Genre Humain, produced by Étienne Daho in 1995, and the success of Kékéland in 2001, the immovable artist has continued to push back the boundaries of his universe, with his flayed voice, through funny and grating albums: Prohibition in 2009, L'Un N'Empêche Pas l'Autre in 2011 and J'ai l'Honneur d'Être in 2013 proved to be as alert as they were impertinent. Seven years later, the itching powder of French chanson is still at work on the album Terre Neuve (2020). In 2024, she teamed up with Toulouse duo The Limiñanas, on instrumentation and production, for the album Pick Up.