Sylvie Vartan

Known for ActingBorn 1944-08-15 (age 81)Iskretz, Bulgaria

Sylvie Vartan (born Sylvie Georges Vartanian on 15 August 1944) is a Bulgarian-Armenian-French singer and actress. She is known as one of the most productive and tough-sounding yé-yé artists. Her performances often featured elaborate show-dance choreography,[and she made many appearances on French and Italian TV. Yearly shows with then-husband Johnny Hallyday attracted full houses at the Olympia and the Palais des congrès de Paris throughout the 1960s and mid-1970s. In 2004, after a break in performances, she began recording and giving concerts of jazz ballads in francophone countries. Sylvie Vartan was born in Iskrets, Sofia Province, in the then Kingdom of Bulgaria. Her father, Georges Vartanian (1912–1970), was born in France to a Bulgarian mother named Slavka and an Armenian father. He worked as an attaché at the French embassy in Sofia. The family shortened the name Vartanian to Vartan. Her mother, Ilona (née Mayer 1914–2007), daughter of prominent architect Rudolf Mayer, was of Hungarian-Jewish descent. When the Soviet Army invaded Bulgaria in September 1944, the Vartanian family house was nationalised and they moved to Sofia. In 1952, a friend of Sylvie's father, film director Dako Dakovski, offered her the role of a schoolgirl in the movie Pod igoto, a film about Bulgarian rebels against the Ottoman occupation. Participating in the film made her dream of becoming an entertainer come true. The hardships of postwar Bulgaria made the family emigrate to Paris in December 1952. At first they stayed in the Lion d'Argent hotel near Les Halles, where Georges found a job, then for the next four years they stayed in a single room at the Angleterre Hotel. Young Sylvie had to work hard to keep up at school and blend in with her schoolmates. She spent two years learning French. In 1960, her family moved to an apartment in Michel Bizot Avenue. Thanks to the influence of her music producer brother Eddie, music became teenage Sylvie's main interest. Her most influential genres were jazz and, out of spite toward her strict high school, rock 'n' roll. Her favourite artists included Brenda Lee, Bill Haley, and Elvis Presley. In 1961, Eddie offered Sylvie the chance to record the song "Panne d'essence" with French rocker Frankie Jordan. The Decca Records EP was a surprise hit. Although she was not credited on the sleeve, "Panne d'essence" provided Vartan her first appearance on French television. The journalists gave her the nickname la collégienne du twist. After the "twisting schoolgirl" had finished the Victor Hugo High School, she was free to sign a contract with Decca Records to start recording her own EP; carrying the title song "Quand le film est triste", a cover of Sue Thompson's "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)", the EP was on sale by the beginning of December 1961. ... Source: Article "Sylvie Vartan" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.Read more

Movies & web series

Johnny Hallyday : Tour 66 - Stade de France

J'ai tout donné

The Big Show

Bio’s Bahnhof

Midi Première

The Apartment

Johnny Hallyday : Parc des Princes 93

The Secret Song

Roger Kasparian, l'oeil des 60's

Sunset People

Sheila, toutes ces vies-là

Le Grand Échiquier

À bout portant

Dim Dam Dom

Discorama

La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président

Hallyday par David

Numéro un

Once Upon My Mother

La Boîte à secrets

Fan School

Il était une fois Champs-Élysées

L'Âge d'or de la pub

Champs-Elysées

C à vous

Malpertuis

Stars 90

Rare and Unseen: The Beatles

Cherchez l'idole

30 millions d'amis

Klimbim

Les Rendez-vous du dimanche

Midi trente

Samedi soir

Star Academy

Miss France

Quotidien

Where Are You From, Johnny?

Sacrée soirée

Un clair de Lune à Maubeuge

It Happened in Saint-Tropez

The Mike Douglas Show

The Black Angel

25 ans de Laurent Gerra à la radio

On n'est pas couché

Friends of the family

Just for Fun

The Ponies