Line Renaud
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Line Renaud is a popular French singer, actress and activist (born Jacqueline Ente, on July 2 1928 in Nieppe).
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[edit] Early life
Line Renaud was born in Pont-de-Nieppe on July 2, 1928. Her mother Simone was a shorthand typist and father, a truck driver during the week, who played trumpet on the weekends in a local brass band. She showed the first signs of her talent in the primary school, when at the age of 7 she won an amateur competition.
During the Second World War, Jacqueline’s father was mobilised, spending five years away from the family. During this time, Jacqueline was brought up by her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Her grandmother had a cafe in Armentières, where she used to sing for the passing soldiers.
[edit] Early career and meeting Loulou Gasté
She auditioned at Conservatoire de Lille, singing songs written by Loulou Gasté “Sainte-Madeleine” and “Mon âme au diable”. Louis Gasté was at that time a well known French composer. At the end of the audition, she was approached by then director of the Radio Lille who was looking for a singer. She took pseudonym Jacqueline Ray and joined the station singing a repertoire based on the songs by Loulou Gasté. In 1945, she moved to Paris and got her first gig in Folies Belleville, where she was introduced to Gasté. She was 16, Gasté was 37. He become her mentor, changing her image and her name.
[edit] Music career
Line Renaud made her national debut on Radio Luxembourg, singing on a Sunday morning program. After signing a contract with Pathe Marconi, she recorded “Ma Cabane au Canada”, written by Loulou Gasté, which won le Grand Prix du Disque. She also sang with Yves Montand au Theatre de l’Etoile. She did a big tour of Europe and Africa, came back to Paris to star at the ABC and recorded numerous adaptations of the American songs such as "Ma petite folie", "Etoile des neiges" and "Le chien dans la vitrine".
In 1954, whilst performing at Moulin Rouge she met Bob Hope and consequently appeared in 5 episodes of The Bob Hope Show in the US. During this trip, she also sang in Waldorf Astoria (New York) and Cocoanut Grove (Los Angeles), appeared on Johnny Carson, Dinah Shore and Ed Sullivan shows and recorded with Dean Martin the song ‘Relax ay voo’.
In 1959, she started a four year run of ‘Plaisir de Paris’ for Henri Varna and then went on to perform in a Las Vegas show at Dunes from 1963 to 1965. In 1968, she returned to Las Vegas for a number of performances. In France, in 1973 she created an American show which she toured for two years around the country. She then helped Casino de Paris, threatened by closing, by putting on a show called ‘Paris – Line’ with Loulou Gasté, which ran for four years.
In 1980’s, she starred in a TV show ‘Telle est Line’ for Antenne 2 and recorded songs in English and French. At Casino de Paris, she put on a one off show which retraced her forty year career. In 1989, she toured around Japan as part of a festival which marked the bicentennial of French Revolution.
[edit] Film (selected)
- 1951 - Lis sont dans les vignes (Robert Vernay)
- 1952 - Paris chante toujours (Pierre Montazel; music by Loulou Gasté)
- 1953 - La route du bonheur (Maurice Labro)
- 1955 - La Madelon (she won Prix du Prestige de la France)
- 1956 - Mademoiselle et son gang (Jean Boyer; music written by Loulou Gasté)
- 1958 - L'Increvable and Mademoiselle et son flirt (Jean Boyer)
- 1988 - Marriage of Figaro (Roger Coggio)
- 1990 - Ripoux contre Ripoux (Claude Zidi)
- 1994 - J’ai pas sommeil (Claire Denis)
- 1995 - Sixieme classique (Bernard Stora)
- 1995 - Ma femme me quitte (Didier Kaminka)
- 1998 - Louise et les marchés (Marc Rivière)
- 1999 - Belle Maman (Gabriel Aghion)
- 2001 - Chaos (Coline Serreau)
- 2003 - 18 ans après (Coline Serreau)
- 2004 - Le Miroir de l'eau (Edwin Baily)
- 2004 - Menteur ! Menteuse ! (Henry Helman)
- 2005 - Le Courage d'aimer (Claude Lelouch)
- 2005 - Les Sœurs Robin
- 2005 - Les Rois maudits (Josée Dayan)
- 2006 - La Maison du bonheur (Dany Boon)
- 2008 - Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (Dany Boon)
- 2008 - Le Silence de l'Epervier (Dominique Ladoge)
[edit] Theatre
- 1981 - Folle Amanda (Pierre Barillet and Jean-Pierre Grédy)
- 1986 - The Incomparable Loulou (Charles Nelson-Reilly) English version of Folle Amanda, played in the US
- 1991 - Pleins Feux (Didier Kaminka)
- 1995 - La visite de la vieille dame (Friedrich Dürrenmatt)
- 2002 - Poste restante (Noël Coward)
- 2007 - Fugueuses (Pierre Palmade, Christophe Duthuron)
[edit] Personal life
In 1950, she married Loulou Gasté and stayed with him until his death in 1995.
[edit] Social activism
In 1985, she created l'Association des Artistes Contre le Sida and organised televised art events which enabled her to raise funds for helping AIDS scientific research in France.
In 2009, as Vice-President of Sidaction, she declared herself to be shocked by statements of Pope Benedict XVI on the futility of condoms in AIDS prevention. [1]
