POOR MARIE : Marie Laforet is Dead at 80 - so "PAINT IT BLACK" in French

I saw this album in a record store some 20 years ago. What an incredible-looking woman. I could see this was a compilation album of her hits. So, how bad could this be? On the cover photo alone, I would've taken a chance. As I checked out the record labels, I found to my delight some familiar names, like JAGGER-RICHARD. Hey, hey! She has a few covers here, in FRENCH. Like a true Gomez Addams, my eyes lit up. SOLD. 

IF I'M BEING HONEST, Marie Laforet could perform excellent covers...and some not so good ones. Afflicted with a case of Piaf Syndrome, she could gurgle and trill an "R" once in a while, and go way too nasal. Her version of "El Condor Pasa" is one you'd take a pass on. "Sounds of Silence" is pretty good. She definitely captures the emotions in "Paint it Black," which I won't keep you waiting to hear: 

SINCE SHE WAS BEING HONEST, Marie Laforet knew that her beauty is what was selling her as a vocalist: “I don’t have a voice, I have a timbre. I’m ashamed of doing what I do: interpreting pop songs in a superficial way.”

She was being a little hard on herself, although yes, the hardons were coming from her album covers and her movie images, not her singing. She began her career as a film actress, and like Lauren Bacall in "To Have and Have Not," sometimes there was a moment that called for her to spice up the action with a pointless song. 

As the folk song boom was on in the early 60's, some of her stuff included cover versions of re-discovered old ballads like "Katy Cruel," "House of the Rising Sun" and "Go Tell it On the Mountain." She first gained film stardom in 1960 with “Purple Noon” (“Plein Soleil”) which was later re-made as Gwyneth Paltrow's "The Talented Mr. Ripley." Soon after, she was scoring hit records, and moving along like Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel from folk to rock. One of her hits was "Il a Neige sur Yesterday," about the break-up of The Beatles.

One of my favorite TV performances of Marie is her cover version of a German hit, now called VIENS VIENS. She's doing a lip sync job, but take a look at the intensity and passion in this performance. No wonder she was so successful as an actress.

Though she sold out concerts at the Olympia in France as late as 1970, in 1972 she turned down live performing, and soon was living in Switzerland, and concentrating solely on her acting. After all, she had now matured from being an exotic vixen to being a character actress who could handle a wide variety of roles. 

Laforet made a surprise return to the music world in 1993 with "Reconnaissances," an album of her own songs. In 2000 she played Maria Callas on stage in France, and was nominated for a Moliere Award. She was still taking occasional acting roles into her 70's. She actually returned to live music performance for a nostalgic tour in September of 2005. She attributed her need to emote and become a star to a sexual assault when she was three. 

Born Maïtena Doumenach in Soulac-sur-Mer, France (Oct. 5, 1939) she was raped by a neighbor. “For decades, it was impossible to talk about it. Had I not been raped, I would never have exposed myself in that way to the public. It went against my natural shyness. I chose a career that would provide an outlet for my feelings.” Her career actually began by accident, when the shy girl had to substitute for her sister, on short notice, in a local talent contest. 

The legendary singer-actress died November 2nd. Married five times, she summed up her music and film work this way: "“My career has been made up of odds and ends, but my life has been full from beginning to end.”