five unforgettable songs by the artist

► “The Most Beautiful to Go Dancing” (1964)

by Charles Aznavour (lyrics) and George Garvarentz (music)

In 1964, Sylvie, launched in 1961, was already a yéyé idol like her fiancé, Johnny. After the enormous success of The Loco-motiona twist on the American Little Eva adapted for her, she needs a French hit. The Aznavour-Garvarentz shock duo concocted it for him. Falsely naive lyrics, a heady melody, Sylvie creates The Most Beautiful to go dancing during sensational concerts at the Olympia from January 16 to February 5, 1964.

At 20, she triumphed among international stars. The American Trini Lopez and her famous If I Had a Hammer opens the show. Sylvie forms the heart, followed by a striking English quartet, for the first time in France, the Beatles. The photos show her radiant in a sky blue dress among the four boys in the wind.

► “Like a boy” (1967)

by Roger Dumas (lyrics) and Jean-Jacques Debout (music)

Marlène Dietrich had refused the song, which will be rewritten for Sylvie. Playing androgyny like the “Blue Angel”, she calls on Yves Saint-Laurent (YSL) to Like a boy. The designer dresses him in a black tuxedo and a sequined jacket. This is the first stage costume in a masterful series of YSL creations for Sylvie. The singer works on her voice so that it goes deeper and records in London with thirty musicians. The little air of rebellion and transgression that blows through this hit where the boys have long hair seduces everywhere in Europe, especially in Italy, in the version Like a boy.

► «The Maritza» (1968)

by Pierre Delanoë (lyrics) and Jean Renard (music)

Born on August 15, 1944 in Iskretz in Bulgaria to an Armenian father and a mother of Hungarian origin, Sylvie Vartan arrived in France in 1952 with her family to flee communism. A title that tells its story, like Amsterdam, talks about Brel. The Maritza, named after a Bulgarian river, seduced by its music with Slavic sounds, the heady presence of the strings, the nostalgia of the lyrics recounting exile. An emblematic song that Sylvie will perform at every concert. On October 6, 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, she gave a recital at the Palace of Culture in Sofia, broadcast on French television. In the end, she sang this title in front of a Bulgarian audience moved, like her, to tears.

► “What makes blondes cry? » (1976)

by Pierre Delanoë (lyrics), and John Kongos and Peter Leroy (lyrics and music from the original version)

Chaining hits, including his duet with Johnny I have a problem or the evocation of swing I sing for SwaneeSylvie sings and dances sophisticated choreographies on the biggest stages in Europe, Quebec, Japan… In 1975, she will be the first artist to take over the new hall of the Palais des Congrès, then the largest in Paris, with a American-style show.

This popularity prepares the triumph of What makes blondes cry? a powerful and ironic song. A tidal wave in 1976, and his best-selling album, with a superb cover illustrated by François Dupuich.

► “Love is like a cigarette” (1981)

by Michel Mallory (lyrics) and Florrie Palmer (music)

« The best gift from France since the statue of Liberty » (“France’s greatest gift since the Statue of Liberty”). This slogan and a spectacular poster revealing Sylvie in a nude sequinned dress created a sensation in the United States. Presented by Gene Kelly, she gave six concerts in Las Vegas from December 9 to 11, 1982, in front of Dean Martin, John Travolta, Bette Midler… Sylvie, divorced from Johnny in 1980, worked with her companion, Tony Scotti. She performs Love is like a cigarettea slightly disillusioned song from a woman who lived, but « so french » (“so French”) in the eyes of Americans!