“It’s time for me to calm down.”

Some have even become friends over the years. It's crazy to think that there are people who have been coming to see me for sixty years

Sylvie Vartan

Is that what you felt in November, after the first three concerts?
Every night has been different, but this time there is perhaps a little more nostalgia than before and a greater emotion. For my previous shows, they had barely been created before I thought, with Tony [son mari, NDLR]next. There, I didn't have to plan, since there won't be any next one. And I sing all the songs that people like to hear, those that have accompanied their lives and that are part of their memories. I owed them that much. Without knowing it, the public also gave me a lot: if I stayed on stage for so long, it's thanks to them.

You've known that since 1961.
I felt it, but I was less aware of what it brought me. Having a deadline forced me to delve back into what I experienced. I tried to rewatch this without too much emotion, even if there is some, as if it were about someone else's life. I realized that in sixty years I have been able to dream, create, invent with incredible freedom. And time passed like a dream. When I see the sum of everything I have been able to do, it is dizzying. My dreams, I have fulfilled them all.

Some of your fans have followed you since your debut. Do you recognize them in the front rows?
Of course. Some have even become friends over the years. It's crazy to think that there are people who have been coming to see me for sixty years. Few people can say that.

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“Sylvie go away”… I never paid attention to the jealous or the bitter. So much time wasted slandering me

Sylvie Vartan

Johnny could…
Yes, we had the same cadence, him and I. A show every year, we were on the road all the time. I loved traveling, singing wherever I was asked. I have had the chance to travel around the world several times, from Japan to South America via Iran or the Manaus opera house. It was synonymous with suitcases, hotels, landscapes, it was all so impactful, so strong. So now that I have reached the end of this long journey, I reassure myself by telling myself that I could no longer keep up the pace. That this cannot last another twenty years. It's time for me to calm down.

Your detractors when you started nicknamed you “Sylvie go away”. You nailed them!
[Elle rit.] “Sylvie go away”… I never paid attention to the jealous or the bitter. So much time wasted slandering me. Because the greater the success, the more jealousy increases. Well I knew how to last, despite what some people hoped.

Are you afraid of the void that awaits you on the morning of January 27, the day after your last concert?
I don't know if I'm going to believe it. I leave without bitterness, without regret for anything. I need to put my head, my house, in order. To take care of my family and my friends a lot more. On the other hand, I am nostalgic for the people who are no longer here. This is irreparable and it gets worse and worse as we get older. I feel like a tree whose branches are being cut off as I go. But the core, the one that allowed me to do my job, is still strong. I have no right to complain… If I had to do it all again, I wouldn't change a thing.

My family has always been my main concern. I never sacrificed it, I feel quite light on this subject

Sylvie Vartan

Really nothing?
I'm not a lukewarm person, I do everything with strength, so maybe if I started again I would learn to relax a little more. But wouldn't that take away some of the excitement? I don't think I'm defined by ambition, but by the desire to do different things, to meet other people, other cultures.

You also took the time to be a mother available to your two children. Unlike your male colleagues, you have always put David and Darina before your career.
Yes, they have always been my priority. Because I thought – and I still think – that, when we decide to have children, we must raise them as best as possible, love them and support them. It's true that I was frustrated when David was little. I went on tour every summer with his father, when the children his age went on vacation. Fortunately, my mother took over and that reassured me. But otherwise, yes, my family has always been my main concern. I have never sacrificed it, I feel quite light on this subject.

When you divorced in 1980, did you have to redouble your efforts to raise David and at the same time stay on stage?
At first I was very sad, because we were coming out of twenty years of living together with Johnny. But I had to continue alone this time, because it was my life. Although, for me, singing has never been a job. So, yeah, I went to even bigger shows, I sang in Las Vegas, and it was a red and gold period. Because Tony had just come into my life. I don't think David suffered from it. Tony knew, over the years, how to love him, protect him, give him confidence and always show him the right path.

David, currently on tour, pays tribute to his father. Did you understand his need to sing Johnny?
Quite. I found his show very moving. I thought he would have done it sooner, but he took it at his own pace. I feel very close to him, we are very similar emotionally, we are modest and shy. He's just a little “wiser” than me. I am very happy with the man he became because it was not easy at all to be a “son of”. In the United States, where we lived, it was quiet. In France, there has always been jealousy and suspicion. I protected him, as much as I could, from all of this. As he grew up, he was able to acquire sufficient confidence to tame this monster of anxiety that his parents' fame could be for him.

I appreciate how lucky I am to have had Tony by my side for forty years. It's a miracle, someone so rare and unique!

Sylvie Vartan

You too had to sing Johnny in 2019 to grieve.
Yes. It was essential. Because Johnny was someone unique. We were madly in love with each other when we met, and in the latter part of his life we ​​also remained close and loving. Nothing can ever take it away from me.

Would you have liked to spend your whole life with him?
At the beginning, yes, in fact we thought that our story would never end. We were so much the same… Maybe if we hadn't done this job, things would have been different. But, once again, I don't live in regret. And I appreciate how lucky I am to have had Tony by my side for forty years. It's a miracle, someone so rare and unique! I who really thought I would never start my life again.

What do you think is the secret to longevity?
It's not to betray. And know what your core values ​​are. Not everyone looks for the same things in others or has the same needs. I have always been very demanding, so I have never compromised, in my life or in my career. This is also what allowed me to never pretend. I refused lots of projects that would have taken me elsewhere. But I wasn't going to sell myself for anything.

When Paul McCartney performed in Paris last December, he only wanted to receive one person in his dressing room before his concert: you.
It warmed my heart. I had already seen him again at the Olympia when he came to sing there in the 2000s. We talked about everything and nothing, he was preparing to go on stage and, in those moments, we didn't head to discuss, so we weren't going to remake the world. But it was a wonderful moment, he was his usual self. You see, when I told you that this job brings so many crazy things…

We'll see each other again, even if I don't sing anymore. So for now it's just goodbye

Sylvie Vartan

What song sums you up best?
There is “La Maritza”, of course, which was written with this in mind. It's crazy that she had such success again last year, thanks to TikTok. I started as a rock singer and, little by little, my life inspired authors who helped me evolve. “My father” is also a song that resembles me, just like “La plus belle pour aller danser” was, which Charles Aznavour and Georges Garvarentz made for me. But I also find myself in Barbara’s words when I sing “My childhood”. I feel like I wrote it myself. It's a very moving moment when I perform it, because it reminds me of the images of my youth in Bulgaria which still haunt me. Songs are also important because they reveal the person we really are. By singing them, they give me the joy of touching people. It's huge and it's allowed me to heal from a lot of things.

Are you ready to hang up?
I'm worried. But, you know, we'll see each other again, even if I don't sing anymore. So, for now, this is just goodbye.

What will you say to your audience on the evening of January 26?
I would like to tell him that after all these years spent together I will never forget him. And that I will always keep his light in my heart.

In concert in Paris (Palais des Congrès) on January 24, 25 and 26.