Monique Andrée Serf (June 9, 1930 - November 25, 1997) was a popular singer best known under the stage name of Barbara. June 9 is the 160th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (161st in leap years), with 205 days remaining. ... 1930 is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... November 25 is the 329th (in leap years the 330th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Reef. ... In music a singer or vocalist is a type of musician who sings, i. ... A stage name, or a screen name for movie stars, is a pseudonym used by performers and actors. ...

Monique Serf, born in Paris, France, into a Jewish family, was ten years old when she had to go into hiding during the German occupation of France in World War II. After the war ended, a neighborhood professor of music heard Monique sing and took an interest in helping her develop her talents. She was given vocal lessons and taught to play the piano and eventually she enrolled at the Ecole Supérieure de Musique. However, money was a problem and she gave up her musical studies to sing at "La Fontaine des Quatre Saisons," a then popular cabaret in Paris. album cover Monique Serf This is an album cover. ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... The word Jew (Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... A professor is a senior teacher and researcher, usually in a college or university. ... Music is an art, entertainment, or other human activity which involves organized sound, though definitions may vary. ... This article is about the modern musical instrument. ... Cabaret is a form of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue - a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting around the tables (often dining or drinking) watching the performance. ...

A sensitive girl, she was deeply scarred by the war and her family's plight. Her inner feelings of emptiness showed in her appearance and in her songs. A tall person, she dressed in black, accentuating her raven hair, as she sang melancholic songs of lost love. From 1950 to 1952, she lived in Brussels, Belgium where she became part of an active artistic community. Her painter and writer friends took over an old house, converting it into workshops and a concert hall with a piano where Monique performed the songs of Edith Piaf, Juliette Gréco and Germaine Montéro. However, her career evolved slowly and she struggled constantly to eke out a living. In October of 1953, she married Claude John Luc Sluys, a Belgian law student but they separated in 1956. Later in life, she wrote about her relationships with men in a song saying: "They walk proudly, my men/ I in the front/ them just behind." 1950 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1952 - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... For other uses, see Brussels (disambiguation). ... Edith Piaf Édith Piaf (December 19, 1915 - October 11, 1963) was one of Frances most beloved singers, with much success shortly before and during World War II. Her music reflected her tragic life, with her specialty being the poignant ballad presented with a heartbreaking voice. ... Juliette Gréco (born February 7, 1927) is an actress as well as a very popular chanson singer. ... October is the tenth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... 1953 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday. ...

Returning to Paris, she would meet Jacques Brel and become a lifelong friend, singing many of his songs. Later, she met Georges Brassens whose songs she would eventually begin to use in her act and to record her first album. In the 1950s, she obtained singing engagements at some of the smaller clubs but began building a fan base, particularly with the young students from the Latin Quarter. In 1957 she went back to Brussels to make her first record single but it was not until 1961 that she got a real break when she was engaged to perform at the famous Bobino Music-Hall in Montparnasse. Dressed in a long black robe, she gave a haunting performance but the tough Parisian critics were not kind, saying she lacked naturalness and was stiff and formal in her presentation. She continued to perform at small clubs and two years later at the Théâtre des Capucines, she captured the imagination of the audience and critics alike with an astonishingly powerful performance with new material she had penned herself. From that point on, her career blossomed and she signed a major recording contract in 1964 with Philips Records. Jacques Brel ( April 8, 1929 – October 9, 1978) was a Belgian French-speaking author-composer with such strong power of expression in his lyrics that many consider him a poet as well. ... Georges Brassens (October 22, 1921 - October 29, 1981) was a French singer and songwriter. ... The Quartier Latin (Latin Quarter) is an area in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France, around the Sorbonne University. ... The Montparnasse Tower, which at 209m was the tallest building in Western Europe when it was built. ... Philips Records is the record label of Dutch electronics giant Philips. ...

Although influenced by songwriters Mireille and Charles Trenet, two of the biggest stars of the day, she nonetheless developed her own style and the writing of her own songs transformed her image into that of a unique singer-song writer. Her intensely poetic lyrics, her dramatic on-stage performances, and the depth of emotion in her voice, all garnered her a huge following that lasted for more than thirty years. In the 1960s she wrote her landmark song, "My most beautiful story of love is you," and others for which she remains famous such as "L'Aigle noir," " Il pleut sur Nantes ," "La Solitude," and "Une Petite Cantate." Mireille Hartuch (born September 30, 1906 in Paris, France - died December 29, 1996 in Paris, France) was a singer, composer, and actress known as Mireille. ... Charles Trenet (May 18, 1913, Narbonne, France - February 19, 2001, Cr teil, France) was a French singer and songwriter. ...

She made a triumphant return to Bobino in 1964 and returned to sold out audiences several more times. She performed at the Paris Olympia and all the important venues in France, becoming one of her country's most beloved stars. In 1965, she released the album "Barbara chante Barbara" that became an enormous critical and financial success, winning the "Académie Charles Cros" award. At the award ceremony, an emotional Monique Serf ripped her award into several parts, giving a piece to each of her technicians as a sign of her gratitude. Having achieved fame, Monique Serf began using her money and celebrity to do charitable work in aid of impoverished children. An 1898 Olympia poster from the Maitres de lAffiche series Paris Olympia is a music hall at 28, Blvd. ...

In 1969, she announced that she would limit her concert singing and in 1970 she made her acting début in the stage play "Madame" that proved to be a commercial flop. In 1971 she co-starred with Jacques Brel in a film he directed titled Franz for which she wrote the theme song. Two years later she starred in L'Oiseau rare directed by Jean-Claude Brialy. Her final film role came in 1977 in Je suis né à Venise directed by the dancer and choreographer Maurice Béjart. Maurice Béjart (born January 1, 1927) is the French choreographer who runs the Béjart Ballet. ...

Her career remained extremely active in the 1970s, appearing on television variety shows with stars such as Johnny Hallyday as well as embarking on a tour of Japan, Canada, Belgium, Israel, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Through the 1980s, she continued to tour and to write songs, her album "Seule" was one of France's top grossing releases of 1981. The next year she was awarded the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque in recognition of her contribution to French culture. She developed a close working relationship with rising film star, Gérard Depardieu and his wife Élisabeth, collaborating on songs for film and records. In 1982 she went to New York City to perform on piano at the Metropolitan Opera with Mikhail Baryshnikov in a song and dance ballet presentation. She co-wrote the music for the stage play "Lily Passion" with Luc Plamondon in which she co-starred with Gérard Depardieu. Johnny Hallyday Johnny Hallyday (born June 15, 1943) is a French singer and actor. ... The culture of France is diverse, reflecting regional differences as well as the influence of recent immigration. ... Gérard Depardieu (born December 27, 1948;  pronunciation?) is a French actor. ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the state of New York and the entire United States. ... The Metropolitan Opera is located at Lincoln Center in New York, New York. ... Mikhail Nikolaevitch Baryshnikov (in Russian Михаил Николаевич Баришников) (born January 27, 1948) is a famous dancer and actor. ... Luc Plamondon (born March 2, 1945) is a Canadian song lyricist from Quebec. ...

In the latter part of the 1980s she became an active participant in the fight against AIDS. In 1988 the government of France awarded her the Legion of Honor. By the 1990s, the sixty year-old "Barbara" was a virtual tour de force in the French entertainment world. Health problems impeded her performing and she began to devote time to the writing of her memoirs. However, she recorded another very successful album in 1996 before respiratory problems took her life in Neuilly-sur-Seine, in November of the following year. She was interred near other members of her family in the Cimetière de Bagneux in Montrouge, just south of Paris. AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, sometimes written Aids) is a global, human epidemic. ... French Legion of Honor The Légion dhonneur (in Legion of Honor (AmE) or Legion of Honour (ComE)) is an Order of Chivalry awarded by the President of France. ... Neuilly-sur-Seine is a commune in the Hauts-de-Seine département in France. ... Located to the southwest of the city of Paris, France, the Cimetière de Bagneux is located at 44, avenue Marx_Dormoy, in Montrouge, Hauts_de_Seine. ... Montrouge is a commune and a canton in the southwestern suburbs of Paris in France. ...

Considered an icon of French musical history, "Barbara" has been honored with her image on a French postage stamp. A number of books have been written about her life and her records still sell in large numbers to this day. postage stamp - Monique Serf This image of a postage stamp may be copyrighted and/or have other restrictions on its reproduction imposed by the issuing authority. ...

Reference

• Adapted from the article Monique Serf (http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.phtml?title=Monique_Serf), from Wikinfo, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.