Patricia Kaas
b. 1966, Lorraine, France. The top female performer in France in the '90s, the slender waif Kaas had already sold over five million albums by her mid-'20s. She was one of seven children to a French coal miner and amateur dancer father, and German mother. The latter was devoted to the world of showbusiness, and as a result Patricia was pushed relentlessly into a singing career. She would perform widely at fairs and country balls, mainly addressing torch singer standards drawn from the songbooks of Liza Minnelli, Joni Mitchell and even Eurovision songs. Her debut release came in 1985, when she recorded a single, Jalouse, produced by Gallic film star Gerard Depardieu, which he co-wrote with his wife Elizabeth. Depardieu had seen Kaas on stage in Paris. Jalouse built her a big reputation, and successive singles and albums, initially for Polygram, pushed her irrepressibly into the limelight. Touted as the new Vanessa Paradis, she enjoyed her first hit with Mademoiselle Chante Le Blues. That, and other stronger material such as Les Hommes Qui Passent, were composed for her by the songwriting team of Francois Bernheim and Didier Barbelivien. She took to the world of celebrity with aplomb, displaying the wherewithal to leave her original record company and management, despite a welter of accusations and counter-accusations. In the process she established her own company, Note de Blues. Like Paradis, she is marketed more on image than talent, and her voice too is noticeably mannered. Conversely, there seems to be no lack of ambition or character beneath the commercial surface. Those who suggest she may be the French Madonna gain further credence for their claims with each successive platinum disc she earns.