Lucienne Boyer

Lucienne Boyer, born Émilienne-Henriette Boyer on 18 August 1901 in Montparnasse, Paris, France, was a French entertainer and musician who performed on Broadway between 1934 and 1935. She died on 6 December 1983 in Paris and was interred at the Cimetière de Bagneux in Montrouge.

Boyer's early life was marked by hardship. Her father was killed while serving as a soldier in World War I, and in the aftermath of his death she worked in a munitions factory to support her family. She began singing in Parisian cabarets at the age of 16, while also working part-time as a model. A position at a prominent Parisian theater provided further opportunity, and within a few years she was performing in major Parisian music halls under the name Lucienne Boyer.

Her international career was set in motion in 1927, when she performed at a concert featuring Félix Mayol. The American impresario Lee Shubert attended the event and immediately offered her a Broadway contract. Boyer spent nine months in New York City and returned to perform there, as well as in South America, numerous times throughout the 1930s. Her Broadway credits include the revue Continental Varieties, which ran during the 1934–1935 season. The New York Times described her as having reigned as queen of Paris nightlife during the 1930s.

By 1933, Boyer had recorded extensively for Columbia Records of France. Among those recordings was her signature song, "Parlez-moi d'amour" (Speak to Me of Love), written by Jean Lenoir. The recording won the first-ever Grand Prix du Disque awarded by the Charles Cros Academy. Her impresario was Bruno Coquatrix.

In 1939, Boyer married the cabaret singer Jacques Pills, one half of the musical duo Pills et Tabet. The couple's daughter, Jacqueline, was born on 23 April 1941. Jacqueline followed her parents into performance and won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960. During World War II, Boyer continued to perform in France, though the period was particularly difficult for her husband, who was Jewish. After the Allied liberation of France, her cabaret career entered a sustained period of success that lasted approximately thirty more years. At the age of 73, she performed alongside her daughter at the Paris Olympia and appeared on multiple French television programs.