Jocelyne

There multiple artists with this name. 1) Experimental noise artist from Christchurch, New Zealand. Also known as yeongrak. jocelyne.bandcamp.com 2) 60s pop vocalist from France. With her gutsy vocal delivery, teenage singer Jocelyne was France’s answer to Brenda Lee. In true yé-yé girl style, she enjoyed successes with covers of international hits and a sprinkling of original compositions. She was born Jocelyne Journo on 14 August 1951 in Tunisia. Her family moved back to France while she was still a young girl, and settled in Champs-sur-Marne, in the Parisian suburbs. Her potential was spotted by Mya Simille, the lyricist for French rock star Dick Rivers and she was offered a contract with the Polydor label at the age of just 12. Her vocal delivery drew comparisons – all justified – with that of American star Brenda Lee. She released her first EP in February 1964, which included the songs La vie c’est bon and Il a tout pour lui, a cover of American singer Darlene Love’s Fine, fine boy. The release was promoted on television and in live performances. But it was her second EP that was to make her name. Interestingly, the release, issued in July 1964, saw the Brenda Lee soundalike cover a Brenda Lee song and take the French record-buying public by storm. It included Le dimanche et le jeudi, a cover of Little Miss Dynamite’s Lonely, lonely, lonely me, and J’ai changé de pays, a version of the Jackie de Shannon-penned Heart in hand. Her third EP led with Les garçons, a stab at Paul Anka’s Bad Boy, which she performed live at Paris’ prestigious Olympia venue. The release led to an invitation to appear on American television, in NBC’s popular Hullabaloo programme in January 1965, where she performed alongside British group the Zombies, amongst others. Upon her return to France, she issued a cracking version of Shirley Ellis’ Nitty Gritty and an album, entitled Jocelyne, which brought together most of her previous releases and a few new songs. She headed to London to record her follow-up 45, Chaque fois que je rêve, another Brenda Lee cover, this time of Thanks a Lot. The recording drew comparisons with British singer Lulu’s Shout. For her final release of 1965, she opted to record an original song, the mid-tempo ballad Regarde-moi, arguably one of her finest. The EP also included Moi je veux croire à l’amour, a version of Italian star Rita Pavone’s chart topper Lui, plus two further original compositions. The following spring she issued a further EP, containing Chantons plus fort and J’ai oublié, an energetic version of Betty Everett’s I can’t hear you no more, before leaving Polydor. Within a year she’d moved to Montreal, in Canada’s Quebec, where she released a couple of singles on the Vedette label. She returned to France in 1971 to attempt a comeback, with My way, a version of the Claude François hit Comme d’habitude that had also proved successful in mainland Europe for Britain’s Samantha Jones and has become a standard in the hands of Frank Sinatra and others. Sadly, however, Jocelyne she was killed in a motorcycle accident on the day of its release, 25 June 1972. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.