Cora Vaucaire (July 22, 1918 – September 17, 2011) was a French singer of traditional pop (chanson) music known for her breezy style. Her husband was the famous songwriter Michel Vaucaire. She was nicknamed by journalist Maurice Ciantar the "White Lady of Saint-Germain-des-Prés", " (Juliette Gréco being " the lady in black ") she also performed in her early days under the pseudonym of Michèle Dax.
Born Geneviève Marguerite Collin in Marseille, daughter of a long-distance captain. She was raised in a boarding school for sisters, but enrolled in the theater conservatory against the family's will and studied under the watchful eye of Fernand Ledoux and Charles Dullin. At the age of sixteen she won the first prize for comedy and tragedy in the city of Paris. During her first appearance on stage, at the Sarah-Bernhardt Theater, in a role of figuration, paralyzed by stage fright, she fainted at the feet of the star. During the War, she married the lyricist and musicologist Michel Vaucaire who, seduced by her voice, encouraged her to sing. She wins various competitions, including one chaired by Edith Piaf..
During 1945 after the war she started singing on the radio was heard at such major Cabaret venues as Jacob's Ladder and The Harlequin. Her career took place mainly on stage traditionally presented herself to the public dressed in a long white dress to hide the tremors due to stage fright that she admitted to having “never been able to control ”. It was also by refusing black, the dominant colour after the war, and associated with poverty: “ I wanted to bring happiness, I played white.” Long a regular on the Parisian nightclub circuit, she recorded her first record in 1948 and later cut several best selling records and became known for presenting musical settings of the poetry of Jacques Prevert, Louis Aragon, and other writers.
Her uncompromising repertoire consisted of forgotten songs from the Middle Ages (" La lamente du Roy Renaud "), successes from the Belle Epoque (those of Yvette Guilbert), texts by poets (Appollinaire, Carco, Aragon), or other performers such as Maurice Fanon or Jacques Debronckart, whom she particularly appreciated. About this time she took over the management of the La Tomate cabaret.. She notably immortalized " La Complainte de la Butte " which she performed in Renoir's film " French cancan " in 1955 and " Three little notes of music " in that of Colpi, " Long Absence " in 1960. “Trois Petites Notes de musique” , composed by Georges Delerue on a text by Colpi, will remain Cora Vaucaire's emblematic song.
With her slender figure, dazzling smile, clear voice and perfect diction, Cora Vaucaire chiselled each song into a short three or four minute piece, interpreting it with charm, emotion and sincerity. She sang for a long time in the small cabarets on the left bank, where most of the artists of the time began.
Allergic to show business, discreet and even secretive, Cora Vaucaire preferred, once known, to offer her faithful intimate recitals, often conceived “ à la carte ” according to her mood and that of the spectators in small Italian-style theatres: l'Oeuvre (1967), Montparnasse (1975), Dejazet (1992), Bouffes du Nord (1999). She has always avoided the big music halls, performing only once for a month at Bobino (1973). She also sang at the Marais festival in 1975 and 1981.
She did not start the international phase of her career until fairly late, first appearing in Japan in 1980. She was also the first French singer to perform in Albania, she made French song applaud all over the world and continued to please fans with her vocals well into old age. Rewarded three times by the Grand Prix du Disque, she performed on stage until an advanced age as evidenced by her singing tours at Dejazet in 1992, at the comedy des Champs-Elysées in 1997.
In 1998 she received the Legion Of Honor. Her last major recital was in 1999 at the Théâtre des bouffes du Nord. In her later years she suffered from osteoporosis. She collapsed at her home and died in the city of Paris, Île-de-France, on the 16th Sep 2011 (aged 93).
(Edited from Liberation & Universalis)